The FBI in Latin America

The Ecuador Files

Nonfiction, History, Americas, United States, 20th Century
Cover of the book The FBI in Latin America by Marc Becker, Duke University Press
View on Amazon View on AbeBooks View on Kobo View on B.Depository View on eBay View on Walmart
Author: Marc Becker ISBN: 9780822372783
Publisher: Duke University Press Publication: August 17, 2017
Imprint: Duke University Press Books Language: English
Author: Marc Becker
ISBN: 9780822372783
Publisher: Duke University Press
Publication: August 17, 2017
Imprint: Duke University Press Books
Language: English

During the Second World War, the FDR administration placed the FBI in charge of political surveillance in Latin America. Through a program called the Special Intelligence Service (SIS), 700 agents were assigned to combat Nazi influence in Mexico, Brazil, Chile, and Argentina. The SIS’s mission, however, extended beyond countries with significant German populations or Nazi spy rings. As evidence of the SIS’s overreach, forty-five agents were dispatched to Ecuador, a country without any German espionage networks. Furthermore, by 1943, FBI director J. Edgar Hoover shifted the SIS’s focus from Nazism to communism. Marc Becker interrogates a trove of FBI documents from its Ecuador mission to uncover the history and purpose of the SIS’s intervention in Latin America and for the light they shed on leftist organizing efforts in Latin America. Ultimately, the FBI’s activities reveal the sustained nature of US imperial ambitions in the Americas.

View on Amazon View on AbeBooks View on Kobo View on B.Depository View on eBay View on Walmart

During the Second World War, the FDR administration placed the FBI in charge of political surveillance in Latin America. Through a program called the Special Intelligence Service (SIS), 700 agents were assigned to combat Nazi influence in Mexico, Brazil, Chile, and Argentina. The SIS’s mission, however, extended beyond countries with significant German populations or Nazi spy rings. As evidence of the SIS’s overreach, forty-five agents were dispatched to Ecuador, a country without any German espionage networks. Furthermore, by 1943, FBI director J. Edgar Hoover shifted the SIS’s focus from Nazism to communism. Marc Becker interrogates a trove of FBI documents from its Ecuador mission to uncover the history and purpose of the SIS’s intervention in Latin America and for the light they shed on leftist organizing efforts in Latin America. Ultimately, the FBI’s activities reveal the sustained nature of US imperial ambitions in the Americas.

More books from Duke University Press

Cover of the book Jacques Rancière by Marc Becker
Cover of the book Soul Power by Marc Becker
Cover of the book Democratic Dilemmas in the Age of Ecology by Marc Becker
Cover of the book Freedom with Violence by Marc Becker
Cover of the book An Absent Presence by Marc Becker
Cover of the book Entry Points by Marc Becker
Cover of the book Waves of Knowing by Marc Becker
Cover of the book Women, War, and the Making of Bangladesh by Marc Becker
Cover of the book Lunch With a Bigot by Marc Becker
Cover of the book Latent Destinies by Marc Becker
Cover of the book Deciding to Intervene by Marc Becker
Cover of the book The End of Japanese Cinema by Marc Becker
Cover of the book Romanticism Against the Tide of Modernity by Marc Becker
Cover of the book The Passion of Ingmar Bergman by Marc Becker
Cover of the book Catarino Garza's Revolution on the Texas-Mexico Border by Marc Becker
We use our own "cookies" and third party cookies to improve services and to see statistical information. By using this website, you agree to our Privacy Policy