The Current US Military Perspective on Latin America From SSI

Latin Americans have long memories. For nearly 200
years every school child has been taught in great detail
about the more than 100 North American interventions that
have taken place in the Western Hemisphere. They range
from before the implementation of the No-Transfer
Resolution in 1811, to the Monroe Doctrine of 1823, through
the period of the Roosevelt and Wilson Corollaries, to the
more recent invasions of Panama and Haiti.1 New
generations of Latin Americans in general have learned to
be most wary of North American “imperialism” and being
subjugated culturally, economically, and politically by the
materialistic interests of the “Colossus of the North.”
Mexicans, for example, can recall vividly the martyrdom of
their Military Academy cadets (ninos heroicos) bravely
jumping to their deaths rather than surrendering to the
U.S. forces invading Mexico City in 1847. Likewise,
Mexicans can recite date-by-date the progress of the
U.S.-Mexican War of 1846-47 that ended with the loss of a
third to a half of its national territory (i.e., 529,017 square
miles) to the “Great Hegemon.” As a consequence, a very
strong juridical-political bias has developed in Latin
America that tends to reject North American intervention
— anywhere.
...
If the United States and its major allies concentrate interest and
resources on Iraq and ignore what is happening in Latin America
—and what is likely to happen without the implementation of the
sort of strategic reforms recommended in this monograph—
the expansion of terrorism, the expansion of “lawless areas,”
and the expansion of general instability could easily destroy
the democracy, free market economies, and prosperity that
has been achieved in recent years.

PDF file - on the Strategic Effect of the Iraq War in Latin America.