Abstract
The United States has acted with an ambivalence toward Latin America, characterized largely by an inability to reconcile the precepts of national self- determination and national self-interest. The American government, in general, has championed a policy of hemispheric sovereignty, with each nation in possession of the innate right to shape its own destiny. On the other hand, United States-Latin American relations feature numerous cases of intervention on the part of the disseminator of this philosophy. For various reasons, the United States has, on occasion, determined that a sufficient threat to its welfare existed to warrant intrusion into the affairs of other nations. The purpose of these comments is not to determine the relative morality of such vacillation, but to point out the difficulty in developing a consistent foreign policy in a sensitive area under such conditions.