Columbus to Chavez: The History of
Latin America
Latin America on the Eve of
Independence, 1800
I. The Pre-Colonial Foundations
(1492-1800)
I.
The Pre-Colonial Foundations
(1492-1800)
• When the Europeans reached Latin
America, 5 important civilizations existed:
1. Mayan - Mexico
2. Aztec - Mexico
3. Incan – northern Ecuador to southern Chile
4. Arawak/Taino – Venezuela, Central
America, Hispaniola
5. Caribs – Caribbean islands
I. The Pre-Colonial Foundations
(1492-1800)
• Aside from those three, many other
native American cultures existed:
- just in Mexico: over 200 different
linguistic groups
- population: anywhere between
90-112 million native Americans
in the 15th century
II. The Colonial Era (1492-1800):
Spanish Conquest
II. The Colonial Era
(1492-1800): Spanish Conquest
Why Trans-Atlantic Exploration?
1.
Search for new trade routes to the East Indies
(India, Indonesia)
- Europeans were paying big taxes to cross
through Ottoman overland territory to get to
India / made goods more expensive
- Christopher Columbus believed by sailing
west he would find a shorter water route.
- Columbus’s geographical mistake
II. The Colonial Era (1492-1800):
Spanish Conquest
Why Trans-Atlantic Exploration? (continued)
2. Religious Factors
- Spain had just defeated the last
Muslim armies occupying the country
(1492)
- fanatic devotion to Catholicism –
Spanish Catholic Church wanted to
spread it to non-Catholics
II. The Colonial Era
(1492-1800): Spanish Conquest
Why Trans-Atlantic Exploration? (continued)
- Most of Europe was suffering
through the Religious Wars
(Protestant Reformation) could
not devote time or money to
exploration
- Spain & Portugal were at peace
II. The Colonial Era (1492-1800):
Spanish Conquest
Why Trans-Atlantic Exploration? (continued)
3. The desire of the Spanish monarchy
to locate gold and silver
II. The Colonial Era
(1492-1800): Spanish Conquest
Why Trans-Atlantic Exploration? (continued)
4. Nobles and would-be-nobles and their desire to increase their
wealth & status
- The nobles were the warriors who led the fight against
the Muslims. Once Spain was liberated, they looked
for new conquests
- Opportunities for social mobility were small in Spain /
Cortes and Pizarro came to America as much to win social
status as to become wealthy
- They became known as conquistadors
- “we came here to serve God and the King, and also to
get rich.”
II. The Colonial Era
(1492-1800): Spanish Conquest
4. Nobles and would-be-nobles and their desire to increase their
wealth & status (continued)
- People from all walks of life migrated from Spain
to the New World
- Spanish men greatly outnumbered women (in Peru – 7:1) / as a result,
Spanish men had relations with native American women = mestizos
- Mestizos became the dominant ethnic component of Spanish America
II. The Colonial Era
(1492-1800): Spanish Conquest
* African and European mix = Mulatto
II. The Colonial Era (1492-1800):
Spanish Conquest
Why were the Spanish able to conquer the
numerically superior indigenous people?
1.
Superiority of Spanish weapons and tactics
- gunpowder (muskets & cannons)
- horses
2. Aztecs identified Cortes and his followers with the
god Quetzalcoatl and surrendered to him
II. The Colonial Era (1492-1800):
Spanish Conquest
Why were the Spanish able to conquer the numerically superior
indigenous people? (cont.)
3. Indigenous tribes aided the Spanish against their enemies:
- Tlaxcalans vs. Aztecs
4. European diseases
- small pox and other diseases ravaged the native
population
Spanish Conquistadors
Hernando Cortes
Francisco Pizarro
II.
The Colonial Era (1492-1800):
Economic Policy
• The Spanish conquest was centered
in the Caribbean, Mexico and Peru.
• They lacked the men and resources
to establish direct control in many
areas.
• They focused on the areas that
brought them the most economic
benefit.
II.
The Colonial Era (1492-1800):
Economic Policy
• Spain’s (and later France, Great
Britain) economic policy in Latin
America followed the dominant
economic theory of the 16th century:
- mercantilism: economic activity
should enhance the power and
prestige of the state.
