THE ARTICLE analyses North American security policy regarding Latin America since the end of the Cold War. The main transformations of this aspect of the US's foreign policy toward the region are considered. The tendency to incorporate new themes to the security agenda, such as the preservation of democracy, drug traffic and production and illegal migration is investigated. The US military presence in the region is also looked into. The importance that the Andean sub region acquired during the 1990s and the desire of the three first post Cold War administrations to stimulate the creation and reconstruction of multilateral mechanisms in the security sphere are evaluated.
