... assassination of Anastasio Somoza, Asuncion, 1980. The U.S. and it's "friend for a day" foreign policy at it's best.
..
You don't think the Somoza Dynasty painted a target on
on its own back after assisting the US Bay of Pigs....
The Shan of Iran was another who created his own
problems through his delusions and sham reforms
and the tyranny the CIA and SAVAK unleashed on
the Iranian people.
All together such efforts didn't do much to keep the
Shah on good terms.
Somoza was a graduate of West Point, and a staunch western ally. He undoubtedly ran rough over his own country, but he did so with the full support of U.S. foreign policy. And with the backing of many of our "instruments of foreign policy". His family supported the founding of the State of Israel, and when the Sandinista's threatened to overthrow Somoza's government the Israeli's responded by sending arms to Somoza for defense.
The Carter administration blocked transit of the final ship carrying the Israeli arms, which precipitated the fall of the Somoza regime. When Somoza fled Nicaragua, he flew to the U.S., but the Carter administration denied his entry. He then fled to Paraguay, where he was assassinated in 1980.
Somoza was in no wise a good guy. Never a just man, or ruler. He was about as corrupt as they come. But he was corrupt before we groomed him as an asset and used him. We groomed and facilitated his corruption for our own purposes. He was our "friend" until he wasn't.
And in a like manor we supplied and funded the mujaheddin in the mid 1980s. They weren't a great bunch of guys then. Not a great bunch of guys now. But we were their biggest and best supporter until one meeting between the U.S, and The USSR, and one letter of understanding cut that support off at the knees. They were our "friends" til they weren't.
As for the Shah, we put him into power in 1953. We clandestinely destroyed Mossadegh's legitimate govt and installed the Shah. Who, and you guessed it, was our friend until he wasn't.
And in a bit different manor;
Zaire in the 1970s was a major strategic supplier of copper and chromium. And the U.S., in support, supplied scientific and technical support that was denied to the entire continent of Africa by U.S. policy at that time
The U.S. also spent a lot of resources trying to prove Cuban(Russian) involvement in a lot of the unrest in Western Africa. The Cubans in turn spent huge Soviet resources to embarrass the U.S. by documenting their policy violations in Zaire.
When the FFL jumped into Kolwezi, supported by the US, it was heralded as a rescue and relief effort. The biggest relief was felt by those who had violated US policy to facilitate US dominance.