II.
The Colonial Era (1492-1800):
Economic Policy
Mercantilism
• Favorable balance of trade – export more than you
import
• Economic power from trade measured in gold and
silver bullion
• Was anti free-trade: the policy prohibited the
colonies from trading with anyone else except the
mother country.
• Mercantilism is identical to imperialism
II.
The Colonial Era (1492-1800):
Economic Policy
Mercantilism – 4 Important Premises:
1.
The colony must import only goods from the mother country
(metropolis)
2.
The colony must send their exports only to the metropolitan
country
3.
Colonial trade was a strict monopoly of metropolitan ships
and sailors
4.
The colonies MUST ONLY provide raw materials and NOT
manufactured goods
•
This is what the colonial economic policy was and one of
the biggest contributors to Latin American
underdevelopment.
II.
The Colonial Era (1492-1800):
Economic Policy
• Early Spanish economic activity centered on gold & silver
mining:
- Mexico
- Peru
- Bolivia (Potosi mines)
• Most of the mining was done by the indigenous population /
some African labor
• When many of the mines were exhausted and the demand
for sugar increased, Spanish economic activity focused on
harvesting:
- Sugar (Cuba, Dominican Republic)
- Tobacco (Cuba, Dominican Republic)
II.
The Colonial Era (1492-1800):
Economic Policy
Great Britain
• From 1713-1792 – Jamaica,
Barbados, St. Kitts accounted for
more British colonial production
(mostly sugar) than British America
and India.
II.
The Colonial Era (1492-1800):
Economic Policy
Great Britain (continued)
• Yearly exports of merchandise from Great Britain
to Africa, mainly in exchange for slaves, increased
tenfold between 1713-1792.
• Merchandise coming into Great Britain from the
British West Indies (Caribbean), virtually all
produced by slaves, in 1790 it constituted almost
25% of all British imports.
Sugar and the Plantation Economy
Tobacco and the Plantation Economy
II.
The Colonial Era (1492-1800):
Economic Policy
• Later, Spain, Portugal, France, Great Britain
realized the profits that could be made from sugar
production.
- Cuba, Dominican Republic > Spain
- Haiti – France
- Brazil – Portugal
- Jamaica, Barbados > Great Britain
• Sugarcane production is labor-intensive.
- Plantation economies
- African slaves replace the decimated indigenous
population
II.
The Colonial Era (1492-1800):
The “Columbian Exchange”
From the Western Hemisphere → Europe
/ Africa / Asia
From Europe / Africa / Asia → Western
Hemisphere
Corn
Wheat
Potatoes / Sweet Potatoes
Sugar
Pumpkins
Bananas
Beans
Rice
Peanuts
Oats
Squash
Barley
Chili Peppers
Rye
Turkeys
Grapes
Pineapples
Coffee
Tomatoes
Smallpox / Typhus
Cocoa
Cows
Cassava / Manioc
Oxen
Gold / Silver
Goats
Quinine
Chickens
Sunflowers
Horses
Pigs
Slaves
II.
The Colonial Era (1492-1800):
Demographics
• Spanish violent conversion of the
indigenous population
• European diseases
Led to: decimation of the indigenous
population
II.
The Colonial Era (1492-1800):
Demographics
1. Central Mexico
* 95% decline
1519
1523
1580
1605
25
million
16.8
million
1.9
million
1 million
II.
The Colonial Era (1492-1800):
Demographics
1. Mexico – regions
- southern Mexico: between 1519 and
1670 the population went from 1.7 million
to 250,000.
- Cozumel – 96% of the population was
destroyed
- Jalapa – 97% of the population was
destroyed.
II.
The Colonial Era (1492-1800):
Demographics
2. Peru
* < 50% decline
1570
1620
1.3
million
600,000
II.
The Colonial Era (1492-1800):
Demographics
3. Nicaragua
- by 1542, half a million were sent
as slave laborers to areas where
the indigenous population was
decimated.
II.
The Colonial Era (1492-1800):
Demographics
4. Panama
- Between 1514 -1530 up to 2 million natives died.
