From Guatemala to Venezuela. Economic and Human Costs of U.S. Interventions in Latin America, 1954–2026

This book analyzes U.S. interventions in Latin America (1954–2026), documenting their political, economic, and human consequences across fourteen countries. Using declassified archives and human rights sources, it estimates casualties linked to U.S.-backed coups, dictatorships, wars, and sanctions, and examines the economic extraction associated with interventionist policies. The study situates these interventions within a long-term structure of imperial power and repression. In parallel, the book examines the economic dimension of intervention, estimating the scale of U.S. corporate revenues extracted from Latin America during the same period and analyzing the relationship between political intervention, market access, and resource exploitation. The analysis highlights recurring patterns of regime change, repression, and economic dependency, linking them to doctrines of hemispheric control and postwar imperial strategy. Combining empirical documentation with historical interpretation and personal testimony, this work frames U.S. interventionism not as a series of isolated events, but as a long-term structure of power with enduring human, political, and economic consequences. Key words: Political injury epidemiology, Population-level violence, Enforced disappearances, Authoritarian regimes in Latin Americ, U.S.-backed dictatorships, Structural violence, Imperialism and intervention, Economic costs of intervention, Corporate interests and foreign policy, Hemispheric domination, Monroe Doctrine legacy, Latin American military regimes, Counterinsurgency and repression, Public health and political violence