Juliana: Is it true that during the 19th century the United States tried to prevent Latin American countries from becoming independent?
William: Cuba officially became independent from Spain in 1902.
There was significant help from the Americans, who occupied the island.
Until 1934 they had a strong influence, and after that, they started easing off.
Cuba "could" have had a destiny similar to Hawaii or Puerto Rico, but then the 1959 Communist Revolution happened, and we know how that turned out.
Either way, it remained independent.
Panama separated from Colombia in 1903.
The Americans wanted to take over the construction of the Panama Canal, but the Colombian government wasn't reliable, so they fomented the separation.
As far as I know, Panama is satisfactorily independent; it was a good deal for them to break away from unstable Colombia.
Aside from those nations, you have the three Guianas, French, Dutch, and British.
I'm not aware of the Americans acting significantly in those regions.
All the other Latin American nations were already independent, and I don't know of the Americans doing anything to reverse that.
If you're talking economically... take the case of Brazil, we chose our own paths.
I don't know of the Americans being decisive in getting Getúlio Vargas to power (just an example).
During the 1964 coup, the Americans would have preferred Brazil to be a democracy, but since we were heading toward a potential Cuban-style dictatorship, they chose to support the military, who seemed like the lesser of two evils.
Moving on to more recent times... Sarney, Collor, Itamar, FHC, Lula, Dilma... they were all our choices.
I don't know what blame we can put on the Americans for not developing as much as they did...
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