5. Guatemala
- In the 150 years from the initial contacts with the
Spaniards, 94% of the population was decimated
(from 260,000 to 16,000)
6. Western and Central Honduras
- 95% of the population was wiped out in a little over a
century
I.
The Colonial Era (1492-1800):
Demographics
7. Brazil
- Less than 10% of the indigenous
population of about 2.5 million
lived into the seventeenth
century.
II.
The Colonial Era (1492-1800):
Demographics
The Caribbean Basin
• When Columbus arrived in 1492, the
Caribbean population was thought to
be around 15 million. After 1542 it is
believed, none survived.
II.
The Colonial Era (1492-1800):
Demographics
8. Hispaniola (Haiti &
Dominican Republic)
1492
1496
1500
1514
8
million
3
million
100,000 22,000
1542
200
Bartolome De Las Casas
(1474-1566)
• Spanish Catholic priest of
the Dominican order.
• Became a defender of the
rights of the indigenous
people in response to
Spanish atrocities
committed against them.
• Supported but then later
opposed importation of
Africans as slave laborers.
• Known as the “father of
Liberation Theology.”
II.
The Colonial Era (1492-1800):
Slavery
• The decimation of the indigenous
population led to the importation of slave
labor from Africa.
• Between 1518-1870, Spanish America
imported more than 1.5 million slaves –
over 16% of the entire Atlantic slave trade.
• Brazil brought in about 3.7 million.
II.
The Colonial Era (1492-1800):
Slavery
Why from Africa?
1. The Spaniards and Portuguese felt
African slaves could physically withstand
the rigors of hard manual labor and the
hot climate.
2. Africans were regarded as having no
religion therefore they weren’t tainted by
idolatry or heresy.
II.
The Colonial Economy:
Slavery and Capitalism
• “It can scarcely be denied that the phenomenal
rise of British capitalism in the eighteenth century
was based to a considerable extent on the
enslavement of Africans.”
- Palmer and Colton, A History of the Modern World, pg. 261.
Louis XIV – on Colonial Slavery
• “There is nothing
which contributes
more to the
development of the
colonies and the
cultivation of their
soil than the
laborious toil of the
Negroes.”
II.
The Colonial Era (1492-1800):
Slavery
• The African slave trade, begun about
1450 as a Portuguese monopoly, had,
by the end of the seventeenth
century, become international:
1. Great Britain
2. France
3. Holland
4. Denmark
5. Brandenburg
II.
The Colonial Era (1492-1800):
Slavery
• The combination of the African slave trade, African
slavery and Caribbean sugar production is known
as the triangular trade.
II.
Distribution of African Slaves in the
Americas during the Atlantic Slave Trade
II.
The Colonial Era (1492-1800):
Slavery in the Caribbean
1. Barbados
•
1645 – Prior to the introduction of the sugar economy:
- 5,680 slaves / 3 white men per slave.
•
1647 – After the introduction of the sugar industry:
- 82,023 slaves / 10 slaves per white man.
•
1698 – 2,330 white males / 42,000 slaves / 18 slaves per
white man.
II.
The Colonial Era (1492-1800):
Slavery in the Caribbean
2. Jamaica
• In 1658 - the ratio of slaves to whites
was 1:3 (1,400 slaves)
• In 1698 – the ratio of slaves to whites
was 6:1(40,000 slaves)
II.
The Colonial Era (1492-1800):
Slavery in the Caribbean
3. Haiti (St. Domingue)
• Largest slave population in the Caribbean.
It was nearly twice the size of its closest
rival, Jamaica.
• 90% of the population was African / 1789:
500,000 slaves, 40,000 whites, 30,000 free
coloreds.
II.
The Colonial Era (1492-1800):
Slavery in the Caribbean
4. Cuba
• 1774 – slaves were 26% of the
population (44,000)
• 1846 – slaves were 36% of the
population (324,000 / 900,000)
II.
The Colonial Era (1492-1800):
Slavery in the Caribbean
5. Puerto Rico
• Puerto Rico’s economy - more
diverse than Cuba’s. Wasn’t as
reliant on plantation production – less
need for slave labor.
• Percentage of slaves in the total
population never exceeded 14%.
II.
