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Latin America
Our neighbor
to the
South
Long Term Colonization
Latin America was colonized by Spain and
Portugal about five hundred years ago.
Most of it became independent by revolution 150200 years years ago
This colonization has had lasting effects:
• Strong Ethnicity based socio-economic classes
– Mostly European upper class
– Mixed middle and lower classes
– Native American class…lowest class
• Concentration of money and land in the hands
of the uppermost class
• An economy based on export…profits often
flowing out of the country
Dictatorships
After independence most Latin American countries
wrote constitutions based on that of the US.
However they lacked either a tradition of
democratic government or a large educated
middle class.
The Upper class and Foreign interests (mostly US)
corrupted the governments, bribery is common,
and made most became dictatorships.
The Cold war made matters worse as the US
backed the dictators rather than reformers with
ties to communism
and socialist policies such as land reform.
Drug War
The use of Drugs by people in the US and their illegal status
has caused problems in Latin American Nations such as :
Mexico, Columbia & Peru.
The US had a demand and a drug trade developed to meet
it…causing problems:
• Weak governments allowed Drug Lords to establish areas
where they rule over drug growing “peasants.”
• Worse Government Corruption as Drug lords bribe officials
• Wasted Resources
– Production… land and $ could have been used better
– Governments… spend $ and manpower fighting Drug
lords
• Violence ….Since the Trade is illegal disputes cannot be
settled in courts thus Drug Lords take “Justice” into their
own hands.
Socialist Movements
As the Gap between the Rich and Poor is at the root of
many problem in Latin America
Many Reform movements if not communist have had
socialist ideas such as:
• Land reform…giving “peasants’ the ownership of
the lands they work
• Nationalization of corporations. The Gov. took
control of companies and their resources
• Income Redistribution “Robin-hood” Gov.
Venezuela is an example…
Its Former leader Hugo Chavez has done all three
reforms and been very critical of the US.
The Last Truly Communist Country
In 1959 Fidel Castro and Che Guevara led a successful
communist revolution in Cuba
Fidel ruled Cuba and Che promoted revolution elsewhere
Officially China and North Korea are communist
but China has made Capitalist Reforms and North Korea is
totalitarian
Leaving Cuba last true communist state
The US has an embargo it and though relations have become
better recently
It supports communist and socialist movements in other
countries such as Venezuela
The only stable Democracy
Costa Rica
Most Latin American countries have difficulty
maintaining a stable Government.
This is usually because the military seizes power
to become a “Ruling Junta”
Costa Rica is the exception.
It abolished its military in 1948.
It has been a stable democracy with a stable
economy ever since!