1

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

2

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

6

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.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

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.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

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?