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Great Decisions – Latin American Politics
ABBREVIATIONS AND SUCH:
ALBA = Bolivarian Alliance for the People of our America - a staunchly anti-U.S. bloc led by Hugo Chavez and funded by
Venezuelan oil $$$. Chavez called George W. Bush “the devil.”
BRICS = Brazil, Russian, India, China and South Africa – BRICS nations have met in annual summit since 2009
CELAC = Community of Latin American and Caribbean States - Launched in 2011, consists of 33 Latin American and
Caribbean member states.
ECLAC = Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean – A UN regional commission launched in 1948,
includes 45 member states. Headquarters in Santiago, Chile.
FARC = Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia
MERCOSUR = Economic bloc for free trade between Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay, Uruguay and Venezuela
OAS = Organization of American States – Created in 1948, consists of 35 independent member states.
PINK TIDE = The rise of left-leaning governments in Latin America in the late 90’s and going through 2000s.
PMDB = Brazilian Democratic Movement Party
“SHINING PATH” = Communist militant group started in 1980 in Peru. Classified as a terrorist group by Peru and the U.S.
UNASUR = Union of South American Nations
What and Where is Latin America?
Latin America includes 45 countries. The term Latin America was coined in the 1860’s when the Napoleon III
was trying to extend French imperial control over the whole region. He and his ministers used the term to try to
suggest at least some degree of cultural similarity between the region and France. In one sense, Latin
America refers to territories in the Americas where the “Romance” languages (Spanish, Italian,
Portuguese and French) prevail: Mexico, most of Central and South America, and in the Caribbean,
Cuba, the Dominican Republic, and Puerto Rico.
Latin America Statistics:
Population: 627 million (2015 est., roughly double the United States)
Area: 7.4 million square miles
Largest Cities: Mexico City, São Paulo, Buenos Aires, Rio de Janeiro, Bogota, Lima, Santiago
Countries of Latin America
North & Central America: Belize, Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Mexico, Nicaragua, Panama
South America: Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador, French Guiana, Guyana, Paraguay, Peru,
Suriname, Uruguay, Venezuela
Caribbean: Antigua & Barbuda, Aruba, Bahamas, Barbados, Cayman Islands, Cuba, Dominica, Dominican Republic,
Granada, Guadeloupe, Haiti, Jamaica, Martinique, Puerto Rico, Saint Barthelemy, St. Kitts & Nevis, St. Lucia, St.
Vincent & The Grenadines, Trinidad & Tobago, Turks & Caicos Islands, Virgin Islands
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Some History of Latin America
1846
In April, Mexico and the United States go to war
over disputed territory.
1848
Mexico surrenders.
1862
The Homestead Act is passed in Congress,
allowing squatters in the West to settle and
claim vacant lands—many of which were owned
by Mexicans.
1868
Angered by 300 years of Spanish rule, Cubans
rise up in revolt. Many leave for Europe and the
United States and the 14th Amendment to the
U.S. Constitution is adopted, declaring all
people of Hispanic origin born in the United
States as U.S. citizens.
3
1895
Cuban rebels stage an insurrection, led by the
poet Jose Martí.
1898
On February 15, in Havana Harbor, Cuba, an
explosion destroys a U.S. battleship—killing
266 men aboard. The United States subsequently
declares war on Spain. The war lasts 13 weeks.
The Cuban Revolutionary Party (Partido
Revolucionario Cubano) strikes a deal with the
U.S. Congress; in exchange for the rebels'
cooperation with U.S. military intervention, the
United States promises to leave Cuba at the
end of the war.
The United States acquires Puerto Rico
through war and claims it as a territory.
1901
Under the Platt Amendment, the United States
limits Cuban independence as written into the
Cuban Constitution. The United States
reserves the right to build a naval base on
Cuba and enforces that Cuba cannot sign
treaties with other countries or borrow money
unless it is deemed agreeable to the United
States. With these parameters in place, the U.S.
government hands the government of Cuba
over to the Cuban people.
