Transcript Contemporary

 The brutal repression of the ideologies of socialism and communism by
conservative reactionaries had taken its toll on Latin America. From the early 1950’s
to the early 1990’s, military dictatorships had systematically taken away the
individual rights of nearly every Latin American citizen. Those who rebelled were
arrested, tortured and executed in order for the junta governments to retain their
power. After years of censorship and violence many nations in Central and South
America had overthrown the harsh dictatorships and returned to more democratic
forms of government. However, years of corruption and revolution had left many of
these nations bankrupt and in debt. A new form of government called
Neoliberalism would attempt repair the extensive economic and political damage
in Latin America.
 A significant percentage of the population had given up hope on their governments
ever reforming the unstable nature of Latin America. Nationalism, socialism,
communism and military dictatorships had all failed to bring peace and prosperity
to their nations so people looked for other ways to build a better life. A large
number of Latin Americans began to immigrate to other nations such as the United
States and Canada in search of this dream. Many of these immigrants became
illegal migrants and gained entry to other countries without permission. Those
who were not willing or able to immigrate began to turn to illegal enterprises such
as Narco-Trafficking (drug dealing) to earn money. Unfortunately this would
only lead to more violence and corruption.
Neoliberalism: Latin American politics had moved away from the idea of nationalism in the
1990’s. The Marxist-communist rebels had been extremely nationalistic as well as the
reactionary dictatorships . The violent civil wars between these two factions had discredited
the idea that nationalism could stabilize Latin American governments. The economic and
political philosophy of neoliberalism became popular with the new democratic governments.
Neoliberalism seeks to create a free trade economy, stimulate export production and exploit
comparative advantage. (making a product or offering a service better than other
countries and trading for other goods that you need)
 By rejecting nationalism the new governments used neoliberalism to reform the debt crisis
that was destroying their economies. All the companies that had been “nationalized” by the
old military juntas were privatized and run by corporations that stimulated competition and
profit. Many state run social services such as utilities and health care were also privatized and
began to earn profits. Tariffs on imports were also cut to encourage other countries to trade
with Latin America. Neoliberals also reduced subsidies (governments pays you to reduce
crops to control prices) on agricultural products to encourage farmers to produce more
goods. The goal of all these reforms was to decrease inflation (as prices rise the value of
the currency is reduced) and eliminate debt.
 Many neoliberals became popular because their policies actually worked. The foreign debts
that Latin American countries had created in the 1970’s and 1980’s were enormous. In 1986
Latin America owed close to 400 billion dollars to European and U.S. banks. The new
economic plans began to reduce these numbers with careful financial planning. As progress
was being made the banks encouraged the reforms because now they could get paid back.
The International Monetary Fund (run by the U.S. ….) now made neoliberalism
mandatory for all future loans. This would help them regulate debt but limited political
options in Latin American Nations. Many welfare programs were cut in order to carry out
these financial reforms and while the middle class and upper classes began to recover, the
lower classes once again found themselves being left out of the economic progress.
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Neoliberals had cut the debt in half in countries such as Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay and
Uruguay. These countries created a free trade agreement with each other in order to move
their products from one country to the other more efficiently and for cheaper prices. Mexico,
the United States and Canada signed NAFTA (North American free trade agreement) and
created a similar economic boom between the three nations during the early 1990’s.
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Latin America became known as an “emerging market” and billions of dollars in foreign
investment capital began to flow into the region. Latin American nations used this money to
build factories that used cheap labor to maximize profits called Maquiladoras. These
factories were extremely popular with European and American companies because they could
“outsource” their labor force to places like Mexico, India or China and pay their workers next
to nothing with no benefits. The private corporations made huge profits on these “Sweat
shops” (especially clothing companies) while many lower class Americans and Europeans
lost their jobs which created a hatred for foreign labor.
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Meanwhile the middle class in Latin America benefitted from this economic boom while the
poor could still not afford the new consumer products that were now available. An example
on how this works can be seen in how much the economies of Latin America produced per
person. In Brazil, Argentina and Mexico the average person produced $8000, in Bolivia and
Guatemala it was $2000 while the average person in the U.S. produced $50,000.
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While the numbers were improving it came at a cost for the working class. Eventually the
neoliberal policies created an unemployment crisis. Privatizing the utilities was a disaster
because the cost of upgrading the poor rural areas was not profitable. Many utility workers
and government employees lost their jobs when the financial “bubble” burst. Neoliberalism
had a promising start but by 2003 many of these policies had collapsed and foreign investors
had pulled their money out of Latin America.
