[simonh]

For similar reasons that the USA is the great pariah in Cuba. In both cases the USA was a primary supporter of a repressive totalitarian government kicked out by a popular revolution. It's just that in Cuba the revolution was communist while in Iran it had a strongly religious dimension. Other than the Iranian's support of the Palestinian cause, there's really no particular reason for them to be a great enemy of the west, except that we totally screwed them over repeatedly for a few generations.

[user_0001]

>For similar reasons that the USA is the great pariah in Cuba.

That should probably read "the great pariah in Latin America". Is there a country in the whole region the US hasn't overthrown, tried to overthrow, propped up a right wing dictator, funded death squads in the last 70 years?

I am failing to think of one....

[AnimalMuppet]

Costa Rica.

I'm not sure there are any others, though. Maybe Belize, though I'm not sure that counts as "Latin America".

[olifante]

As someone who admittedly knows very little about Belize, why would it not count as part Latin America?

[AnimalMuppet]

Because it was a British colony, not a Spanish or Portuguese one. That changes the whole culture.

[refurb]

In both cases the USA was a primary supporter of a repressive totalitarian government kicked out by a popular revolution.

You're missing the other side of the equation. The USSR used Cuba (and Cuba used the USSR) to repress the people of Cuba. Cuba was just a superpower pawn.