Revolution in Latin America, Coursework Example

Lesson 3.3: Reaction

While many in Latin America saw revolution as a “beacon of hope,” others believed it spelled disaster. The 1960s and 1970s saw the rise of a reaction against what was deemed the threat of revolution. How did calls for national security and anticommunism affect the region?

Assignment 3.3 a: 

Complete an analysis of Chasteen, Ch. 9 according to the Chapter Analysis Assignment Instructions.

1. The communist threat brought The United States and the armed forces of Latin America closer together than ever before. The United States, hoping to stop the spread of communism, offered to stop communist efforts outside of Latin America’s borders. Meanwhile, the Latin American armed forces were responsible for eradicating communism inside of the region. This strange partnership coordinated to form a violent counterrevolution.
2. The United States and the armed forces of Latin America formed an anti-communist alliance.
3. The United States fought against communist forces outside of Latin American borders, while the armed forces fought within them. The United States also provided military training to Latin American armed forces.
4. Additionally, the United States backed the Latin American armed forces financially. This increased the power and standing of the armed forces.
5. The alliance focused at first on economic reform. This was meant to decrease pro-revolution sentiment. When this attempt failed, Latin American generals looked for other means of prevention.
6. Communism was, indeed, spreading.
7. Latin American Artists seemed to flock toward communism. Brazilian filmmakers showed communist themes. Singers, artists and dramatists embraced the ideology.
8. Communist writers such as Gabriel Garcia Marquez and Carlos Fuentes were gaining international popularity. Even the Beatles seemed to reflect the growth of communism with their song, “Back in the USSR.”
9. With signs of the “red tide” appearing everywhere, The United States and its Latin American allies became fervent about combating the siege of communism.
10. As the alliance grew more fearful, it became more brutal.
11. The Latin American military began employing methods like torture, secret kidnapping and murder to eradicate the threat of communism.
12. These techniques were not rare, but, instead, widespread. Latin American militaries justified their actions with the thought that the “free world” was counting on them to save it from communism.
13. As time wore on, the military brutalized its prisoners. Some were raped for weeks, others were shocked, some were made to watch their loved ones tortured and some were sexually abused.
14. While the United States officially supported Democracy, its support of the Latin American armed forces led to the installation of dictatorships everywhere.
15. The dictators who came to power at this time were brutal and anything but Democratic.
16. Fighting against communism made many forget what they ought to have been fighting for.

Assignment 3.3 b: 

Answer the following questions as described, then save your analysis to a file and submit that file as an email attachment to your professor. Be sure to number your responses.

1. Economic problems were seen as central to the problems experienced in Latin America in the second half of the nineteenth century. What do the four documents linked below say about the approaches proposed for dealing with those economic problems? Provide a list of at least ten “notes,” specifically citing the documents. Each note should be two or three sentences and some should integrate quotations from the document.

Economic Responses to Revolution

1. “Operation Pan America, 1959,” details Brazil’s plan to develop, over time, “a reorientation of hemispheric policy,” that would help Latin Americans participate more effectively in trade with the West.
2. This operation focused on bringing western values to the region, to make it more westernized. These values included values of democracy, freedom of religion and respect for private property. They also included a belief in free enterprise and “defense of all the areas that concern the security of the free world.”
3. President John F. Kennedy’s “On the Alliance for Progress, 1961,” also emphasizes the importance of increased North American trade. According to him, “Our nations are the product of a common struggle -the revolt from colonial rule.” Both nations, he said, also sought to protect human dignity and freedom.
4. Kennedy acknowledged both the wealth and ability of the Latin American nation, and the poverty and struggles of its people. Operation Pan America, he said, would address these problems by helping increase education, establishing food reserves, and facilitating economic integration and industrialization.
5. Alberto Lleras’s “Report on the Alliance for Progress, 1963,” shows the problems the alliance between the two nations faced. Latin American capitalists wanted to act without limitations, while American businessmen refused to give aid to businesses that engaged in practices they found deplorable.
6. As struggles between Latin American businessmen and foreign aid sources grew, the people became unhappy and asked for the government to intervene. Some began to see US efforts for reforming Latin America as a publicity stunt.
7. To counter negative reactions, US officials urged the administration to make an overhaul of the foreign aid system.
8. “Inter-American Committee: Problems of Latin American Economies, 1965,” focuses on addressing the problems faced by Latin American economies. One problem, according to the document, is that while many businesses were modernizing quickly, rural industries, such as those related to food production, had fallen behind. Latin American countries were not producing enough food for their increasing populations.
9. The solution to this problem, according to the document was for Latin American nations to “look outward-to Latin America as a whole and to the world-to expand their exports of primary products and manufactured goods.”
10. Also, instead of focusing on individual needs, Latin American countries should, said the document, “Establish a sound economic and social basis for that development, which implies an increase in the agricultural productivity necessary to sustain the development of the economy as a whole.”
11. Imagine that you have been asked to write magazine article on the human impact of authoritarian rule in Latin America that began in the 1970s. You should use Document 4 of Ch. 16, and Documents 6 and 7 of Ch. 17 from Keen’s as your sources.

