Latin America in the 20th Century

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Latin America in the 20th Century
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Latin America in the 19th Century

• Gained independence
• Legacy of colonization left many problems
• Powerful militaries
• One-crop economies
• Sharp class divisions
• European and U.S. economic domination
• Dependency Theory
• Rulers more interested in personal power than in
  democracy

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Political Instability

• Influence of caudillos
• Creole elites supported the status quo
• Little experience with European democracy
• Foreign Intervention
• Monroe Doctrine
• Spanish American War
• Panama Canal

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Mexico

• Revolution and Stability?

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Mexican Revolution

• Preliminary Phase
• Porfirio Diaz dominated Mexican politics and
  tried to industrialize using foreign capital
• Initial Phase
• Moderate reforms of Francisco Madero
• Radical Phase
• Civil war between Pancho Villa Emiliano
  Zapata both demanded radical reforms
• Recovery Phase.

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Recovery Phase

• Constitution of 1917
• Mexican government owned the subsoil and its
  products
• State had the right to redistribute land to
  peasants after confiscating it and compensating
  the landowners
• Lazaro Cardenas (1934-1940)
• Redistributed 45 million acres to peasants
• Seized control of Mexican oil wells from
  foreign investors

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Economy Since the Revolution

• Substantial land reforms continued
• Many Mexicans face poverty and unemployment
• Substantial foreign debt Economic decline
• New oil reserves found as world oil prices
  fell
• NAFTA

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The PRI

• Institutional Revolutionary Party, 1946
• Provided stability
• Not a true democracy
• PRI controlled the Congress and won every
  election fraud and corruption

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Economy Since the Revolution

• Substantial land reforms continued
• Many Mexicans face poverty and unemployment
• Substantial foreign debt Economic decline
• New oil reserves found as world oil prices
  fell NAFTA

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Cuba

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Cuban Revolution

• Preliminary Fulgencio Batista Economic
  growth U.S. Influence
• In1958,FidelCastro overthrew Batista
• 26th of July Movement
• Aided by Ernesto Che Guevara

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Fidel Castros Cuba

• Provided reforms economy, literacy, health care,
  improvement for women.
• Harsh dictator - suspended elections, jailed or
  executed opponents, restricted the press.
• Nationalized Cuban economy Castro turned to
  Soviets for economic and military aid.
• Cuban Missile Crisis

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Guatemala

• Juan Jose Arevalo used a series of reforms that
  conflicted with foreign companies working in
  Guatemala,
• Jacobo Arbenz was elected President in 1951.
• 1954 US CIA invaded Guatemala to overthrow Arbenz
  and
• installed a US-supported government.
• Reforms were minimal.

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Brazil
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Government in the Early 20th Century

• Originally government supports coffee and cacao
  planters and rubber exporters
• Large gap between rich and poor
• Getulio Vargas rules as a dictator in 1930s
• - Suppressed political opposition.
• Promoted economic growth and helped make
  Brazil a modern industrial nation.

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Post-WWII Brazil

• Government dominated by dictators
• Continued economic modernization
• Encouraged foreign investment to promote
  development projects.
• Debt soared and inflation increased, causing
  hardship for most Brazilians.
• Movements towards democracy since 1980
• Hampered by government corruption

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Argentina

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Argentina after WWII

• Juan Peron (1946-1954) promoted nationalistic
  populism
• Called for industrialization
• Supported the working classes
• Limited foreign economic intervention
• Military dictators dominate 60s, 70s, 80s
• Death Squads fought a dirty war against
  subversives from 1976-1983
• Democratic reforms demanded in the 1980s

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Eva Peron

• Immigrant and soap-opera star married Juan
  Peron in 1944
• Ministered to the needs of the descamisados
  shirtless ones
• Formed Eva Peron Foundation to help poor
• Died in 1952 at age of 33
• Husband lost popularity after her death

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Chile

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Chile

• Salvator Allende worlds 1st democratically
  elected Marxist president in 1970
• Gen Augusto Pinochet ousts Allende in CIA
  sponsored coup
• -3,000 people
• were killed or
• disappeared
• in his 17-year
• rule

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• Private investment by American companies were the
  chief means of influence in Latin America.
• The United States intervened periodically in
  Latin America to protect investments.
• Direct interventions were usually followed by the
  creation or support of conservative governments
  that would be friendly to the United States.

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Other U.S. Intervention

• Banana Republics
• U.S. backed dictators in a capitalist economic
  system
• U.S. backed dictatorships
• Augusto Pinochet in Chile
• Manuel Noriega in Panama
• Military intervention
• Sandinistas (USSR) vs. Contras (US) in
  Nicaragua

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• Many militaries in Latin American seized power
  after World War II and imposed new types of
  bureaucratic and authoritarian regimes.
• Government economic policies fell heaviest on the
  working class.
• All military governments were nationalistic.

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More US in Latin America

• The US launched a program called the Alliance for
  Progress in 1961, which aimed to develop regions
  and eliminate ideas of radical political
  solutions.
• After 2000, US concerns with Latin America
  continued to focus on issues of commerce,
  immigration, the drug trade, and political
  stability.
• Over 30 of the population of Latin America falls
  under the poverty line, which contributes to
  legal and illegal immigration to the US.

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Changes in Latin America 1980-

• South American governments returned to civilian
  governments in the mid 1980s.
• Large foreign loans taken in the 1970s
  threatened economic stability in Brazil, Peru and
  Mexico.
• International commerce in drug trafficking
  stimulates criminal activity in many Latin
  American countries.
• Latin American continues to have economic and
  political problems.

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• Women slowly gained suffrage in Latin America,
  but were even more slowly integrated into
  national political programs.
• Migration among Latin American countries is
  common because of job opportunities and politics.
  
• Movement in Latin American from rural to urban
  areas is extremely high.

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• Latin American popular culture combines crafts,
  music, dance.
• The struggle for social justice, economic
  security and political formulas still exists.
• Economics of Latin America have expanded but
  problems of distribution of wealth are prevalent.