Chapter 32 Latin America in the 20th and 21st centuries

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Chapter 32Latin America in the 20th and 21st
centuries

• AP World History
• Ms. Sheets
• University High School

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Latin America After WWII

• WWII was not a critical event LA only moderately
  involved (Brazil aided US steel industry)
• New definitions
• First World capitalist industrialized nation
• Second World communist industrialized nation
• Third World developing nations, usually less
  economically powerful
• Latin America, despite regional variety, mostly
  fits the Third World definition because of its
  slow industrialization and lingering reliance on
  Western markets.
• Post-WWII surge of radical socialist unrest
  (Bolivia, Guatemala, Cuba)

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Mexico and the PRI

• 1930s 2000 Mexico controlled by Party of
  Institutionalized Revolution (PRI).
• PRI becomes corrupt and repressive
• 1994 Zapatistas emerged (guerilla movement) but
  were put down by the PRI.
• 1994 Mexico joined the North American Free Trade
  Agreement (NAFTA)
• US Canada Mexico
• Make North American trade competition for
  European markets strengthen North American
  markets
• 2000 Vicente Fox (National Action Party PAN)
  won national election

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1954 Guatemalan Coup

• Guatemalas struggles illiteracy poor health
  high mortality land and wealth unfairly
  distributed economy depends entirely on bananas
  and coffee
• President Jacobo Árbenz (1945-1951) used programs
  that conflicted with American companies in
  Guatemala (esp. United Fruit Company).
• Decree 900 Guatemalan land reform act
  (redistributed land to peasants increased
  cultivation and moved Guatemalan economy to
  capitalism)
• US CIA invaded Guatemala to overthrow Árbenz and
  installed a pro-US government.
• Construed Decree 900 as communist threat
• Banana Republic (new American-backed military
  government) reversed land reform.

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Cuban Revolution (1953-1959)

• Cuba was dependent on American imports and the
  export of sugar.
• US is leading trade partner with Cuba
• Disparity between middle classes and lowest
  classes grows rural areas lag behind
• 1952-1959 Fulgencio Batista ruled Cuba as
  military dictator.
• Little actual reform opposition movements rise
• Fidel Castro (young lawyer) and Ernesto Che
  Guevara (militant Argentinian revolutionary)
  joined in Mexico to create a small force to
  overthrow Batista.
• Pledge real democracy, justice, freedom
• 1959 26th of July Movement drove Batista from
  power while rebels take Havana
• Support from students, labor organizations, and
  rural workers.

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Castro and Cuban Socialism

• Castro made Cuba a socialist state
• Restrictions on social freedoms critics were
  exiled
• Collective farms, confiscated property of
  American businessmen, eliminate all private
  property
• US was beginning to dislike Batista because of
  his excesses, but now Castro is no better
• 1961 US and Cuba cut off relations with each
  other.
• Castro aligns Cuba with USSR Cuba needed the
  support
• What US feared is now true Soviet intrusion in
  W. Hemisphere
• Bay of Pigs (1961) U.S.-sponsored intervention
  by Cuban exiles to overthrow Castro failed
• Cuban Missile Crisis (1962)
• USSR installed missiles in Cuba to taunt the US
  as retaliation for Bay of Pigs
• US demanded missiles be moved, Soviets did not,
  US sent ships to Cuba, Soviet ships arrive ?
  Brinkmanship
• Cuba became increasingly dependent on the Soviet
  Union throughout the Cold War.

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Quick Review Question

• Why does the United States promote the overthrow
  of Guatemalan President Árbenz in 1954?
• What figures helped to promote the Cuban
  Revolution?

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The U.S. and Latin America

• After WWI, US is dominant power in West.
• Private investments by U.S. companies and loans
  from the government were the chief means of
  influence
• 1937 FDRs Good Neighbor Policy
• Promised to deal more fairly with Latin America
  and stop direct interventions ignored during the
  Cold War.
• 1961 Alliance for Progress launched by US
• Aimed to develop regions and eliminate radical
  political solutions
• 1970s US cedes Panama Canal to Panama
• After 2000, US concerns with Latin America
  continued to focus on issues of commerce,
  immigration, the drug trade, and political
  stability.
• Armed drug lords and cartels that threaten Latin
  American global stability

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U.S. Military Interventions, 1898-2000

• US intervened in Latin America to protect
  investments and contain communism.
• More than 30 interventions before 1933
• After interventions, US helped to create Banana
  Republics
• Conservative governments (often corrupt
  dictatorships) that would be friendly to the US
  and US financial interests.
• Called this because of dependence on export of
  tropical products (Guatemala)
• Foreign intervention created a growing
  nationalist reaction.

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Latin American Militaries

• To counter socialism and protect investments, US
  supported authoritarian military regimes.
• Military officers saw themselves as above
  politics and best equipped to solve nation's
  ills remnant of post-colonial past in 19th
  century with caudillos
• In Brazil, Argentina, Chile, Uruguay, and Peru,
  governments were taken over by military-based
  rulers with repressive authoritarian and
  nationalistic inclinations.
• Military government economic policies hurt the
  working class land ownership and social
  conditions remained unchanged.
• 1970s and 1980s Increase in democratization and
  return to civilian governments in Argentina,
  Brazil, Peru, Nicaragua, Guatemala, Panama
• Leftist rebel groups continued to agitate in some
  of them, as in Columbia and Peru.
• Economies continued to struggle inflation a
  common problem.
• Large foreign loans taken in 1970s threatened
  economic stability in Brazil, Peru and Mexico.
• Despite difficulties, by the 1990s it appeared
  democratic trends were well established.

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Latin American Culture

• Latin America remains an amalgamation of cultures
  and peoples.
• Vast majority are Catholic, but Protestants are
  growing.
• Liberation theology Catholicism and Socialism
  joined to create change
• Art return to traditional culture for
  inspiration and social commentary (Diego Rivera,
  Frida Kahlo)
• Writers gained world recognition, especially
  those who penned social criticism.
• Dance tango salsa samba rumba mambo paso
  doble
• The struggle for social justice, economic
  security and political equality still exists.
• Distribution of wealth and land is arguably
  largest problem
• 1948 United Nations issued Universal
  Declaration of Human Rights, but included little
  power of enforcement beyond diplomatic or moral
  pressure.

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Latin American Gender and Migration

• Women were not allowed to vote until 1929
• Ecuador is first nation to grant womens suffrage
• Feminist movements pushed for inclusion into
  elected offices
• Industrial jobs expanded to include women.
• Shifts in attitudes about womens roles in
  society developed more slowly
• Migration
• Over 30 of the population of Latin America falls
  under the poverty line ? contributes to legal and
  illegal immigration to the US.
• Political refugees search for job opportunities
• Migration rural to urban areas is extremely high.
  
• Slums in major cities (Mexico City Rio de
  Janeiro)
• Migration is major and complicated regional issue
• Rapid and massive urban growth
• 1999 Latin America is greatest urbanized region
  in all developing locations

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Quick Review Question

• What is a Banana Republic?
• What two forms of a government does Latin America
  tend to see?
• What are modern problems that exist in Latin
  America today?