Maquiladoras
Cardozo of Brazil
Carlos Menem of Argentina
As neoliberalism began to fail numerous opposition groups began to rise up to challenge the
government policies.
 Mexico: Neoliberal President Carlos Salinas was in office during the NAFTA agreement and
the collapse of the Mexican economy. During his presidential term a revolutionary group
known as the Zapatistas or EZLN(Zapatista army of liberation) began to speak out
against the government and called neoliberalism “the fourth world war” (The Cold War was
the third). The Zapatistas wanted equality for all the indigenous people of Mexico and
gathered a large following with the Maya tribe in the countryside. The group was a mix of
anarchism and Marxism and claimed to have no leader but were inspired by Emiliano Zapata
and Che Guevara. The demands of the EZLN were given by mysterious masked man known as
Subcomandante Marcos. His image was spray painted all over Mexico and he became a
sensation. Marcos soon became an international symbol of rebellion for native people’s
rights.
 President Salinas had lost the 1994 election because he was blamed for the economic collapse
in Mexico and the new president Ernesto Zedillo had to deal with the Zapatistas. Zedillo
launched an investigation into the true identity of Marcos and found out he was a an
immigrant from Spain named Rafael Guillén. Zedillo felt that Marco and the EZLN were
terrorists and decided to send the army after them at their jungle base in southern Mexico.
 Once the army arrived they committed acts of brutality against the local Mayas that were
caught on video and posted on the internet by the Zapatistas. To make matters worse, the
Catholic Bishop in the area supported the EZLN and told the world they were pacifists and
had not hurt anyone. Zedillos’ government was seen as aggressive and the world press put
pressure on him to find a peaceful solution. This was called the Zapatista Crisis of 1995.
Zedillo and the EZLN came to a peaceful solution and Subcomandante Marco became even
more popular for telling his group to lay down their weapons forever. Zedillo also was seen in
a positive light after releasing all the Zapatistas that the army had arrested.

Carlos Salinas of Mexico
Ernesto Zedillo of Mexico
Subcomandante Marcos
Zapatistas
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Peru: Although Peru was relatively peaceful during the Cold War years a revolutionary
movement called The Shining Path became powerful in the 1980’s and was aggressively
against neoliberalism. Unlike the Zapatistas, the Shining Path was extremely communist and
violent. They used terrorism against government officials and rural peasants to accomplish
their goals. Their leader Abimael Guzman was charismatic and gained popularity among the
indigenous Incas who had been mistreated for centuries. Guzman began growing coca plants
and selling cocaine to fund his “revolutions”. Ultimately the shining path became Narcoterrorists (terrorists who sell drugs) and were on the world’s most wanted list. Guzman
was captured in 1992 and his organization began to crumble. However, dealing with the
violent group had made the neoliberal Peruvian government bankrupt and look weak, it soon
collapsed.
 The Illegal Drug Trade
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Colombia: The situation in Colombia was unique compared to other Latin American
nations. During the neocolonialism era (1880-1930) the country was ruled by conservatives
while every other South American country switched to liberalism. A military junta or dictator
never ruled Colombia during the Cold War either. However during the 1940’s to the 1960’s a
period of rural killings called La Violencia swept through Colombia. The violence began
after a liberal populist leader named Jorge Gaitan was assassinated. No one ever claimed
responsibility for the killing but many believe he was killed by the conservatives who were
afraid he would win the presidential election of 1948.
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During the next 2o years random violence broke out in the Colombian countryside and
spread to the cities with more than 20,000 people being killed. Death rates in Colombia
began to rise to 100 a day which is unusual for a country that is not at war. This led to a rise in
street crime and poverty. It was this atmosphere that Pablo Escobar was born into.
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Escobar grew up in the 1950’s and 1960’s during La Violencia and became a well known street
thief and thug as a teenager. In the early 1970s he entered the drug trade by selling large
amounts of marijuana and then he entered the cocaine trade. His ambition and ruthlessness
in the cocaine trade would make him one of the wealthiest, most powerful and violent
criminals of all time. He often offered people only two choices: “plata o plomo”.
