1. Latin America 20 th Century

2. 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

3. 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

4. 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

5. 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.

6. Later in the 20 th century…

7. 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

8. 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.

9. 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.

10. 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