Political problems faced by Latin America including the control of military juntas
by:dillon petersen
Mexico
• Like other nations Mexico grappled with the conservative legacies of Spanish and Portuguese colonialism • Mainly the political and economic power of the landowning elite of European descent. • Mexico also had to deal with neocolonialism. • The US intervened militarily when it felt that it's interests were threatened. • They influenced Mexico's economy through investment and full or part ownership of enterprises like the oil industry. • By the twentieth century US interference provoked negative reactions. • This was true in Mexico, particularly after the Mexican War where Mexico lost huge chunks of its northern territories to the United States • Mexicans dedicated to overthrowing both elite rule and foreign economic control. • This formed a revolution that began in 1910 and lasted till 1930. • Their demands for land and liberty were institutionalized in the constitution of 1917 • After that day Mexican presidents designed policies to carry out reform. • The constitution stated that the Mexican government owned it's subsoil and it's products. • It also stated that the state had the right to redistribute land to village peasants after confiscating it and compensations landowners. • The constitution also incorporated reformist social laws and guaranteed civil liberties. • The land distribution program reached its peak during the presidency of Lázaro Cárdenas. • The state returned forty five million acres to peasants. • Cárdenas also took control of the Mexican oil wells away from foreign investors • Conservative governments controlled by the Institution Revolutionary Party(PRI) often ruled harshly. • They also experimented with various economic strategies that either decreased or increased Mexico's dependence on foreign markets and capital • The PRI came under attack in the 1990s • This happened because Mexican peasants in the Chiapas district protested their political oppression. • Cuauhtemoc Cárdenas (son of Lázaro) took on the leadership of an opposition party, the Democratic Revolutionary Party(PDR) |
Lázaro Cárdenas
Cuauhtemoc Cárdenas
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Argentina
• Argentina had a reasonably expansive economy based on cattle raising and agriculture, and a booming urban life
• They also had the beginnings of an industrial base, and a growing middle class.
• Population composed mostly of migrants from Europe.
• Argentina remained relatively independent of US control
• Argentina became a leader in the Latin American struggle against US and European economic and political intervention in the region.
• A gradual shift to free elections and a sharing of political power also started.
• Argentina had a reasonably expansive economy based on cattle raising and agriculture, and a booming urban life
• They also had the beginnings of an industrial base, and a growing middle class.
• Population composed mostly of migrants from Europe.
• Argentina remained relatively independent of US control
• Argentina became a leader in the Latin American struggle against US and European economic and political intervention in the region.
• A gradual shift to free elections and a sharing of political power also started.
Juan Perón
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Juan Perón
• During World War 2 nationalistic military leaders gained power in Argentina • These military leaders created a government controlled by the army • In 1946 Juan Perón a colonel in the army was elected president. • Although he was a nationalistic militarist his regime gained immerse popularity among large segments of the Argentine population • He appealed to the more downtrodden Argentines • He promoted nationalistic populism • He called for industrialization, support of working class, and protection of the economy from foreign control. • His wife Eva Perón helped build his popularity |
Eva Perón
• She had risen from the ranks of the desperately poor. • Migrating to Buenos Aries at the age of fifteen she found work as a radio soap opera actress • She met Perón in1 944 and they were married shortly after • Eva transformed herself into a stunningly beautiful political leader • She tirelessly ministered to the needs of the poor • Often the same descamisados or shirtless ones formed the core of her husbands supporters • People came to see her to ask for certain materials that she would provide • She created the Eva Perón foundation to institutionalize and extend such charitable endeavors. • She died at the age of 33 from uterine cancer • Some saw Eva not as a saint but a grasping social climber and Fascist sympathizer • And her husband as a political opportunist • After Juan Perón's ouster from office in 1955 support for the Peronist party remained strong. |
Eva Perón
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Military rule
• Military rule took a sinister turn in the late 1970s and early 1980s • This is when dictators approved death squads who fought a dirty war against suspected subversives • Between 6 thousand and 23 thousand people disappeared between 1976 and 1983 • Calls for a return to democratic politics increased in the aftermath of the dirty war • Political options open to states in Latin America were rather diverse • Including the establishment of communist and socialist regimes in lands like Cuba and Nicaragua • In many nations the landowning elites that had gained power during the colonial era were able to maintain their dominant position. • This resulted in societies that were split between the few rich, backed by the US and the masses of the poor • It was difficult to govern such societies without either keeping the elite in power or promoting revolution on behalf of the poor. • This these industrializing societies continued to seek stability and independence from foreign interference. |
Dirty War
website where I got extra information on the dirty war MLA: "Dirty War | Argentine History." Encyclopedia Britannica Online. Encyclopedia Britannica, n.d. Web. 21 Apr. 2015. |