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Under his leadership, large amounts of coca paste was purchased in Bolivia and Peru,
processed, and brought to the United States. Escobar collaborated with five or six other illegal
entrepreneurs from the Medellin area, forming the infamous Medellin Cartel. (first
organized cocaine cartel)
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Escobar eventually controlled over 85% of the cocaine shipped to the U.S. He was named one
of the ten richest people on earth by Fortune and Forbes magazines with a net worth of 5
billion dollars in 1989. But his rise to infamy cost the lives of three Colombian presidential
candidates, an attorney general, a justice minister, more than 200 judges, dozens of
journalists and more than 1,000 police officers.
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In 1990 the United States and the Colombian governments attempted to destroy Escobar’s
drug empire with military force. Escobar began a reign of terror using narco-terrorism. He
kidnapped and killed DEA (Drug Enforcement Agency) agents and Colombian police
officers and set off truck bombs in the cities to cause panic.
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Eventually the U.S. and Colombian military was called in and surrounded Escobar’s estate. He
surrendered in 1991 and was sentenced to life in prison. He continued to run his empire from
jail but eventually decided to escape. While on the run he was tracked down and killed by
Colombian police officers in 1993.
Abimael Guzman
The Shining Path
Jorge Gaitan
La Violencia
Pablo Escobar
The violence in Colombia was made worse with the rise of Rural Guerrilla Armies. The
chaos of La Violencia had created groups of rebels that began to violently resist
neoliberalism, rejected imperialism and fought for peasants rights and a concept called
Bolivarianism. (Latin American self sufficiency and an end to corruption)The
most powerful of these groups was the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia or
FARC. This group was started in 1964 after the Colombian government attacked rural
villages in an attempt to stop the random violence that had been taking place. The
original members were marxists and attempted to revolt in order to retake the land from
the government. FARC was a small, underfunded movement in the 1960’s and 1970’s but
that changed when they entered the drug trade.
 In the 1980’s FARC began to sell drugs for Pablo Escobar’s cocaine cartel and their wealth
and numbers soared. They began to commit extreme acts of terrorism to bring attention
to their cause. FARC stole Simon Bolivar’s sword from a museum and claimed it
symbolized their new revolution. The group also carried out multiple kidnappings and
even held a foreign embassy hostage for 2 months. Their most violent act occurred in
1985 when they assaulted and captured the Colombian Supreme court building which
resulted in 95 civilians being killed along with all 9 justices of the court.
 The violence escalated again when FARC attempted to tax landowners who grew coca and
marijuana plants. The guerillas and the drug cartel turned on each other in a bloody war
and the people of Colombia were caught in the middle. The government was helpless
against the extreme violence and wealth of the drug lords. The United States stepped in
with military aid and a hard line president named Alvaro Uribe was elected in 2002. The
violence finally ended after Uribe and his military launched massive attacks against the
FARC guerillas and defeated them. During his presidency (2002-2010) Colombia’s murder
rate and kidnapping rate decreased dramatically.

Alvaro Uribe
 Indigenous Movements
After the collapse of the military juntas in the 1980’s, many indigenous Latin Americans felt
it was finally the time to attain equality. However, the legacy of the Spanish social class
system still haunted many Latin American nations. It had been centuries (1500’s) since the
first Spaniards had conquered the region so peninsulares no longer existed and very few
families could claim to be pure creoles. Mestizos had become the dominant social class in
almost every Latin American country while mulattos and natives were considered lower
class.
 Mestizo nationalism in the 1940’s to 1970’s often turned into racism towards the natives and
mulattos. In Mexico, mestizos were considered more Mexican than the indigenous Aztec and
Maya people. In Peru this racist view was repeated against the native Incas. Brazil and many
Caribbean nations saw a rise in hatred against citizens of African heritage. This
mistreatment inspired a civil rights movement that celebrated the multicultural aspects of a
nation not just its ruling class.
 Brazil: Racism had been deeply ingrained in Brazilian culture due its colonial past as a
Portuguese slave colony. Brazil was the last Latin American nation to abolish slavery in 1888.
Mestizos and creoles were the upper class of Brazil and saw the mulattos, Africans and
natives as beneath them. More than 50% of Brazilians were of mixed or full blooded African
descent while 20% was native. In effect the 30% of mestizos and creoles controlled most of
the wealth while the mulattos and natives lived in poverty. Skin color became the basis of
social standing: 1)Brancos (white) 2)Prados(brown) 3) Preto (black)
 This policy began to change in the 1960’s and 1970’s due to the wild popularity of Brazilian
soccer star Edson Arantes Nascimento better known as Pele. He is considered by many
soccer fans as the greatest player to have ever touched a soccer ball. He is also a mulatto or
“prado” and grew up in one of the worst favelas in Brazil. His skill on the field led Brazil to
three world cup championships in 1958, 1962 and 1970. Pele still holds the record for goals
scored with 1280 goals in 1360 games. His talent and popularity during very harsh times in
his nation helped Brazilians see past skin color. Pele was declared a national treasure in
Brazil and is still its most beloved citizen.
