"The exact same thing" is hyperbole of course, but the US was playing the "great game" of the Cold War just as well as the Soviets. Where the Soviets many times directly interfered by sending troops (while the US was less direct, with the exceptions of Korea, Vietnam, etc), the US preferred undermining existing regimes they didn't like in South America -- their "backyard" -- and propping up right-wing dictators trained in the School of the Americas (Chile, Argentina, etc).

The Soviets were way less subtle and way more direct, but I believe there are geographical reasons for this.