Latin America

20th Century

Latin American in the Early 1900s

• Started century as:– Not very industrial – Raw material exporters– Huge differences between rich and poor– Powerful Catholic Church control– Large numbers of poor peasants (often of

indigenous or mixed descent)– Lacking democracy

Mexico, 1911• Pancho Villa & Emiliano Zapata = peasant

leaders. Worked for land redistribution moving land ownership from a small number of very rich to the millions of landless peasants.

• Middle class supported the Constitutionalists who were moderate reformers

• Constitution of 1917 = agrarian reforms, universal suffrage, labor protections, & public schools (to take power from the Catholic Church)

• Not as radical as peasants wanted

Mexico after 1911: President Cardenas

• Basically ruled by one political party

• Redistributed land to peasants

• Closed Church schools (lowering Catholic Church’s power)

• Nationalized industries

• Took over foreign-owned oil companies & nationalized them

Brazil - Dictatorship

• Dictator with lots of popularity

• Vargas took over Brazil when Great Depression caused chaos. Raw material based economy dropped when industrial nations stopped making goods.

• Import Substitution Industrialization = focus on reducing dependency on foreign imports by industrializing

• Democracy didn’t develop as in Mexico.

Later in the 20th century…

Cuba Goes Communist

• US-backed dictator in power: Batista. Economy run by industrialized USA.

• Overthrown by Communist Rev of Fidel Castro in 1950s.

• Castro redistributed wealth. Kicked out US business. Sought $ & support from USSR.

• Cuban Missile Crisis.• For developing nations Cuba = a

successful challenge to the USA

Conservative Reaction: Chile• Rich folks in Latin America & USA feared

Cuba’s example.

• Chile elected a new leader in 1970 named Allende. Big social reformer with socialist leanings.

• Ousted by conservative Pinochet dictator, helped by USA & CIA.

• Violent repression of dissent. HARSH dictatorship, no personal rights.

Conservative Reaction: Argentina

• Dictatorship took over in Argentina to repress socialist reformers.

• Dirty Wars – 1970s. Thousands died in repression when the military seized power.

• No trials, no rule of law. People simply went missing.

Today

• Mexico = growing success story

• Cuba remains communist, but is working toward change

• Most are trying to move toward democracy

• Legacy of repression of socialists is being confronted, as with the Dirty Wars

• Some of the same issues exist: lack of industrialization, huge wealth gap