Those were areas that the white population was able to take over. And this system ruled for nearly 50 years, until the early 1990s, when you started to see much of the world turn against the system.

Franco Ordoñez is a White House Correspondent for NPR's Washington Desk. Before he came to NPR in 2019, Ordoñez covered the White House for McClatchy. He has also written about diplomatic ...