COLD WAR: BACKYARD, 1954-1990 {PART 18 OF 24} (TV)
Summary
Part eighteen of twenty-four. One in this documentary series examining the events of the Cold War, from 1917 to the early 1990s. This series consists of interviews and archival footage, accompanied by historical narration by Kenneth Branagh. This episode examines the communist influence in Central and Latin America and the consequent involvement of the United States in this area. The program begins with Cuba's revolution, led by Fidel Castro, and the United States' fear that the country would be more willing to embrace Soviet-style communism, as Oleg Daroussenkov of the Communist Party Central Committee in Moscow notes. American fears quickly spread to Guatemala, where the American-owned United Fruit Company owned substantial property. Howard Hunt, CIA chief in Mexico, expresses the American government's theory that in modernizing an impoverished society and redistributing land to the peasants, Guatemalan President Jacobo Arbenz was funded by the Soviets, an allegation denied by Mexican KGB officer Nikolai Leonov. Jose Manuel Fortuny of the Guatemalan communist party describes the efforts of John Purefoy, U.S. ambassador to Guatemala, to reconcile the interests of the wealthy United Fruit Company and those of its host country. Alfonso Bauer of Guatemala's Agrarian Bank describes the subsequent efforts of Secretary of State John Foster Dulles to overthrow the Guatemalan government, and a segment of Dulles's 1954 speech against the Arbenz regime is shown. Arbenz soon went into exile. Henry Cabot Lodge is seen at an emergency session of the United Nations warning the Soviets to stay out of the Americas; Bauer describes the flight from Guatemala to Cuba of those loyal to the revolution, including Ernesto "Che" Guevara; and Castro speaks about meeting Guevara for the first time. Footage of President John F. Kennedy's 1961 speech denouncing Cuba is followed by Hunt's assertion that Castro was difficult to overthrow because of the love his people had for him. Following footage of President Lyndon B. Johnson's 1965 speech stressing America's lack of tolerance for Communist infiltration into the Western hemisphere, Leonov and Cuban guerrilla fighter Dariel Alarcon discuss the death of Guevara and the Cubans' wish for revolution in their hemisphere. The documentary moves on to Chile. Chilean lawyer Arturo Alessandri comments on Chilean leader Salvador Allende's sympathies with Cuba, and Harold Geneen, chairman of ITT Corporation, testifies about the danger to his company's interests of a Marxist regime in Chile. Allende, who alienated American industrialists by nationalizing his country's mostly foreign-owned copper industry, speaks about Chile's right to determine its own economic future, and his widow, Hortensia, talks about his reforms as stemming from a desire to alleviate poverty. Leonov states that the Soviets refused to support Chile financially, leaving Allende to rely heavily on internal military support, which in turn gave increased power to General Augusto Pinochet. Nathaniel Davis, U.S. ambassador to Chile, describes Pinochet's responsibility for Allende's death, and Joan Jara and Colonel Paul Wimbert of the U.S. embassy in Santiago describe Pinochet's reign of terror against his enemies; their thoughts are echoed by U.S. President Jimmy Carter in a 1977 speech on human rights. In Nicaragua, Violeta Chamorro, widow of leader Pedro Chamorro, discusses her husband's demise at the hands of President Anastasio Somoza, Jr., and his American allies; Somoza talks about the influence of the Sandinista guerrillas; and Sandinista leader Daniel Ortega explains his theories of revolt, the guerrilla triumph, and the consequent rise of conservatism as confirmed by Contra army chief of staff Oscar Sobalvarro. In El Salvador, Sister Maria Figueroa recalls the leadership of the oppressed by the soon-to-be murdered Archbishop Oscar Romero, and guerrilla leader Ana Guadalupe Martinez explains her torture at the hands of the right wing and the Salvadoran rebels' flight to the mountains. Footage is shown of General Alexander Haig, U.S. Secretary of State, vowing to expand American anti-communist efforts in the Americas, and resident Rufina Amaya testifies to the U.S.-backed search-and-destroy mission against the Salvadoran guerrillas in 1981. Next, Duane Clarridge, CIA chief in Latin America, looks at the way in which Honduras became the center for the overthrow of the Nicaraguan government, and Ronald Reagan's 1983 speech addressing this issue is shown. John Negroponte, U.S. ambassador to Honduras, tells how he learned of the U.S. invasion of Grenada, and Reagan, in a 1985 speech, addresses the danger of Soviet influence in Central America. Martinez, Leonov, and Negroponte agree on the Cold War's toll on human life in the region, and the program ends with the election victory of American-backed Violeta Chomorro over Ortega. Commercials deleted.
Cataloging of this program was made possible by The Blanche and Irving Laurie Foundation, 1999.
This selection from the Alan Gerry Cable Collection has been made available by the Gerry Foundation, Inc.
Details
- NETWORK: CNN
- DATE: February 21, 1999 Sunday 8:00 PM
- RUNNING TIME: 0:46:33
- COLOR/B&W: Color
- CATALOG ID: T:58760
- GENRE: Public affairs/Documentaries
- SUBJECT HEADING: Cold War; Communism; Assassinations; U S Central Intelligence Agency (CIA); Guerilla warfare; U S - Foreign relations - U S S R; U S - Foreign relations - Cuba; U S - Foreign relations - Chile; U S - Foreign relations - El Salvador; U S - Foreign relations - Guatemala; U S - Foreign relations - Grenada; U S - Foreign relations - Honduras; Iran-Contra Affair, 1985-1990; She Made It Collection (Pat Mitchell)
- SERIES RUN: CNN - TV series, 1998-1999
- COMMERCIALS: N/A
CREDITS
- Pat Mitchell … Executive Producer
- Jeremy Isaacs … Executive Producer
- Vivian Schiller … Senior Producer
- Brian Moser … Producer
- Martin Smith … Series Producer
- Isobel Hinshelwood … Series Associate Producer
- Alison McAllan … Series Associate Producer
- Gillian Widdicombe … Production Executive
- Ted Turner … Series Concept by
- Shelagh Brady … Editor
- Martina Balazova … Research
- David Boardman … Research
- Svetlana Palmer … Research
- Ben Steele … Research
- Aileen McAllister … Film Research
- Miriam Walsh … Film Research
- Hugh O'Shaughnessy … Writer
- Carl Davis … Music by
- Kenneth Branagh … Narrator
- Dariel Alarcon
- Hortensia Allende
- Salvador Allende
- Arturo Alessandri
- Rufina Amaya
- Jacobo Arbenz
- Alfonso Bauer
- Jimmy Carter
- Fidel Castro
- Pedro Chamorro
- Violeta Chamorro
- Duane Clarridge
- Oleg Daroussenkov
- Nathaniel Davis
- John Foster Dulles
- Maria Figueroa
- Jose Manuel Fortuny
- Harold Geneen
- Ernesto "Che" Guevara
- Alexander M. Haig, Jr.
- E. Howard Hunt
- Joan Jara
- Lyndon B. Johnson
- John F. Kennedy
- Nikolai Leonov
- Henry Cabot Lodge
- Ana Guadalupe Martinez
- John Negroponte
- Daniel Ortega
- Augusto Pinochet Ugarte
- John Purefoy
- Ronald Reagan
- Oscar Romero
- Oscar Sobalvarro
- Anastasio Somoza
- Paul Wimbert