Latin America Our neighbor to the South

Long Term Colonization Latin America was colonized by Spain and Portugal about five hundred years ago. Most of it became independent by revolution years years ago This colonization has had lasting effects: Strong Ethnicity based socio-economic classes –Mostly European upper class –Mixed middle and lower classes –Native American class…lowest class Concentration of money and land in the hands of the uppermost class An economy based on export…profits often flowing out of the country

Dictatorships After independence most Latin American countries wrote constitutions based on that of the US. However they lacked either a tradition of democratic government or a large educated middle class. The Upper class and Foreign interests (mostly US) corrupted the governments, bribery is common, and made most became dictatorships. The Cold war made matters worse as the US backed the dictators rather than reformers with ties to communism and socialist policies such as land reform.

Drug War The use of Drugs by people in the US and their illegal status has caused problems in Latin American Nations such as : Mexico, Columbia & Peru. The US had a demand and a drug trade developed to meet it…causing problems: Weak governments allowed Drug Lords to establish areas where they rule over drug growing “peasants.” Worse Government Corruption as Drug lords bribe officials Wasted Resources –Production… land and $ could have been used better –Governments… spend $ and manpower fighting Drug lords Violence ….Since the Trade is illegal disputes cannot be settled in courts thus Drug Lords take “Justice” into their own hands.

Socialist Movements As the Gap between the Rich and Poor is at the root of many problem in Latin America Many Reform movements if not communist have had socialist ideas such as: Land reform…giving “peasants’ the ownership of the lands they work Nationalization of corporations. The Gov. took control of companies and their resources Income Redistribution “Robin-hood” Gov. Venezuela is an example… Its Former leader Hugo Chavez has done all three reforms and been very critical of the US.

The Last Truly Communist Country In 1959 Fidel Castro and Che Guevara led a successful communist revolution in Cuba Fidel ruled Cuba and Che promoted revolution elsewhere Officially China and North Korea are communist but China has made Capitalist Reforms and North Korea is totalitarian Leaving Cuba last true communist state The US has an embargo it and though relations have become better recently It supports communist and socialist movements in other countries such as Venezuela

The only stable Democracy Costa Rica Most Latin American countries have difficulty maintaining a stable Government. This is usually because the military seizes power to become a “Ruling Junta” Costa Rica is the exception. It abolished its military in It has been a stable democracy with a stable economy ever since!