Latin America

1945-Present

What/Where is Latin America?

General Info - Problems• Economy since 1945– In 22 of 26 countries by 1960,

average person lived on less that $500/yr

– Bad economies led to military regimes in the 1960s/70s (government by military) who encouraged multinational corporations

– Dependence on other countries led to massive debt, countries turned toward democracy in 1980s

General Info – Problems, cont.

• Massive population growth– 1950 = 165 million;

1980s = 400 million• Gap between rich and

poor• Drug trade– Bolivia, Peru, Colombia

(3/4 of world’s supply)

Replica of 2010 World Cup made from 24 lbs. (11 kilos) of cocaine – seized by Colombian police July 2010

US and Latin America

• 1948 Organization of American States (OAS) – no military action by one state in another

• U.S. continued to intervene (political musical chairs in 1960s – CIA) – look at chart p. 908

• Leads to shaky US-Latin America relations – more on later

Identity Crisis

• Latin America has struggled to have artistic voice heard

• Literature• Magic realism• Gabriel Garcia Marquez – One

Hundred Years of Solitude• Abstract art• Architecture – Oscar

Niemeyer

Central America

Mexico

• PRI – Institutional Revolutionary Party = one-party system

• Mexican students protest one-party in 60’s

• After death of hundreds, slow progress made

• Oil discovery in 1970s = $ boom• Oil prices drop in mid-80’s =

debt = privatization • Vicente Fox defeated PRI for

presidency in 2000

Cuba

• Gov’t led by Fulgencio Batista since 1934

• Communist revolution led by Fidel Castro (1959)

• US-Cuba relations• Trade Embargo• Bay of Pigs• Cuban Missile Crisis• Poor economics after decline

of USSR

El Salvador, Nicaragua, Panama• El Salvador

– Commies vs. non-commies• Reagan gives weapons and training to

Salvadoran army• Civil War continues through 1992 (75,000

dead)

• Nicaragua– Somoza Family (supported by US)– Communist revolution led by Sandinistas

• Opposed by Contras (supported by Reagan)

• Panama– Led by Manuel Noriega (supported by

US)– Noriega involved in drug trade – Arrested by U.S. and put in prison

Argentina

• History of authoritarian regimes• Juan Peron• Falkland Islands vs. Great Britain• Back towards democracy in 1980s

Brazil

• Severe economic problems after WWII

• Military leadership in 1960s

• Massive foreign debt (up to 800%)

• Return to democracy in 1980s

Chile

• 1970 Salvador Allende elected president (Marxist/Communist)

• Shot in military coup led by Augusto Pinochet

• Human rights violations by Pinochet

• Defeated in 1989 – more democratic gov’t took over

Peru• Military takeover in 1968 by

Juan Velasco Alvarado• Sought to help peasants

through cooperatives• Economic problems didn’t let

up – military gov’t resigned• Shining Path (ties with

communist China) sought to create classless society through terror

• Freely elected Native President in 2001

Terms and Names

• Define the red terms and names and turn in• Additionally, on p. 908 answer the Chart Skills

question – you don’t have to write out a problem solving process, just provide possible options and solutions that might avoid future military takeovers