Latin America
The World is Divided
• 1st world
• Industrialized capitalist nations
• 2nd world
• Communist nations
• 3rd world
• non-aligned newly developing nations
• Need help to stabilize economies & political
systems
• both superpowers eager to help
Cuba
• 1959
– Fidel Castro overthrew US backed
dictator Fulgencio Batista
• Castro
– Created dictatorship
– nationalized the economy
– confiscated US owned businesses
– turned to USSR
Cuban Missile Crisis (1962)
• Bay of Pigs invasion (1961)
– Failed US aided invasion by Cuban exiles
• Nikita Khrushchev
– missile in Cuba for defense
– Brink of nuclear war
• Political Resolution
– Soviets removed missiles from Cuba
– US removed missiles from Turkey
• agreed not to invade Cuba
Cuba Today
• Fidel Castro
– lead country from Jan 1959-Feb 2008 as:
• Prime Minister
• First Secretary of the Communist Party of Cuba
• President of the Council of State, Council of Ministers.
– Comandante en Jefe.
• Jul 31 2006
– Has intestinal surgery
– Transfers responsibilities to the First Vice-President, Raúl Castro
• Feb 19 2008
– Said he would not seek/accept a new term as president or commander-
in-chief
• Feb 24 2008
– National Assembly elected Raúl to succeed Fidel as President of Cuba
• Fidel Castro remains First Secretary of the Communist Party.
Nicaragua
• America supported dictator Anastasio Samosa (1933-1979).
• USSR backed Sandinista rebels led by Daniel Ortega
– Ortega overthrew Samosa.
• 1980 - 1990
– Ortega’s multi-partisan socialist junta controls country
– anti-American views created friction
• Iran Contra Affair
– Sandinistas supported Marxist rebels in El Salvador
– Fear of Domino Theory:
• led US to support anti-communist CONTRAS
– US sold weapons to Iranians to fund Contras
• political influence in releasing of American hostages.
Nicaragua Today
• 1990
– Ortega defeated by Violeta Barrios de
Chamorro in presidential election
• Ortega ran for office in 1996,2001,2006
– Won in 2006
• Govt. accused of:
– Corruption
– Denial of human rights
– Said to be heavily Sandinista leaning
Argentina
• Political instability created void in leadership.
• Juan and Eva Peron
– Used popularity to
• create a welfare state
• Dictatorship
– Argentina.
– Upon Evita’s death, church & military force Peron
into exile.
• Dirty War
– The military campaign of torture and murder
• Military leaders trained in US-financed School of the
Americas
• thousands “disappear.”
Argentina’s Leadership Struggle
• 1950s-70s
– soft military & weak civilian administrations traded power.
– Cycle of economy
– political violence escalated
– 1973
• Peron saw brief return to power
• The military dictatorships (1976-1983)
– increased country's foreign debt.
– charges of corruption
– public reaction to human rights abuses
– 1982
• defeat by British in Falklands War discredited military regime
• Democracy was restored in 1983
Argentina Today
• Hyperinflation under President Carlos Menem
– dismantled protectionist barriers & business regulations
– state companies and services were privatized
– flooding the market with dollars.
– foreign debt increased
• Open market to foreign goods = collapse of local
industry.
• 2007 Cristina Fernández de Kirchner
– becomes female president of Argentina.
Mexico
• Despite Multiple political parties, one party dominated (1920-2000).
– National Revolutionary Party /Institutional Revolutionary Party
controlled congress and presidency by:
• Fraud
• Corruption
• tainted elections.
• 1997-2000
– Peasant rebellion
– economic instability
– social concerns
• Caused PRI lose control
– Vincente Fox- National Action Party (PAN) elected president
• NAFTA
– removed trade barriers between Canada, the US, and Mexico
NAFTA
Pros Cons
• Removes barriers
to trade •US job loss
•Decreased border security
• Ease of travel
•Increased popular tensions
• Enhanced •Reduced demand for US
political relations products
• Reduced cost of
imported products
El Salvador (1931-1979)
• Series of military dictatorships
• Gen. Maximiliano Hernández Martínez (1931-1944)
– brutal suppression of rural resistance.
• 1932 La Matanza
– Farabundo Martí vs. Martínez's government
• Salvadoran peasant uprising
• indigenous people & political opponents persecuted
• 1969 Football War
– El Salvador invaded Honduras
• after Honduras deported several thousand Salvadorans.
– known as “football war”
• riots between fans at soccer game
El Salvador Today
• 1970s discontent leads to civil war
– societal inequalities
– a poor economy
– repressive measures of dictatorship
• US sided with military dictatorship
• human rights violations.
• 1979-1981
– Thousands killed by right-wing death squads backed by the military.
• 1984 to 1989
– José Napoleón Duarte
• moderate who offered alternative to political extremes of right and left,
• 1989
– Alfredo Cristiani elected president
• Jan 1992
– Govt. signed peace treaty with guerrilla forces, ends 12-year civil war
Guatemala
• 1950s -1990s
– US govt. supported govt.
• Training
• Weapons
• money.
• 1954
– Freely elected president overthrown by:
• CIA
• small group of landowners
• old military caste
• Catholic Church
– Govt. law took land from United Fruit Company
» U.S.-based banana merchant (Chiquita Banana).
Guatemalan Oppression
• 1979
– US stopped aid due to human rights abuses.
– Israel took over supply aid.
• 1980
– Quiché Indians took over Spanish Embassy protesting
abuses/massacres
– Army launched assault many die in fire
• Govt. claimed activists immolated themselves
• survivors claimed police killed protesters
• 1982
– Spain broke diplomatic relations with Guatemala.
– Govt. overthrown
• bloody campaign of torture, disappearances, & "scorched earth" warfare
• 1990s
– experienced stability
Cold War Effects on Latin America