Week 12: Speaking Truth To Power

The stories of the Madres de la Plaza de Mayo is a chilling tale of what authoritarian governments, left or right wing, can do and the people that it impacts. Here mothers of abducted students in the 1980s protested the government when very few groups would be tolerated as protesters.

Elsewhere in Latin America the war on drugs was in full swing with U.S. imperialism having a heavy swag in the internal politics of affected nations; with the U.S. demanding that governments comply or be hit with sanctions and a loss of U.S. trade and aid. During this time the pressure on governments to capture the drug smugglers and producers that innumerable human rights violations took place.

Also in this time we began to see the issue of illegal immigration into the U.S. take a forefront, culminating in the Mexican government giving out a Migrant Guide that infurated the U.S. government because the Mexican government was helping people to break U.S. immigration law, highly undiplomatic at the least. However these illegal immigrants were important for Mexico as remittances were the 3rd largest source of foreign revenue to the country.

Week 11: The Terror

This chapter was interesting as it shed light onto some of the problems that are often shown in the stereotypical view of Latin America. Starting with Alberton Fujumori in Peru, with guerrillas destroying the country, he made the government into a dictatorship. The reason why Peru was so special is because the Communists that forced Fujumori to declare a dictatorship, the Shining Path, came very close to toppling the democratically elected government. The Shining Path was founded by University professors and spoke to the woes of the country people. During Fujumori's reign the economy was utterly destroyed with the GDP being reduced by 20% and inflation hitting 10 000%, numerous atrocities and holocausts were committed by both sides, and journalists and other political opponents were murdered or disappeared.

The text testimonio details a similar account of what happened in Argentina with the authoritarian government there lead by the Argentine military. The harrowing tale speaks of the fate of the author's father, mother, and several brothers that were tortured by the Argentine Government.

Week 10: Power to the People

This chapter was very interesting in its focus on populism and how populism was served by technological innovations such as radio and television. The power of music and other forms of media is exemplified by how the Vargas government in Brazil paid such special attention to them, specifically the Samba. Eventually Samaba and the radio toppled an entire regime, which was of course unprecedented.

Meanwhile the military coup that preceded the right wing authoritarian government was a very important point in history for Argentina. Tango was an important part of the political atmosphere of the time, acting much like the blues did for the African Slaves in the U.S. Tango was marked by its sad tunes, that were reflective of the horrible conditions they lived under by the argentine dictators.

Radio also helped spread populism, and through televised speeches and her amplified voice, Eva Peron rose to power. Hated by the establishment Peronism became a defining ideology in argentine politics, much to the angst of the U.S. which regarded it as anti American with the NYT reporting on developments in regards to Peronism in a negative light.

Week 9: Commerce, Coercion, and America’s Empire

This chapter's focus on neocolonialism makes it possibly the most interesting yet. The new power dynamics of the American Quasi-Empire especially when contrasted to formal European Empires, are certainly a challenge for the nationalists of the various Latin American countries.

UFCO shows how powerful corporations backed by governments can be, UFCO operated in a way very similar to the British East India Company, near total control by (semi) private enterprise, a corporatocracy in effect.

How the United States subversively and covertly controlled Caribbean countries was much more like Britain dealing with protectorates than dealings between to sovereign nations, the added element of U.S. military involvement add an extra layer to this relationship and contrast it with European protectorates, where perhaps U.S. behaviour was more like a conventional empire than current Empires acted, at least in some cases.

Week 8: Signs of Crisis in a Gilded Age

Signs of Crisis in a Gilded Age is certainly a thought provoking chapter; it is highly significant for the coming decades in the international political stage. Here we start seeing the fractures of society on the left and right of the political spectrum, with what are essentially fascists (Liga Patriótica Argentina) and socialists/communists (José Carlos). As we know these divides in Latin America will play a large part in the way the region is percieved and intereracted with by the great powers. It is also a chapter that highlights "Our America" which the author José Martí, warns about interactions with the great powers and the alleged U.S. involvement in Latin American countries.

The chapter does make one question the validity of democracy and liberal values, when approached with the (temporary) success of Porfirio Diaz's regime. It is understandable how autocratic measures were needed to ensure development, with the example of "In Mexico, almost every mile of railway construction was accompanied by some minor conflict." Modern semi-dictatorships such as China and Singapore further show that maybe Diaz was onto something, that perhaps it is difficult to develop in a liberal democratic framework.

However the juxtaposition to what Porfirio Diaz had previously asserted in the preceding chapter is also an interesting aspect of this chapter, the fact that he gave the impression that he was committed to the democratic ideal but most of what he said was just pandering and not reflective of what he truly believed. Similar to politicians in the modern era, and likely throughout human history. The way that the Mexican revolution played out was also mentioned in this chapter. With the Constituitonalists eventually gaining power. It was interesting for me to read about where most of the power lies in terms of revolutions, with the urban middle class apparently having much of the power.

Week 7: The Export Boom as Modernity

The modernization of Latin America is quite an interesting tale of (neo) colonialism, politics, and power. I found it really interesting how Latin American countries throughout the golden ages of their export based economy (Aprox. 1830-1930) acted in regards to domestic affairs and the international stage. Leading on from the "strongmen"/Caudillos the authoritarian nature of much of Latin America at that time was fascinating, where the Spaniards had colonized with the premise of bringing civilization to the Americas, and the racial inferiority of the Native Americans, a very similar kind of rationale was put forth by these now independent governments for modernizing society, especially in rural areas, and (again) doing so through authoritarian means.

The text that was included in the chapter was a very interesting real life example of what was happening in Latin America at the time. With General/Presidente Porfirio Díaz being a prime example of a strongman, his early policies were quite authoritarian in nature, in his own words they were "sometimes...harsh to the point of cruelty". The fact that a man who presided over human rights abuses, allegedly discouraged an opposition to his reign, and someone who ruled the country for 36+ years; had so much hope for the future Mexico to be self governing and modern, was quite perplexing to an outsider such as myself or even, seemingly, the author. 

Even though an autocratic governor, Diaz seems to be devoted to the ideals of freedom, justice, and democracy. In regards to repudiating the national debt, Diaz rejected the idea because it was "dishonest". Diaz exemplifies what the ideal Latin American leader in the 19th and early 20th century was, patriotic, honourable, but ruthless.

Week 6: Citizenship and Rights in the New Republics

I find the history of rights and citizenship in Latin America to be quite interesting. The history of slavery in the region draws parallels to the U.S. Southern States where a lot of the economy was based around slavery, even after slavery was abolished the same "unofficial practices" cropped up in the United States, and were actually even more official than the LA "policies". Another thing that suprised me was the apparent disdane for women in LA, whereas in Europe and elsewhere race was seen as a more important distinction, in LA race wasn't viewed as importantly as gender was. The lack of rights for women in the New Republic of LA was very surprising.

Another thing which was rather interesting was the divide between Native Americans and Colonialists when it came to both land laws (the semi serfdom of Native Americans) and the symbolism that the liberal elites used when trying to sow nationalist fervor in their respective countries compared to their treatment and belittlement of the living Native Americans was also rather appalling.

Overall I found the issues of citizenship and rights in the New Republics to be interesting and strange when compared to Europe and North America, but at the at the same time similar in multiple ways.