Cuba declares its independence from the United
States
1917
Puerto Ricans are granted U.S. citizenship.
In February, Congress passes the Immigration
Act of 1917, which enforces a literacy
requirement on all immigrants.
In May, the Selective Service Act becomes
law, obligating Mexican immigrants in the
United States to register for the draft even
though they are not eligible.
1921
Limits on the number of immigrants allowed
in the United States are imposed for the first
time in the country's history.
1932
The United States government begins to
deport Mexicans. Between 300,000 and
500,000 Mexican Americans would be forced
out of the United States in the 1930s.
1934
The Platt Amendment, which restricted the
Cuban government, is annulled.
1940s
As WWII sets in, many Latinos enlist in the
U.S. military—as a proportion, the largest
ethnic group serving in the war.
1943
Prompted by the WWII labor shortage, the U.S.
government launches an agreement with
Mexico to import temporary workers
(braceros), to fill the void in agricultural
work.
1944
Operation Bootstrap, a program initiated by
Puerto Rico to encourage industrialization and to
meet U.S. labor demands, fuels a large wave of
migrant workers to the United States.
1950
The U.S. Congress advances Puerto Rico's
political status from protectorate to
commonwealth.
1951
The Bracero Program is formalized as the
Mexican Farm Labor Supply Program and
the Mexican Labor Agreement, and will bring
an annual average of 350,000 Mexican
workers into the U.S. until 1964.
4
1954 to 1958
Operation Wetback is put into place by the
U.S. government. The initiative is a
government effort to locate and deport
undocumented workers—over the four-year
period, 3.8 million
1959
Fidel Castro and his band of revolutionaries
march into Havana, following an armed revolt
that ends in the overthrow of military dictator
Fulgencio Batista.
1961
On April 17, 1,400 U.S.-trained Cuban exiles
invade Cuba—within 72 hours, Fidel Castro's
forces easily defeat the Bay of Pigs Invasion.
Rafael Leonidas Trujillo, dictator of the
Dominican Republic, is assassinated in a C.I.A.-
backed plot.
1962
U.S. reconnaissance planes discover Soviet
missiles in Cuba. Travel to and from Cuba is
prohibited.
1980
The archbishop of San Salvador, Oscar Romero,
was assassinated. Rallies in support of Romero
turned bloody when police opened fire on the
crowds. This was the spark for the 12-year El
Salvador civil war.
1985
Iran-Contra Affair.
The U.S. took millions of dollars from a
weapons sale to Iran and routed them and guns
to the right-wing "Contra" guerrillas in
Nicaragua. The Contras were the armed
opponents of Nicaragua's Sandinistas, following
the July 1979 overthrow of strongman Somoza e
and the ending of the Somoza family's 43-year
reign.
1986
President Ronald Reagan signs the
Immigration Reform and Control Act
(IRCA). It is intended to toughen U.S.
immigration law; border security is to be
enforced and employers are now required to
monitor the immigration status of their
employees. It also, however, grants amnesty to
nearly three million immigrants – mostly
Mexicans – who had quietly slipped across
the border during the 1970s and '80s.
1992
A series of peace agreements finally ends the
bloodshed in El Salvador.
1994
NAFTA takes effect, eliminating all tariffs
between Canada, Mexico, and the United States
within 15 years. Imports from the maquiladoras
become duty-free.
2002
Elected president of Brazil in 2002 and re-
elected in 2006, the former union leader Luiz
Lula da Silva promised major social reforms and
oversaw the emergence of Brazil as an economic
powerhouse, which did much to raise millions of
people in the country out of poverty.
2003
Hispanics are pronounced the nation's largest
minority group—surpassing African
Americans.
2012
Hugo Chávez wins Venezuelan election.
2013
Hispanics make up about one-sixth of the
U.S. population—nearly 51 million people. By
the middle of the century, the Latino
population is expected to reach 127 million—
nearly 30 percent of the projected population
of the country.
