Foreign Relations of Greece - Americas

Both countries are represented by an Embassy in the other one's capital. At least 30,000 persons of Greek descent live in Argentina with about 5,000 with Greek passports. The majority of Greeks live in Buenos Aires.

• In addition to its Embassy in Brasília, Greece has two General Consulates in (São Paulo and Rio de Janeiro) and four Honorary Consulates.
• Brazil has an embassy in Athens.

• The nations first exchanged ambassadors in 1942.
• Both countries are members of the United Nations, the Human Security Network, the Organisation for Security and Co-operation in Europe, and NATO.
• Greece has an embassy in Ottawa, as well as a Consulate-General in Montreal, Toronto, and Vancouver.
• Canada has an Embassy with a Consular Office in Athens and an Honorary Consulate in Thessaloniki.
• Canadian Ministry of Foreign Affairs about relations with Greece
• Greek Ministry of Foreign Affaires about relations with Canada
• Greek embassy in Ottawa
• Canadian embassy in Athens

Cuba has an embassy in Athens and Greece has an embassy in Havana.

• Greece has an Embassy in Mexico City, along with honorary consulates in Mérida and Monterrey.
• Mexico has an Embassy in Athens and honorary consulates in Thessaloniki and Piraeus.
• Greek immigration to Mexico

The United States and Greece have long-standing historical, political, and cultural ties based on the shared democratic values, history of Greek immigration to the States and participation as Allies during World War II, the Korean War, and the Cold War. Previously, the US helped the reconstruction of post-war Greece through the Marshall plan and various other aids culminating at about $11.1 billion in economic and security assistance since 1946. The current mutual defense cooperation agreement (MDCA) provides for continued U.S. military assistance to Greece and the operation by the U.S. of a military facility at Souda Bay, Crete.

About three million Americans are of Greek ancestry. Greek-Americans are an established, well-organized community in the U.S. (several notable politicians, including former Vice-President Spiro Agnew, and Senators Olympia Snowe and Paul Sarbanes are of Greek ancestry), and they help cultivate close political and cultural ties with Greece. Greece has the seventh-largest population of U.S. Social Security beneficiaries in the world.

However, there is also a strong sentiment against USA policies towards Greece and the Balkans in general. Critics also charge the United States for supporting the 1967-1974 military junta in Greece, a fact that was acknowledged by Bill Clinton in his visit to Athens “When the junta took over in 1967 here, the United States allowed its interests in prosecuting the Cold War to prevail over its interests - I should say its obligation - to support democracy, which was, after all, the cause for which we fought the Cold War. It is important that we acknowledge that.”

This American support for the military regime led to left-wing terrorist groups, most notably 17 November, attacking US targets such as the killing of the Central Intelligence Agency's station chief in Athens, Richard Welch in 1975. The populist PASOK leader Andreas Papandreou had also a very strong anti-Western rhetoric, fueling the negative sentiments towards USA, even though it wasn't followed by actions.

The backing of Turkish invasion of Cyprus by Henry Kissinger, the Kosovo war and the invasion of Iraq have tarnished the image of the United States in the eyes of their European ally. More recently, the strong support of President George W. Bush towards the Republic of Macedonia in the naming dispute, evident in his recognition of the state as Macedonia in 2004 and in his full backing to the country's accession to NATO didn't do the United States' image in the country any good.