Nelson Rockefeller’s American International Association (AIA) in Latin America (1946–1968)

Claiton Marcio da Silva

Exported Experts, Latin American Farmers and Negotiating Modernity

The Making of Modern Agriculture addresses how an American philanthropic agency – the American International Association for Economic and Social Development (AIA) – influenced the course of agricultural development in Latin America during the Cold War. Operating from 1946 to 1968, the AIA was an endeavour designed by the multimillionaire and politician Nelson Aldrich Rockefeller (1908–1979) to maintain the United States’ influence on foreign policy through Latin America. With a major presence in Venezuela and Brazil, the AIA also conducted rural development programmes in Chile, Costa Rica, as well as studies of Trinidad & Tobago, Paraguay, Peru, China and India. With an unwavering faith in the principles of science and technology, the AIA exported experts who began their careers in reformist organisations during the New Deal and later expected to accommodate similar programmes in Latin America during and after WWII. Read more.