lain edge

BEHIND U.S. IMPERIALISM IN SOUTH AMERICA In this 1995 interview, former CIA officer turned whistleblower Phil Agee—author of several books exposing the agency’s inner workings—discusses U.S. imperialism in South America. He explains how Cuba’s success in providing state-funded universal health care and education, despite widespread poverty, set a dangerous precedent for the United States. According to Agee, Cuba’s example demonstrated that a poor nation could still meet the needs of its people without bowing to U.S. corporate or political control. The same was true for Grenada and Nicaragua—nations the U.S. sought to destroy and make examples of. Agee makes the underlying reason for this aggression clear: “Any movement that comes to power with the idea of providing for all the people, and escaping the control of the United States—its economy, its corporations, and so forth—is bad news here in the United States, particularly in the upper circles of power and influence.” What is striking about this interview is how relevant it remains three decades later. The same patterns persist today: U.S. hostility toward Venezuela and its efforts to dismantle the Chavista and Bolivarian revolutions by promoting a U.S.-aligned figure such as María Corina Machado under the false pretext of a “war on drugs”; its pressure in Bolivia to remove leftist leader Evo Morales from power and later block his candidacy; its interference in Haiti; punitive tariffs on Brazil for aligning with the BRICS bloc; and threats against Panama for profiting from its canal. These examples show that the U.S. continues to pursue a hegemonic approach toward its neighbours—and indeed toward any country in the Global South that dares to step outside its capitalist orbit. Just as in Agee’s time, truth-tellers who challenge U.S. power often face retaliation, even when they are Americans themselves. Agee had his passport revoked, endured years of CIA harassment after leaving the agency, was accused of collaborating with foreign intelligence services, and was expelled from several Western European countries—one after another—before finally finding refuge in Cuba, where he lived until he died in 2008. @VoxUmmah @venanalysis @qiaocollective @ProgIntl @KawsachunNews @OrinocoTribune @blkagendareport