The Colonial Era (1492-1800):
Ruling the Colonies
• Spanish crown vs. independentminded conquistadors
1. The Crown
2. Council of the Indies
3. viceroy – “vice-king” / appointed
leader of the colony
II.
The Colonial Era (1492-1800):
Race and Class
• Three ethnic components of the
colonial Spanish American population:
1. Indians
2. Europeans
3. Africans
II.
•
The Colonial Era (1492-1800):
Race and Class
Spanish colonial society was made up of distinct social classes:
1. Peninsulares – born in Spain./ Held the highest positions in the
colonial government and Catholic Church. / Allied to the
crown.
2. Creoles – colonial-born descendants of Spanish settlers. /
Owned most of the plantations, ranches and mines. /
increasingly independent-minded.
3. Mestizos – A mix of Native American & European descent.
4. Mulattos – A mix of African and European descent.
5. Native Americans
6. Africans
II.
The Colonial Era (1492-1800):
Education
• The Spaniards established the first universities in the
Western Hemisphere:
- in Lima,Peru (1551) and in
Mexico (1553)
• By the time Harvard was established in North America, 5
universities were established in Latin America.
• Entrance to the universities was limited mostly to
peninsulares, creoles…
III. The Struggle for Independence
•
Factors that Led to the Liberation Movements:
1.
Struggle between Peninsulares and Creoles
- Creoles were economically well off but shut
out from political power
- Peninsulares were Spanish representatives
of the Crown and important Church officials
- In Haiti, the struggle was the most radical
because it both abolished slavery and won
independence from French rule
III. The Struggle for Independence
• Factors that Led to the Liberation Movements (cont.):
2. Napoleon Bonaparte’s takeover of Spain &
Portugal (1807-1808)
- Colonial creoles rejected Joseph
Bonaparte as the new Spanish king.
- Some rallied around the deposed Spanish
King, Ferdinand VII.
- Simon Bolivar, a wealthy Venezuelan creole,
called for outright independence
III. The Struggle for Independence
• Factors that Led to the Liberation Movements
(cont.):
3. The French & American Revolutions
4. The Enlightenment
III. Heroes of Latin American Independence:
Simon Bolivar (1783-1830)
•
Born into a wealthy creole landholding
family in Caracas, Venezuela. / Slave
owner
•
Sent to study in Spain / influenced by the
Enlightenment / particularly influenced by
Montesquieu
•
Leader of the liberation movement that
resulted in the independence of Venezuela,
Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, Bolivia
•
Had no prior military experience
•
Believed that all Latin American countries
should unite under one government to
realize its full potential
•
The basis of a unified Latin American state
would be common language (Spanish),
common religion (Catholicism) common
cultural heritage (Spanish / European)
•
Called for the end to slavery / was himself
a slave owner
Bolivar and “Gran Colombia”
(1819-1830)
•
•
•
Bolivar created “Gran Colombia” which consisted of Venezuela, Colombia, and
Ecuador as the nucleus of a future united Latin American state. It collapsed in
1830.
Capital was Bogota.
Bolivar strongly opposed copying any other country’s political system,
particularly the United States. He was influenced by Montesquieu’s “Spirit of the
Laws” in which he called for countries to form political systems based on their
own climate and cultural conditions.
Simon Bolivar: On the best form of
government for South America:
• Republican
democracy “is overperfect, and it
demands political
virtues and talents far
superior to our own.
For the same reason, I
reject a monarchy that
is part aristocracy and
part democracy
although such a
government England
has achieved much
fortune and splendor.”
III. Heroes of Latin American Independence:
Jose de San Martin (1783-1830)
•
Born in Argentina / creole / son of a
Spanish military officer
•
Soldier by training - began a military
career at age 11.
•
Studied in Spain then joined the
Spanish resistance against the
French.
•
Not skilled politically like Bolivar or
committed to social reform like
Morelos.
•
Helped liberate Argentina, Chile,
Peru. Turned over the liberated
territories to Bolivar.
•
Spent his remaining days in Europe –
died in France.
III. Heroes of Latin American Independence:
Bernardo O’Higgins (1778-1842)
• Born in Chile to prominent
creole parents.
• Studied in Spain & England.
