& in the Americas Foreign Influence Political Revolutions

The revolutions in Latin America during the early 1800s brought independence from Spain and Portugal, but they really did not change the social structure within these new nations.

New constitutions modeled after the U.S. promised representative government and equality, but most became oligarchies where a small group of powerful elites held all the power. The majority of people had no voice in the government.

Much of the disputes over power dealt with the caudillos (army generals or powerful civilian leaders backed by armed groups). Most caudillos ruled with the support of the upper class.

Most of the time caudillos and dictators brought political instability, as most of the people did not support them. They fought each other for power and usually did not stay in power for very long. From 1825 – 1855, Mexico had 48 governments.

Latin American economies were based on the export of agricultural products and other raw materials. To meet the demand for these goods, many countries began developing their infrastructure.

They built roads and railroads, and expanded and modernized harbors. Merchant ships switched from sail to steam. Many of these improvements were financed by foreign investors.

By the early 1900s, the United States was the biggest investor in the Latin America. This brought growth to Latin America and several elites became rich, but the majority did not benefit very much.

In rural regions, Indians and other peasants were forced off the land as ranches and plantations grew larger.

Workers left the countryside to find work in cities. Urban populations grew and European immigrants came over. Immigrant workers organized the first labor unions, and these kind of social and economic changes would bring an even greater amount of unrest to the region.

Through rigged elections, Porfirio Diaz had remained president of Mexico for more than 30 years. He ignored the constitution, put all of his friends and allies in the legislature and courts, and he eliminated his enemies through intimidation, imprisonment, and murder.

Diaz’s strict rule did keep stability and encouraged foreign investments, but most of the money was going to the foreign investors. Only a few elite Mexicans were getting very wealthy, but the poor and the newly emerging middle class saw little gain from this. Tensions began to heat up.

In 1910, wealthy landowner Francisco Madero ran against Diaz for president. Diaz won by rigging the election, and Madero fled to Texas, but called on Mexicans to revolt. He used his wealth to arm peasant guerillas in northern Mexico.

One of these guerillas was a bandit named Pancho Villa.

Madero was aided by the Indian leader Emiliano Zapata, who raised 5000 men. By May 1911, Madero’s peasant forces defeated Diaz’s army, and Diaz fled to Europe.

Madero’s presidency was unstable and brief. Zapata withdrew his support over Indian lands that were not returned. Industrial workers protested against conditions and Diaz supporters were upset and launched revolts, which would be put down by general Huerta.

Encouraged by U.S. oil interests, general Victoriano Huerta forced Madero out of power and then had him executed. Huerta made himself president, but was soon overthrown by Madero’s ally Venustiano Carranza.

The U.S. changed their support to Carranza and helped him overthrow Huerta, but in 1914 Carranza made himself president and then lost the support of his former allies Zapata and Villa.

Carranza presided over the writing of the new Constitution of 1917, which put into law many reforms that revolutionaries had fought for:

Redistributed land of wealthy landowners Set minimum wage and maximum hours Created government sponsored retirement, life, health, and unemployment insurance. Gave workers right to form unions and strike Provided free public school education Granted freedom of religion Nationalized all oil and mineral resources

Though Carranza helped write these reforms into law, he did not carry them out. Alvaro Obregón was elected president in Mexico’s first fair election in Carranza tried to flee with the nation’s treasury but he was captured and killed.

Obregón tried to uphold the social reforms but he had to maneuver around the Catholic Church, foreign investors and other elites with ties to the government. Though elected president once again in 1928, he was assassinated before he took office. By the mid 1930s, radical reformer Lazaro Cárdenas became president and finally carried out all of the social reforms that the Constitution of 1917 had promised.

Many Latin Americans were inspired by the Mexican Revolution and attempted to pass similar reforms in their own country. Some were more successful than others, but more democratic governments were being adopted and more attention and power was being shifted to the lower classes.

The Great Depression The depression that hit the United States in the 1930s also had a large impact on Latin America and affected their social reforms.

U.S. demand for Latin American goods like bananas, sugar, and oil decreased when the Depression hit. This caused unrest in much of Latin America as the economy got worse. However, it also caused these countries to find ways to shake off foreign influences. Many nationalized their natural resources during this time.