The editor would like to see an outline of your interpretation of this issue. Begin with a two to four sentence summary of your interpretation that will serve as the introductory paragraph of your essay. Follow with three main points you will make in the essay that express the reasoning for your interpretation, each of these premises expressed as a single sentence. Follow each premise with two to three specific items of evidence that illustrate or amplify the points you make. NOTE: You are being asked to express an original historical interpretation. You should attempt to come to some complex and original argument, not merely describe or narrate.

1. The Authoritarian rule in 1970s America left many of the region’s people too frightened to speak; yet some showed unbelievable bravery in the face of danger.

1. The military tortured Victor Jara, blinding him in one eye and virtually destroying his hands. They did this, because he was a communist.
2. Those that saw Jara’s torture were moved to tears. Jara himself took the punishment bravely.
3. Even after being beaten and tortured, Jara practiced his art and dictated words of a song about the horrors he and those with him were experiencing.
4. The Mad Mothers of Morelos also showed great bravery.
5. They searched for their missing children, and found ways to meet each other in spite of efforts by the police to break them up.
6. Although no one would help them in the beginning, the women gained support and drew attention to the plight of those who were missing by wearing articles of their children’s things as headscarves.
7. Writer’s like Leo Masliah also showed bravery in the face of fascism.
8. Masliah, for instance, wrote a satirical piece in which he discussed ways the citizens of Latin America could help the government make their homes into prisons. In it, he makes fun of a certain Sergeant Mistral.
9. Although opposition during this time period could earn a person death, Masliah is very brazen in criticism of the military. He was not afraid to tell others of the plight he and his fellows faced.
10. What do you think of people like Victor Jara, the Mothers of the Plaza de Mayo, and Leo Masliah?  Respond in an informal comment of about 150 words.

It is hard not to admire those like Victor Jara, the Mothers of the Plaze de Mayo and Leo Masliah, who had the courage to protest inhuman actions, at a time when protesting was forbidden. Jara paid dearly for his bravery, not only giving up his life, but also suffering through unspeakable torture. Though his eyes bled and his body was broken, Jara continued to practice his art and to warn others of the dangers of the government that oppressed him. The mothers also risked their lives, speaking out and going public with their movement when others avoided them out of fear. They refused to simply forget that their children were missing and created a whole movement in opposition to the military. Leo Masliah, likewise, had the courage to tell the world of the oppression Latin Americans faced as the military turned their country into a prison. This is the sort of bravery all of us should show, but few actually do.

Lesson 3.4: The Recent Past

At the end of the twentieth century, both revolutionary and reactionary nationalism had declined in force. In its place a reinvigorated form of liberalism spread in the region as most countries in Latin America embraced a capitalist model of economic development based on free trade and export production. How and why did neoliberalism spread and what did it mean for the peoples of Latin America?

Assignment 3.4 a:

Complete an analysis of Chasteen, Ch. 10 according to the Chapter Analysis Assignment Instructions.

1. Where once nationalism reigned, both in the minds of Latin America’s leadership and in the hearts of its opposition, neoliberalism has take hold in many places. It has done tremendous good for the people of Latin America, eradicating a great deal of its debts and encouraging liberal values – yet it has made some of the lower classes very unhappy.