• Together with San Martin, he
liberated Chile and became its
first leader (1817-1823)
• Great military commander but
with poor political skills.
• Died in Peru.
III. Heroes of Latin American Independence:
Miguel Hidalgo (1753-1811) & Jose Morelos (1765-1815)
•
Both were Mexican priests of
creole background that favored
Mexican independence AND
widespread social reform
including the abolition of slavery
•
Hidalgo - Considered the Mexican
“father of independence”
•
“Grito Delores” (Sept. 16, 1810 –
Hidalgo call for insurrection
answered by mixed bloods and
Indians
•
Hidalgo was captured and
executed in 1811. Morelos
captured and executed in 1815.
•
September 16 became Mexican
Independence Day.
Jose Marti on American Annexation of
Cuba:
• “To change
masters is not to
be free.”
On the Need for Latin American Unity:
Ramon Castilla – Peruvian Leader
(1844-1863)
• “The relative weakness of
the South American
republics, divided and
isolated among
themselves, is in the
judgment of this
government the deplorable
cause of the fact that on
many occasions we have
been treated with grave
lack of respect, as if for the
great international
potentates there did not
exist a common law of
nations.”
III. The Struggle for Independence
•
Spanish Colonies That Initially Opposed Independence
1.
Mexico – “conservative” independence
- 1808 - Peninsulares overthrew the viceroy and swore allegiance to
Ferdinand VII directly.
- 1812 – When Ferdinand VII declared allegiance to the Napoleonic
constitution, conservative creoles and peninsulares declared
independence to preserve “the three guarantees”:
a. religion (Catholic – official creed)
b. independence (monarchy)
c. union (fair treatment for creoles & peninsulares)
- Augustin Iturbide, former Spanish Army officer, joined the independence
movement. / Established the independent Mexican Empire in 1821 1823.
- Central Americans (Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua, Costa Rica)
joined because they feared Napoleonic liberals in Spain.
III. The Struggle for Independence
•
Spanish Colonies That Initially Opposed Independence
2. Peru – “conservative” independence
•
Lima was a Spanish monarchist stronghold / major viceroyalty. It
received many privileges from the crown.
•
Both peninsulares AND creoles favored Ferdinand VII’s rule.
•
His acceptance of the Napoleonic constitution of 1812 forced the
conservative Peruvians to seek a leader that would uphold the
traditional values and a strong Catholic Church.
•
Both San Martin and Bolivar defeated pro-royalist forces. Bolivar
could not stop Upper Peru from splitting and forming Bolivia.
III. The Struggle for Independence:
Brazil
•
The path to independence for Brazil was much different…and easier.
•
By 1800, Brazil was far more populous and prosperous than Portugal.
•
When Napoleon invaded the Iberian peninsula in 1807, the entire
Portuguese court, with the help of the British, fled to Brazil.
•
Britain gained preferential economic relations with Brazil.
•
1808 – when the French were driven from the peninsula, Portuguese
liberals wanted the king and the colony back. The king left his son Dom
Pedro behind as Regent.
•
1822 – Dom Pedro, with the backing of Brazilian landowners and urban
professionals declared his allegiance to Brazil.
•
Portuguese royalists were too weak to defeat the pro-independence
Brazilians.
•
Most Brazilian elites favored monarchy over a republican government.
III. The Struggle for Independence:
Cuba and Puerto Rico
• Cuba and Puerto Rico were the last two Spanish
possessions to gain independence as a result of
the Spanish-American War.
1. Cuba - occupied by the U.S. from 1898-1901.
- The U.S. Secretary of War Elihu Root
drafted a set of articles to be included into
the Cuban Constitution of 1902 that were
known as the Platt Amendment:
Cuba and the Platt Amendment
•
III. That the government of Cuba consents that the United
States may exercise the right to intervene for the preservation
of Cuban independence, the maintenance of a government
adequate for the protection of life, property, and individual
liberty, and for discharging the obligations with respect to
Cuba imposed by the Treaty of Paris on the United States, now
to be assumed and undertaken by the government of Cuba.“
•
VII. That to enable the United States to maintain the
independence of Cuba, and to protect the people thereof, as
well as for its own defense, the government of Cuba will sell or
lease to the United States lands necessary for coaling or naval
stations at certain specified points to be agreed upon with the
President of the United States.“(Guantanamo Bay Naval Base)
•
VIII. That by way of further assurance the government of Cuba
will embody the foregoing provisions in a permanent treaty
with the United States."