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The work of the Unified Black Movement in the 1970’s also helped Afro-Brazilians take
pride in their heritage. Members marched and protested racism all across Brazil. African
culture, music and religions began to become more accepted. The Afro-Brazilian martial art
Capoeira also gained popularity during the 1980’s and became a trend in the United States as
well. Today ethnicity is still an issue in Brazil but many of the younger citizens have become
much more liberal and do not see skin color as a rank of social class.
Illegal Immigration
 Immigration to the United States has been a dream to many people from lands all over the
world since the 1800’s. Irish, Chinese, Italian, German, Jewish and many other ethnicities
have immigrated to the U.S. in search of freedom and an opportunity to work towards a better
life. All these immigrants faced racism and harsh treatment by the established “natives”
because of their different languages, customs and religions. Eventually these ethnicities
blended in by adopting American customs and were accepted into “The Melting Pot” that
the U.S. became known for. In the 1950’s the U.S. government began to close the borders to
immigration and many foreign citizens were turned away.
 Starting in the early 1980’s massive illegal immigration began to occur on the southern U.S.
borders from Latin American countries. This was a result of the numerous political civil wars,
drug violence and failing economies. Many Latin Americans risked the dangerous journey to
the U.S. in order to build a better life by earning money doing the labor jobs that many
Americans were not willing to do. Unfortunately, this illegal form of immigration has created
social, economic and criminal problems in the United States.
 A Dangerous Crossing: Due to the illegal nature of Border Crossings, many migrants are
forced to use extreme measures in order to cross a heavily guarded U.S. border. Some illegal
immigrants hide in vehicles to cross, others make a long dangerous journey on foot across
deserts and cross over dangerous rivers. In Texas and Arizona , illegal immigrants are hunted
by a vigilante group known as the Minutemen. These “guardians of America” often kill
immigrants rather than turning them into the Border patrol. Many illegal immigrants drown
in rivers, die of thirst or snake bites in the desert or are caught by the border patrol.

If they can afford it, some migrants pay “Coyotes” (people who smuggle migrants to
the border) to help them cross the border. This can be extremely expensive ($2000 per
person) and dangerous. Coyotes are criminals and the majority of them work for the
Mexican drug cartels. They exploit immigrants by promising to take them to the U.S. but
often take them to an isolated area, rob them and abandon them. The drug cartels also
exploit immigrants by making them transport drugs to the U.S. as “mules”. A large
number of these people are arrested by U.S. authorities or are killed by the drug dealers
when they aren’t needed anymore. Overall, illegal immigration is a risky and difficult
ordeal.
 Reaction to Immigration: Latinos are the fastest growing ethnicity in the United States
In 2010 Latinos passed African-Americans as America’s largest minority group. More than
12 million of this population is in the U.S. illegally. Illegal immigrants often find work in
unskilled manual labor jobs for cash and do not pay taxes. U.S. citizens often react
negatively to this and feel that they are stealing U.S. jobs. The reality is most Americans
do not want these jobs or want more pay and benefits to do the same work.
 Many U.S. citizens feel deportation or increased border defenses and patrols are
necessary to solve the immigration problem. This feeling has created ethnic hatred
towards certain groups such as Mexicans, Guatemalans and other Central American
Immigrants. Illegal immigrants are Scapegoated or blamed for a failing economy,
overpopulation and deamericanization. Opponents of immigration say that it is
changing American society. There are Spanish language newspapers, television and radio
stations and bilingual classes in high schools. Many feel that this isn’t fair to other
cultures who did not receive the same treatment. The topic of immigration is
controversial and continues to be an issue in the United States today.
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Pele
Capoeira
 What is neoliberalism? Why did Latin American nations adopt this policy?
 What was NAFTA? How did it help create outsourcing and Maquiladoras?
 Compare and contrast the Zapatistas and The Shining Path.
 Who was Pablo Escobar? What was FARC? What were their effects on
Colombia?
 How has illegal immigration effected the United States and Latin America?
 What has this course taught you about Latin American history? Has Latin
America changed drastically from the Spanish conquest in the 1500’s? Why has
their been such a repeated cycle of violence? (extended answer please)