Modern Issues in Latin America

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Modern Issues in Latin America
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Dictatorships

• In Chile, in 1973, General Augusto Pinochet
  overthrew the elected president (Salvadore
  Allende) and began a military dictatorship
• He limited freedom of speech arrested,
  tortured, murdered many citizens
• In Argentina, Eva Juan Peron were overthrown by
  the army in 1955.
• Government leaders, students, teachers, labor
  leaders were captured by death squads
• Over 30,000 people disappeared in 1976
• Since the 1980s, Argentina has held elections for
  president

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• Brazil experienced cycles of dictators and
  democracies.
• 1st Brazil was a monarchy (from the Portuguese
  king), then a military coup put a dictator in
  power
• Then president Juscelino Kubitschek was popularly
  elected in the 1950s. He helped modernize Brazil
  but his projects made a tremendous debt
• The military seized power and ruled harshly.
  Opponents would be killed
• In 1990, a popularly elected president won
  control of the government. Since then, Brazilian
  presidents have struggled with debt, inflation
  poverty

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• Mexico was ruled by the dictator, Porfirio Diaz
  from 1876-1911
• The wealthy lived well under Diazs rule but the
  poor suffered
• In 1910, the peasants workers revolted and
  began an 11 year civil war
• 1 million Mexicans died
• Mexico became a democracy and made many economic
  reforms

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• In 1959, Fidel Castro seized control of Cuba
  still rules as a dictator
• He set up a 1 party state (there was no one else
  to vote for)
• Castro imprisoned or exiled his opponents
• He made Cuba communist and put the government in
  control of plantations and businesses

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Debt

• During the 1980s, interest rates rose. Latin
  America had over-borrowed money to build industry
  faced massive debts
• Some Latin American countries tried to increase
  trade to pay off their debts

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Cities

• Modernization, population explosion, debt
  caused many Latin Americans to move to the cities
• More people live in the cities than in the
  countryside
• Mexico City, Sao Paulo, Brazil Rio de Janiero,
  Brazil are huge metropolises
• Slums called favelas (in Brazil), villas miserias
  (in Colobia), and pueblos jovenes (in Peru)
  develop on the outskirts of the cities
• They often have no electricity, running water,
  sewers, doctors, schools, etc. But many slums
  are better than rural life

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The Church

• The Catholic Church is still a very powerful
  force however, there is a significant growth in
  the Protestant faith
• Church leaders have begun to separate from the
  wealthy elite and support the poor.
• Liberation Theology is the movement for the
  Church to take a more active role in eliminating
  poverty

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Music

• Latin America music is influenced by African
  heritage European influence
• Drum beats call-and-response singing common in
  Brazil, Cuba, Jamaica, Haiti are examples of
  African roots
• European waltz polka have affected Mexican
  music
• Mariachi, calypso, reggae, salsa, tango
  merengue all came out of Latin America

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Race

• Race ethnicity continue to divide people of
  Latin America
• Race impacts countries that had large slave
  populations like Brazil, Haiti, Jamaica
• Ethnic identity, Amerindians, and European
  descent impacts countries such as Mexico,
  Guatemala, Peru, Colombia, Brazil, etc
• Those considered European descendants have the
  most power
• Music Sports create the most equal environments
  for all ethnicities
• Soccer is the most popular sport (Baseball is
  growing fast!)
• Soccer great, Pele helped break racial
  constraints in Brazil and many other LA countries