A.

1. Neoliberalism encourages free-market trading. Foreign neo-liberals who believe that the stability of the world is helped by such trade have been happy to trade with Latin America.
2. This has given Latin Americans the ability to access the internet and television and to become more aware of the world around them.

B.

1. Neoliberal leaders have also been successful in making Latin American debt a smaller problem. Yet the foreign countries that have made this possible have also required Latin American governments to provide less public spending.
2. This decision has been felt by the poor.
3. The poor may be worse off economically.
4. They receive fewer benefits.
5. Furthermore, since they have little money, they cannot benefit from international trade.
6. Producers also suffer, because they cannot compete with foreign producers.
7. Therefore, a nationalist opposition has arisen.
8. The nationalists have given some mixed races pride in their heritage.
9. Yet the movement has also given rise to new racism.

Assignment 3.4 b:

Answer the following questions as described, then save your analysis to a file and submit that file as an email attachment to your professor. Be sure to number your responses.

1. Imagine that you have been asked to write a magazine article assessing the impact of neoliberalism in Latin America. You should base your assessment on Chasteen, Ch. 10, Documents 5, 6, and 7 in Ch. 16 of Keen’s, Document 9 in Ch. 17 of Keen’s, and the statistics on the webpage: http://www.wwnorton.com/web/chasteen/statistics.htm.

The editor would like to see an outline of your interpretation of this issue. Begin with a two to four sentence summary of your interpretation that will serve as the introductory paragraph of your essay. Follow with three main points you will make in the essay that express the reasoning for your interpretation, each of these premises expressed as a single sentence. Follow each premise with two to three specific items of evidence that illustrate or amplify the points you make. NOTE: You are being asked to express an original historical interpretation. You should attempt to come to some complex and original argument, not merely describe or narrate.

1. Although Neoliberalism has benefited the poor the least, it has improved the lot of Latin Americans substantially.
2. It has taken the hostility of the fascists out of the mainstream.
3. Although a nationalist opposition to Neoliberalism remains, the radical nationalism of the 1970s has been replaced with more peaceful liberal ideologies.
4. In place of the former focus on military activities, the focus of many Latin American leaders is now on trade.
5. It has given Latin Americans with money to spare more opportunity. Yet it has hurt those without it.
6. Benefits for the poor have been substantially reduced.
7. Yet those who are able to trade can now afford modern luxuries like internet access.
8. It has taken away much of the region’s debt and increased its wealth.
9. Brazil now owes less money than it is owed by foreign countries. It has become an “external creditor.”(Additional information from: https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/br.html)
10. Argentina, in 2004, had a GDP of 151.5. Billion. Only four years later, its GDP rose to $558 Billion. (Additional information from: https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/ar.html
11. Immigration from Latin America to the United States has been an issue since colonial times. The large numbers of Latin Americans in the United States has been a particularly contentious issue in recent times. Samuel Huntington, among others, has seen Latin American immigration to the United States as a threat to “American” culture.

At the same time, the emigration of Latin Americans to the United States has had important implications for the culture of their homeland. Read the article by Juan Flores below and write a comment of about 150 words that expresses your reaction to the article. Flores, “Diasporas and Cultural Remittances”

Juan Flores’s account of Diasporas and Cultural Remittances is interesting, both on a social and an economic level. Flores mentions that financial remittances of immigrants who have traveled to America and then back to their homelands in Mexico, Puerto Rico, and the Dominican Republican, have contributed a great deal to their nation’s economies. What is perhaps less noticeable than the transfer of money is the transfer of politics, culture and ideals. Yet these are prevalent, and, indeed, according to Flores, “financial remittances themselves come with political intentions attached, as in cases of community-to-community monies or resources sent for civic and other benevolent projects to hometowns or regions of origin.”

Perhaps the most interesting part of Flores’s article is the part where he talks about the “shockwave” sent through Latin American countries as returning immigrants bring back values from other nations concerning gender roles and issues such as homosexuality. Those who bring these values back still claim the heritage of their homeland, but their values have often changed.