III. The Struggle for Independence:
Cuba and Puerto Rico
2. Puerto Rico – became a direct possession of the
United States as a result of the Treaty of Paris.
- Foraker Act (1900) established civil
government in Puerto Rico but did not define
its relation with the U.S. / Puerto Ricans were
subject to U.S. Federal Law but did not
become citizens / PR Governor appointed by
President
- Puerto Ricans began calling for
independence
III. The Struggle for Independence:
Cuba and Puerto Rico
• Jones Act (1917)
- granted Puerto Ricans U.S.
Citizenship
- allowed Puerto Ricans to elect
both legislative chambers
- President still appointed
Governor / could annul any law
passed by PR Congress
III. The Struggle for Independence:
Cuba and Puerto Rico
•
1950-1952 – U.S. Congress passed a law allowing the Puerto
Rican to write their own constitution and establish their own
government.
•
July 25, 1942: PR voters approved the new constitution in a
referendum / Commonwealth of Puerto Rico established:
- elected governor and two house
legislature
- control over education, health, social welfare system
- U.S. controls the island’s defense, trade agreements, postal
system, foreign relations
- Puerto Ricans serve in the U.S. military and can vote in
Presidential elections ONLY if they live in one of the 50
states or abroad. If their permanent residence is in PR, they
cannot vote.
III. The Struggle for Independence:
The English-Speaking Caribbean
• Independence for most British-held Caribbean
colonies was established peacefully:
- Jamaica, Trinidad & Tobago (1962)
- Barbados, Guyana (1966)
- Bahamas (1973)
- Grenada (1974)
- Dominica (1978)
- St. Lucia, St. Kitts & Nevis (1983)
IV. The Transformation of Latin America
& the Caribbean (1830 – 2000’s)
IV. Post Independence Latin America & the
Caribbean (1830 – 2000’s)
“If we are to understand Latin America it
must be placed within the context of global
economic expansion, beginning with the
Conquest of the 16th century. Within this
system, Latin America has occupied as
essentially subordinate or “dependent”
position, pursuing economic paths that
have been largely shaped by the industrial
powers of Europe and the United States.”
- Skidmore & Smith (pg. 43)
IV. Post Independence Latin America &
the Caribbean (1830 – 2000’s)
Economic Issues
1.
Lack of Industrialization
- local industrialization discouraged by colonial powers
- export-dominated economy of food and raw materials to
Europe and North America provided limited prosperity
- Industrialization began late – 1930’s-1960’s in response to
the Great Depression. (Brazil, Argentina, Mexico)
- Latin American countries relied too heavily on imported
capital goods (machine tools) / exports of agriculture and
raw materials are less valuable than manufactured goods
IV. Post Independence Latin America &
the Caribbean (1830 – 2000’s)
Economic Issues
2. Economic Dependency
- colonial dependency
- After independence, Latin American & Caribbean economies were
dependent on Europe and North America (United States, Canada)
- Greater industrialization in Europe & North America meant larger demand
for raw materials and food from Latin America.
- Capital for investment and loans came from Europe (mostly Britain), the
United States and international institutions like the International Monetary
Fund (IMF) and the World Bank
- The Cuban Revolution (1959) in large measure was fought to break the
grip of American control of the economy. After the Revolution, Cuba
became heavily reliant on the Soviet Union.
IV. Post Independence Latin America &
the Caribbean (1830 – 2000’s)
Economic Issues
3. Entrenched Interests of the Large Landowners
- Landowning elites favored agrarian- oriented export economy
- Land remained in the hands of the traditional creole families.
- American companies such as United Fruit and Standard Fruit
dominated local economic production in the “Banana Republics”
(Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua)
- Alliance of right-wing/military dictatorships, local landowners,
foreign companies and the U.S. against perceived communist
threat
IV. Post Independence Latin America &
the Caribbean (1830 – 2000’s)
Economic Issues
3. Large Debt
•
Latin American & Caribbean countries exported food and raw materials but
imported manufactured goods. Uneven balance of trade.
