Alliance for Progress

The Alliance for Progress was an initiative started by U.S. President John F. Kennedy on March 13, 1961. It was designed to help create stronger economic ties between the United States and Latin America. The goal was to support growth and development in Latin American countries and prevent the spread of communist ideas from Cuba.

Governor Luis Muñoz Marín of Puerto Rico helped advise President Kennedy on Latin American issues. One of his top administrators, Teodoro Moscoso, was chosen to lead the program. The plan was signed at a meeting in Uruguay later that year.

The Alliance for Progress had several important goals. It wanted to help Latin American countries grow their economies, support democratic governments, improve education, keep prices stable, and make sure wealth was shared more fairly. The plan asked Latin American countries to invest $80 billion over ten years, and the United States promised to help with $20 billion in aid. Although it aimed to make life better for many people, the program faced challenges and did not always achieve all its goals.

Origin and targets

The United States began to build stronger friendships with Latin America in the late 1950s.

In March 1961, President Kennedy shared a big plan to help Latin America grow over the next ten years. He wanted to create a place where everyone could live well and feel proud.

The plan was signed in Punta del Este, Uruguay, in August 1961. It aimed to:

• raise incomes by 2.5% each year,
• build free and fair governments,
• teach everyone to read and write by 1970,
• keep prices steady,
• share wealth more fairly, change laws about land, and
• plan for better economies and communities.

The plan asked Latin American countries to invest $80 billion over ten years, and the United States promised to help with $20 billion.

Countries also needed to make new plans for their growth and change laws to help everyone share fairly.

U.S. aid to Latin America

Because of the program, economic help to Latin America grew a lot between 1960 and 1961. From 1962 to 1967, the U.S. gave about $1.4 billion each year to Latin America. When counting new investments, the help went up to $3.3 billion per year, with a total of about $22.3 billion over those years. But this help did not always mean more resources for Latin America, as these countries still owed money to the U.S. and other wealthy nations. Also, money made from investments often went back to the U.S.

Economic help to Latin America fell quickly in the late 1960s, especially after Richard Nixon became president.

Business lobbying

The Alliance for Progress had a rule that encouraged Latin American governments to create conditions that would attract foreign investments, including from the U.S. American industries worked with Congress to change the Foreign Assistance Act of 1961. They wanted to make sure that U.S. aid would not go to foreign businesses that could compete with American companies, unless the country agreed to limit exports of certain products to the U.S. They also tried to limit where aid money was spent on machinery and vehicles. A study in 1967 found that most of the aid money ended up going to U.S. companies.

Reception

Ivan Illich criticized the Alliance, saying it was mainly supported by rich countries and groups.

A journalist named AJ Langguth wrote that some people in Brazil did not like the Alliance. They thought it helped America more than Brazil. Even though Brazil had money problems with the United States, the U.S. also gave Brazil a lot of help and support.

Military version

During President Kennedy's time in office, from 1961 to 1963, the United States stopped economic support and ended diplomatic ties with some governments it did not agree with. These included Cuba, the Dominican Republic, Ecuador, Guatemala, Honduras, and Peru. These pauses in relations lasted from three weeks up to six months.

Rockefeller study

After the Alliance for Progress didn’t work as well as hoped, President Richard Nixon asked for a study in 1969 to see how Latin America was doing. He chose Nelson Rockefeller, a political rival, to lead this study. Rockefeller and his team traveled to Latin America but faced many challenges during their visits.

The report showed that many people were upset because life hadn’t improved quickly enough. Some protests during the trips turned into larger demonstrations against both their own leaders and the United States. The report suggested that the U.S. should reduce its involvement and stop using aid as a way to influence other countries’ politics. It also recommended continuing some aid but making the programs better.

Success and failures of the plan

See also: Chilean land reform

The Alliance for Progress had some successes but did not fully achieve its goals, and in some ways, it caused problems. Economic growth in Latin America during the 1960s was slightly better than the plan’s target. Many countries improved their schools and universities, and more children received extra food and new textbooks.

However, not all countries did well, and some changes were too slow. For example, only a small number of families got help with land reform, and many leaders resisted these changes. While new laws were made to help workers, the wages were still too low to make a big difference. Some parts of the plan also led to more military rule in the region, which was not what the plan intended.

Results

The Alliance for Progress started with some early success and did bring some real, though limited, economic improvements. However, by the early 1970s, many people thought the program had failed.

There were three main reasons for this failure:

• Latin American countries were not ready to make important changes, especially regarding land reform.
• Presidents Lyndon B. Johnson and Richard Nixon did not support the program as much as Kennedy had.
• The $20 billion budget was not enough for the whole region, which worked out to just $10 per person in Latin America.

In 1973, the Organization of American States stopped the special group that was in charge of carrying out the Alliance.