U.S. policy in Central America

I didn't know very much about U.S. foreign policy in Central America over the past 100 years before this weeks readings (and I guess I still don't know very much about it), but after reading Bananos y Hombres and the reading by Whisnat about Sandino I understand why there are prevalent anti-american sentiments in Central America. I'm a pretty politically moderate guy, but it seems that U.S foreign policy in Nicaragua, and later Guatemala during the 20th century was strongly motivated by North Americas economic interests at the expense of Central Americas development. Its also unfortunate that the Central American civil wars (especially in Guatemala) seemed to occur at the height of the Red Scare in the U.S., causing the U.S. to come down harshly on anything that appeared to be associated with Communism. I know that any nations foreign policy is motivated by its own interests, but I think that U.S. intervention in both Nicaragua and Guatemala really retarded the progress of those nations. Also I got a book on Amazon about a week ago called Bitter Fruit:The Story of the American Coup in Guatemala, I've only skimmed it but it seems like good source if anyone is planing on writing their paper on the Guatemalan civil war.