•
Over time, the world market price for Latin America’s principal exports
(coffee, wheat, copper) underwent a steady decline in purchasing power.
Increasing quantity of exports depressed prices even further.
•
Economic growth relied on external borrowing. Between 1970-1980, Latin
America increased its external debt from $27 billion to $231 billion.
- From the 1980’s Argentina, Brazil, Mexico had to pay yearly the
equivalent of 5% of their GDP just to cover interest payments!
IV. Post Independence Latin America &
the Caribbean (1830 – 2000’s)
Economic Issues
4. Neo-Liberalism
• The United States, the IMF and private bankers promoted a
policy of “free trade” in Latin America & the Caribbean.
- Encouraged countries to open their economies to foreign
trade and investment, reduce the role of government, reduce
social spending and protections, weaken labor unions in
return for debt relief.
- Led to collapse of Mexican economy in 1980’s / Argentina
2001.
IV. Post Independence Latin America &
the Caribbean (1830 – 2000’s)
Economic Issues
5. Highly Unequal Distribution of Wealth
• Latin America second only to Africa in
uneven wealth distribution:
• Half of the top twenty are from Latin
America – 2005 Human Development
Report (GINI Index)
IV. Post Independence Latin America &
the Caribbean (1830 – 2000’s)
Political Issues
1.
Control of the government remained in the hands of economic elites / creoles
2.
Democratic institutions were not firmly established. For most of the postindependence period, Latin American & Caribbean countries run by authoritarian
rulers (caudillos)
•
When “democratic government” was in place, it was usually rule of the rich –
“oligarchic democracy” where voting was often restricted or manipulated.
•
Authoritarian / military / right-wing dictatorships valued stability, social control.
(Samoza – Nicaragua / Batista – Cuba)
- opposed significant land reform (Guatemala after 1954)
- gave concessions to foreign investors / protected foreign ownership
capital
•
and
Cuba – communist dictatorship / the only dictatorship remaining in Latin America
Latin American Elections Since
1998
Evo Morales (Bolivia)
First Democratically Elected Indigenous
President
•
He studied until eleventh grade. Then
he left to do his mandatory military
service.
•
Was a coca farmer and a union leader
defending the rights of coca farmers.
•
As member of Parliament, he
continued to defend coca farmers and
oppose eradication of the plant.
•
Leader of the Movement Towards
Socialism (MAS) – came in second in
Presidential elections in 2002.
•
2005 – Won the Presidential election
with 53.7% of the vote.
•
Cut his presidential salary in half and
doubled the minimum wage.
•
May 1, 2006 – Nationalized Bolivia’s
natural gas industry.
•
Close ally of Hugo Chavez and Fidel
Castro.
Evo Morales (Bolivia)
First Democratically Elected Indigenous
President
• "The time has come, the
awaited day, a historic day
in which Bolivia retakes
absolute control of our
natural resources. The
looting by foreign
companies has ended.“
– May 1, 2006 Speech during
the nationalization of the
Bolivian natural gas industry.
IV. Post Independence Latin America &
the Caribbean (1830 – 2000’s)
Relations with the United States
• Monroe Doctrine (1823) / Roosevelt
Corollary (1904)
• Mexican-American War (1848)
• Spanish-American War (1898-1901)
• Panama Canal (1903-1914)
• U.S. military intervention in Latin America
• U.S. economic & political dominance in
Latin America
IV. Post Independence Latin America &
the Caribbean (1830 – 2000’s)
1.
