<P> President Roosevelt's policy after 1939 was to pay special attention to Latin America, to fend off German influence, to build a united front on behalf of the war effort, and then to win support the United Nations . Only Brazil sent large units to the war fronts . British intelligence knew about Roosevelt's fears and exploited them in 1941 by producing a fake map that indicated German plans for taking over South America . Roosevelt's appointment of young Nelson Rockefeller to head the new, well - funded Office of the Coordinator of Inter-American Affairs provided energetic leadership; in practice Rockefeller reported to Roosevelt and largely ignored the State Department . Anti-fascist propaganda was a major project across Latin America, and was run by Rockefeller's office . It spent millions on radio broadcasts and motion pictures, hoping to reach a large audience . Madison Avenue techniques generated a push back in Mexico, especially, where well - informed locals resisted heavy - handed American influence . Nevertheless, Mexico was a valuable ally in the war . A deal was reached whereby 250,000 Mexican citizens living in the United States served in the American forces; over 1000 were killed in combat . In addition to propaganda, large sums were allocated for economic support and development . On the whole the Roosevelt policy was a political success, except in Argentina, which tolerated German influence, and refused to follow Washington's lead until the war was practically over . </P> <P> After the United States declared war on Germany in December 1941, the Federal Bureau of Investigation drafted a list of Germans in fifteen Latin American countries it suspected of subversive activities and demanded their eviction to the U.S. for detention . In response, several countries expelled a total of 4,058 Germans to the U.S. Some 10% to 15% of them were Nazi party members, including some dozen recruiters for the Nazis' overseas arm and eight people suspected of espionage . Also among them were 81 Jewish Germans who had only recently fled persecution in Nazi Germany . The bulk were ordinary Germans who were residents in the Latin American states for years or decades . Some were expelled because corrupt Latin American officials took the opportunity to seize their property or ordinary Latin Americans were after the financial reward that U.S. intelligence paid informants . Argentina, Brazil, Chile and Mexico did not participate in the U.S. expulsion program . </P> <P> "Most Latin Americans have seen their neighbor to the north (the United States) growing richer; they have seen the elite elements in their own societies growing richer--but the man in the street or on the land in Latin America today still lives the hand - to - mouth existence of his great, great grandfather...They are less and less happy with situations in which, to cite one example, 40 percent of the land is owned by 1 percent of the people, and in which, typically, a very thin upper crust lives in grandeur while most others live in squalor ." </P> <P> Officially started in 1947 with the Truman doctrine theorizing the "containment" policy, the Cold War had important consequences in Latin America . Latin America was considered by the United States to be a full part of the Western Bloc, called "free world", in contrast with the Eastern Bloc, a division born with the end of World War II and the Yalta Conference held in February 1945 . It "must be the policy of the United States", Truman declared, "to support free peoples who are resisting attempted subjugation by armed minorities or outside pressures ." Truman rallied to spend $400.000. 000 to intervene in the Greek civil war, while the CIA (created by the National Security Act of 1947) intervention in Greece was its first act in its infancy . By aiding Greece, Truman set a precedent for U.S. aid to regimes, no matter how repressive and corrupt, that requested help to fight communists . Washington began to sign a series of defense treaties with countries all over the world, including the North Atlantic Treaty of 1949, which created NATO, and the ANZUS in 1951 with Australia and New Zealand . Moscow response to NATO and to the Marshall Plan in Europe included the creation of the COMECON economic treaty and the Warsaw Pact defense alliance, gathering Eastern Europe countries which had fallen under its sphere of influence . After the Berlin Blockade by the Soviet Union, the Korean War (1950--53) was one of the first conflicts of the Cold War, while the US succeeded France in the counter-revolutionary war against Viet - minh in Indochina . </P>

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