Latin American Specifics A Quick-Hitter on Mexico, Nicaragua, Chile, Brazil, and Cuba

You say you want a Rev-ah-loooo- chaaa-ahh-ahh-ahh-an… Cuba: an Army officer named Fulgencio Batista was the corrupt leader of Cuba until the reign of Fidel Castro Castro led a revolution and took control of the Cuban government in 1959 Originally, Castro had the support of the lower and middle class as he promised reform education reform agriculture improve health care restore civil liberties hold open elections He also wanted a Cuba free from U.S. influence

Get Rid of Castro The Bay of Pigs was an attempt by the CIA to assassinate Castro by using Cuban exiles The Cuban Missile Crisis was the closest we ever came to nuclear war

Mexican Problems We talked about Mexico yesterday To finish it up, you need to know Mexico faced the following problems: Increased emigration (people leaving for the U.S. or other places to find jobs) Peasant farmer uprisings (felt the government wasn’t doing enough to help) Inability to pay debts due to inflation

Nicaragua + U.S. = Bad Times Nicaragua: A group called the Sandinistas took control of the government in 1979 Sandinistas were pro-Marxist, allies with Cuba and moved Nicaragua towards Communism This didn’t work for the U.S. (during Cold War) so the U.S. funded a group called the contras to begin a guerrilla war to overthrow the Sandinistas U.S. put a trade embargo on Nicaragua in 1985; country struggled because of the money spent on the war (even with help from Cuba and USSR) Sandinista leader Daniel Ortega peacefully gave up power in 1990 when he was defeated in free elections

Chile Chile’s leadership under Augusto Pinochet began in 1973 Pinochet ended the legislature, outlawed political parties, and restricted civil liberties Pinochet did allow Chile’s economy to operate under free market forces and with foreign investment (supply and demand) This led to lower inflation but high unemployment (around 20% throughout Pinochet’s reign) Unemployment led to unhappiness in Chile though and people voted him out of office in 1989

Brazil Land: Amazon River, World’s Largest Rainforest Resources: Minerals, Timber, Farms (coffee and sugar) Military controlled Brazil from the mid ’60s (fear of communism) until 1989 when there was a direct election for president In 1993, Brazil voted for a republic vs. monarchy in a plebiscite (they chose the republic) Great separation between haves and have-nots Slums exist around luxurious high-rise apartments, wealthy shopping areas, and beautiful beaches The city represents the growth of Brazil; the homeless of the favelas represent the progress still be attained

Left: Rio de Janeiro; Right: Rio’s Favelas

Brazil’s Economic Miracle “Brazil is a country for the future, and always will be.” Double Rainbow? Early 1900s: Rubber major export  rubber declines leading to hardships  coffee replaces rubber  coffee prices decline and natural disasters hurt economy 1930s: Diversify economy (not just reliant on 1 export) by encouraging industry and building schools 1950s: New capital (Brasilia) carved out from Amazon rainforest (goal: 50 yrs of progress in 5) “Power in the world is a great nation that has territory, population, wealth, financial resources, technology, material goods, minerals.” Brazil had almost all of these, leading to impressive growth Steel, cars, and shoes were all produced This economic miracle brought extreme wealth to few while bringing little or no benefit to most Brazilians (in the 1980s a handful of wealthy families owned more than 50% of land) Read honors book paragraph p. 653