ese treaties were a bit offset by the STAR WARS program set forth by the Reagan administration. In 1989, the Berlin Wall fell and in the first half of the nineties the SU and Communism fell with it. Its' fall brought forth the American model of Democracy and Capitalism as well as American neo-liberalism. The nineties will be seen as the decade of neo-liberalism. B. The Regional Politics: Latin America and the Caribbean of the 1960-1980 The regional politics will be understood best by recognizing the countries that defined the atmosphere and relations of the two regions through the context of the Cold War. The US, Mexico, Argentina, Cuba, Brazil and Venezuela are the countries that will be considered the countries that autonomously lead and affected the regions. All other countries will be considered countries that had a lesser affect to the region but will be noted in as much as they played a significant role to historic events in the region. United States and Cuba Latin America and the Caribbean are two of the regions that were most affected by the Cold War. Both of the regions have a close proximity to the dominating hegemony of the region, the US, and thus played an important strategic role for the US and the competing SU. "It is strategically important in four ways: 1) As a potential base from which a hostile power might launch military operations against the US…2) As a source of strategic raw materials. Virtually all… bauxite, vital to airplane manufacture, comes from the Caribbean…[and] a quarter of [US] oil imports and one fifth of … iron ore…graphite, sulfur, barium, fluorspar and zinc… 3) As the location of American territories and military installations. 4) As a major seaborne logistic route, " that includes the vital control of the Panama Canal. For these reasons the US has played a giant role in the internal politics of Latin America and the Caribbean. Moreover, the US increased its' role ...
