IB History Impact of US Foreign Policies on the Americas Key Definitions

Anti-communist rebel groups in Nicaragua active from 1979 to the early 1990s who opposed the Sandinista government. The Reagan administration funded, trained, and armed them as part of its broader Cold War strategy in Central America, a policy that later became entangled in the Iran-Contra affair after Congress restricted direct funding.

A sudden, illegal overthrow of a government, often carried out by the military. The term comes from French, meaning 'blow of state.'

Secret political, economic, intelligence, or paramilitary activity intended to influence events abroad while concealing or limiting official responsibility.

A committee or council that rules a country, usually after seizing power by force. The term is most commonly associated with military rulers of Latin American countries.

A coordinated intelligence and repression network linking military governments in Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Paraguay and Uruguay, active from the mid-1970s. With US backing, it enabled the tracking, abduction, torture and killing of political opponents across national borders. Tens of thousands of people were killed or disappeared under the programme.

Two agreements signed by US President Jimmy Carter and Panamanian leader Omar Torrijos in September 1977. The Neutrality Treaty guaranteed permanent neutrality and the right of passage for all ships. The Panama Canal Treaty transferred control of the canal from the USA to Panama, with the handover completed on December 31, 1999. The treaties resolved decades of Panamanian resentment over US control of the canal zone and were seen as a model of Carter's human rights diplomacy.

The Sandinista National Liberation Front (FSLN), a left-wing revolutionary movement that overthrew the Somoza dictatorship in Nicaragua in July 1979. Named after Augusto César Sandino, a nationalist leader killed in 1934, the Sandinistas established a government that pursued land reform, literacy campaigns, and close ties with Cuba and the Soviet Union. Their rule was contested by US-backed Contra rebels throughout the 1980s.

A US Army training facility (established in Panama in 1946, relocated to Fort Benning, Georgia in 1984) that trained Latin American military and police officers in counter-insurgency, intelligence and combat techniques. Graduates went on to participate in coups, death squads and human rights abuses across the region. The school was renamed the Western Hemisphere Institute for Security Cooperation (WHINSEC) in 2001.

A secret CIA effort ordered by Nixon in September 1970 to encourage a Chilean military coup that would prevent Salvador Allende from taking office, conducted outside normal diplomatic channels.