Monroe Doctrine - from President James Monroe's seventh annual
message to Congress, December 2, 1823:
•
…We (the United States) should consider any attempt on their (Europe)
part to extend their system to any portion of this hemisphere, as
dangerous to our peace and safety. With the existing colonies or
dependencies of any European power we have not interfered, and shall
not interfere. But with the governments who have declared their
independence, and maintained it, and whose independence we have, on
great consideration, and on just principles, acknowledged, we could not
view any interposition for the purpose of oppressing them, or controlling,
in any other manner, their destiny, by any European power in any other
light than as the manifestation of an unfriendly disposition towards the
United States. In the war between those new governments and Spain we
declared our neutrality at the time of their recognition, and to this we
have adhered, and shall continue to adhere, provided no change shall
occur, which, in the judgement of the competent authorities of this
government, shall make a corresponding change, on the part of the
United States, indispensable to their security…
IV. Post Independence Latin America &
the Caribbean (1830 – 2000’s)
Roosevelt Corollary to the Monroe Doctrine - President Theodore Roosevelt’s Annual
Message to Congress, December 6, 1904
•
…All that this country desires is to see the neighboring countries stable, orderly,
and prosperous. Any country whose people conduct themselves well can count
upon our hearty friendship. If a nation shows that it knows how to act with
reasonable efficiency and decency in social and political matters, if it keeps
order and pays its obligations, it need fear no interference from the United
States. Chronic wrongdoing, or an impotence which results in a general
loosening of the ties of civilized society, may in America, as elsewhere, ultimately
require intervention by some civilized nation, and in the Western Hemisphere the
adherence of the United States to the Monroe Doctrine may force the United
States, however reluctantly, in flagrant cases of such wrongdoing or impotence,
to the exercise of an international police power…
•
…We would interfere with them only in the last resort, and then only if it became
evident that their inability or unwillingness to do justice at home and abroad had
violated the rights of the United States or had invited foreign aggression to the
detriment of the entire body of American nations. It is a mere truism to say that
every nation, whether in America or anywhere else, which desires to maintain its
freedom, its independence, must ultimately realize that the right of such
independence can not be separated from the responsibility of making good use
of it...
IV. Post Independence Latin America &
the Caribbean (1830 – 2000’s)
2. Mexican-American War (1848)
- “Manifest Destiny”
- United States victory over Mexico.
- Treaty of Guadeloupe Hidalgo – U.S.
paid Mexico $15 million and took 40% of
Mexico’s territory (from Texas to California)
IV. Post Independence Latin America &
the Caribbean (1830 – 2000’s)
3. Spanish-American War (1898-1901)
- United States helps Cuba and Puerto Rico break away from Spain.
- Puerto Rico eventually becomes a commonwealth of the United States (in between
statehood and independence)
- Cuba will become nominally independent but heavily dominated politically and
economically by the U.S.
•
Platt Amendment (1903-1934)
- "III. That the government of Cuba consents that the United States may exercise the
right to intervene for the preservation of Cuban independence, the maintenance of a
government adequate for the protection of life, property, and individual liberty, and for
discharging the obligations with respect to Cuba imposed by the treaty of Paris on the
United States, now to be assumed and undertaken by the government of Cuba.“
- "VII. That to enable the United States to maintain the independence
of Cuba, and to protect the people thereof, as well as for its own defense, the
government of Cuba will sell or lease to the United States lands necessary for coaling
or naval stations at certain specified points to be agreed upon with the President of the
United States.“
-
"VIII. That by way of further assurance the government of Cuba will embody the
foregoing provisions in a permanent treaty with the United States.“
IV. Post Independence Latin America &
the Caribbean (1830 – 2000’s)
4. Panama Canal
• United States supported separatists in the
Colombian province of Panama.
• When Panama established its
independence, it gave the rights to
constructing a canal to the United States.
• The U.S. controlled the Canal until 1999.
Turned over to Panama that year.
Panama Canal
Panama Canal
IV. Post Independence Latin America &
the Caribbean (1830 – 2000’s)
5. U.S. Military Intervention in Latin America
• “During the twentieth century, the United States invaded and
occupied all or parts of nine sovereign nations (Cuba,
Dominican Republic, Grenada, Haiti, Honduras, Guatemala,
Mexico, Nicaragua, and Panama) and intervened militarily
either directly or through armed proxies to compel
submission to U.S. policy or ideological preferences at least
40 times. U.S. policymakers actively sought the overthrow of
another two dozen governments, seven of them installed by
popular vote in competitive elections.”
- John Coatsworth, “American and Latin America: Time for a
New Strategy.” Jan-Feb. 2002.
http://www.harvardmagazine.com/on-line/010218.html