Explanation: During the Cold War, the USA's 'traditional' 'interest' in Latin America escalated from patronizing opportunism to a rather... aggressive sense of entitlement to Latin American resources and allegiance. With the newly-founded CIA, a programme of supporting dictators, far-right paramilitaries, military coups, and general suppression of sovereignty in favor of US political and economic interests (or sometimes just the interests of individual American companies, like United Fruit) endured throughout the period, an intensity of oppression that only slackened after the fall of the Soviet Union, and thus decreased interest of the US electorate in foreign affairs.
As the kidnapping and attempted (if abortive) takeover of Venezuela and ongoing embargo of Cuba show, 'slackened' does not mean 'abandoned' by any means.