5
Election Results in North & Central America
COUNTRY HEAD OF GOVERNMENT NEXT PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION
Mexico Enrique PEŃA NIETO July 2018
Belize Dean BARROW By Nov. 2020
Costa Rica Luis Guillermo SOLIS Feb. 2018
El Salvador Salvador SANCHEZ-CERÉN Feb. 2019
Guatemala Jimmy MORALES Sept. 2019
Honduras Juan Orlando HERNANDEZ Nov. 2017
Nicaragua Daniel ORTEGO Nov. 2021
Panama Juan Carlos VARELA May 2019
Election Results in South America
COUNTRY HEAD OF GOVERNMENT NEXT PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION
Argentina Mauricio MACRI Oct. 2019
Bolivia Juan Evo MORALES-AYNA Oct. 2019
Brazil Michel TEMER Oct. 2018
Chile Michelle BACHELET Nov. 2017
Colombia Juan Manuel SANTOS May 2018
Guyana David GRANGER May 2020
Paraguay Horacio CARTES Apr. 2018
Peru Pedro Pablo KUCZYNSKI Apr. 2021
Suriname Desire Delano BOULERSE May 2020
Uruguay Tabare VAZQUEZ Oct. 2019
Venezuela Nicolas MADURO Dec. 2018
Election Results in the Caribbean
COUNTRY HEAD OF GOVERNMENT NEXT PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION
Antigua & Barbuda Gaston BROWNE By Mar. 2019
Bahamas Perry CHRISTIE By May 2017
Barbados Freundel STUART By Feb. 2018
Cuba Raul CASTRO No elections held since 1959
Dominican Republic Danilo MEDINA May 2020
Grenada Keith MITCHELL By Feb. 2018
Haiti Jovenel MOISE Oct. 2021
Jamaica Andrew HOLNESS By Feb. 2021
St. Kitts & Nevis Timothy HARRIS By Feb. 2020
St. Lucia Allen CHASTANET By Dec. 2021
Trinidad & Tobago Keith ROWLEY By 2020
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WHAT’S THE LATEST FROM LATIN AMERICA?
Venezuela’s President Maduro hikes minimum wage by 60% as of May 1, 2017
Including food subsidies, the worst-paid workers will now take home about 200,000 bolivars a month - less than $50 (£38) at the black market rate. It comes a month after deadly protests erupted in the country. Demonstrators first took to the streets on April 1st to demand elections, after the Supreme Court tried to strengthen the president's grip on power. Marches in various cities descended into clashes between riot police and protesters, which have left 28 people dead.
Venezuela says it will withdraw from the Organization of American States (OAS), accusing the S-based grouping of meddling in its internal affairs.
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In Brazil, protesters clash with police as a general strike empties schools and brings
business to a halt
For the first time in more than 20 years, Brazilians held a general strike, with millions of workers
walking off the job to protest controversial labor and pension reforms that were proposed by a
president with an approval rating of just 4% and that are currently moving through Congress.
Thousands of protesters took to the streets in the country’s major cities, many carrying signs
reading “Fora Temer!” — “out” with President Michel Temer.
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POINTS TO PONDER
1. When you hear the words “Latin America,” what typically comes to mind in terms of location?
2. President Trump has promised to build a wall across the southern U.S. border. What does that
say about the U.S. regarding other Latin American nations?
3. For the most part, Latin America is a fairly stable set of nations and is not high on the U.S,
priority list of “problems.” What would be a good course of action for the new administration to
take to keep Latin America as an ally, reduce the flow of illegal drugs and prevent China from
completely dominating the trade picture?
4. The United States has intervened militarily in Latin America 56 times since 1890, including a 20
year occupation of Nicaragua, 19 year occupation of Haiti, 16 year occupation of Cuba,
bombings in Panama, Grenada and Guatemala. What are the odds that we will do it again and
what would be the justification?
5. Nicolas Maduro in Venezuela is widely regarded as simply another dictator following in the
shoes of Hugo Chavez but with less concern for the people. There is 700% inflation, he shut
down state TV and 34 radio stations & imprisons opposition. How do you think this will end?
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