Relations with the United States: a Latin American View

Economic relations between Latin America and the United States became a matter of particular importance during the 1960–70 decade, when the Inter-American System assigned special priority to economic and social affairs in the Western Hemisphere. Within the general framework of the Alliance for Progress, the Latin American countries undertook to carry out reforms with the purpose of achieving certain objectives of economic growth, social welfare, regional integration and administrative modernisation. At the same time, the United States undertook to provide a certain volume of resources supplementary to the Latin American effort, a part of which would take the form of bilateral and multilateral aid. An essential part of this joint effort was the strengthening of regional financial agencies such as the Inter-American Development Bank and the Central American Economic Integration Bank, and certain multilateral mechanisms were institutionalised for the joint formulation of policies and recommendations and for periodic evaluation of progress achieved: the Inter-American Economic and Social Council (C.I.E.S.) and the Inter-American Committee for the Alliance for Progress (C.LA.P.).