From Guatemala to Venezuela: A timeline of US interventions in Latin America

The United States’ dramatic, large-scale military strike in Venezuela on December 3 — culminating in the capture of President Nicolás Maduro and his wife — has reignited a long-running global debate over Washington’s role in Latin America. US officials said Maduro would face criminal charges in the United States, where he has been under indictment for years, marking one of the most consequential American interventions in the region since the Cold War.  

The operation has drawn inevitable comparisons with past US military actions across Latin America, a region where Washington has repeatedly intervened — overtly and covertly — to shape political outcomes, often under the banner of combating communism, protecting US interests, or restoring order.  

Cold War roots  

One of the earliest post-war interventions occurred in Guatemala in 1954, when Colonel Jacobo Arbenz Guzmán was driven from power by mercenaries trained and financed by Washington. Arbenz’s land reforms threatened the interests of the powerful US firm United Fruit Corporation, later known as Chiquita Brands. In 2003, the United States formally acknowledged the CIA’s role in the coup, framing it at the time as a necessary measure to counter communism.  

That pattern intensified in Cuba in 1961, when around 1,400 CIA-trained Cuban exiles launched the ill-fated Bay of Pigs invasion aimed at overthrowing Fidel Castro. Driven by Cold War fears of Soviet expansion, the operation ended in humiliating failure, costing more than 100 lives on each side and becoming a defining embarrassment for the Eisenhower and Kennedy administrations. Subsequent CIA plots — including attempts to poison Castro’s cigar — underscored Washington’s determination, even as no similar large-scale attack was ever attempted again.  

In 1965, the United States sent Marines and paratroopers into the Dominican Republic, citing a “communist threat,” to crush an uprising backing Juan Bosch, a leftist president ousted by generals two years earlier.

Backing dictatorships & covert operations  

During the 1970s, US policy increasingly focused on supporting authoritarian regimes viewed as bulwarks against left-wing movements. Washington actively assisted Chilean dictator Augusto Pinochet during the September 11, 1973 coup that overthrew socialist President Salvador Allende.  

Declassified US documents later revealed then-Secretary of State Henry Kissinger’s support for Argentina’s military junta following the 1976 coup, even as the regime carried out a brutal “dirty war” in which at least 10,000 dissidents disappeared.  

The era also saw the rise of Operation Condor, a coordinated campaign by Argentina, Chile, Uruguay, Paraguay, Bolivia and Brazil to eliminate left-wing opponents, carried out with tacit U.S. backing during the height of Cold War rivalries.  

Central America’s bloody conflicts  

In Nicaragua, the 1979 Sandinista revolution toppled longtime dictator Anastasio Somoza. Alarmed by Managua’s ties to Cuba and the Soviet Union, President Ronald Reagan authorised the CIA to funnel $20 million to Contra rebels, partly financed through the illegal sale of arms to Iran. The ensuing civil war lasted more than a decade and claimed around 50,000 lives.  

Reagan’s administration also became deeply involved in El Salvador, sending military advisers to support the government against the Farabundo Martí National Liberation Front (FMLN). The 12-year civil war left 72,000 people dead, cementing one of the bloodiest chapters in Central America’s history.  

Grenada and the Panama precedent

In 1983, US Marines and Rangers invaded Grenada following the assassination of Prime Minister Maurice Bishop by a far-left junta and amid concerns over Cuban involvement in airport construction. Operation “Urgent Fury,” launched at the request of the Organization of Eastern Caribbean States, officially aimed to protect US citizens but was widely condemned by the UN General Assembly. More than 100 people were killed before the operation ended.  

The closest historical parallel to Maduro’s capture remains Panama in 1989. Thirty-six years ago to the day, U.S. forces arrested former dictator Manuel Noriega, once a CIA asset who had fallen out with Washington. President George HW Bush ordered the invasion, deploying 24,000 troops in Operation “Just Cause.” While the US officially reported around 500 deaths, NGOs placed the toll in the thousands.  

Noriega eventually surrendered from the Vatican embassy and was taken to the United States to face drug trafficking charges, ending Panama’s military dictatorship. He spent over two decades in prison and died in 2017.  

Maduro’s capture now places Venezuela within this long and controversial list of US interventions in Latin America. Supporters argue the operation enforces accountability and restores democratic norms. Critics warn it reinforces a legacy of external interference that has often left the region destabilised and deeply divided.