A Political and Economic Dictionary of Latin America
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A POLITICAL AND ECONOMIC DICTIONARY OF LATIN AMERICA A POLITICAL AND ECONOMIC DICTIONARY OF LATIN AMERICA Peter Calvert FIRST EDITION LONDON AND NEW YORK First Edition 2004 Europa Publications 11 New Fetter Lane, London EC4P 4EE, England (A member of the Taylor & Francis Group) This edition published in the Taylor & Francis e-Library, 2005. “To purchase your own copy of this or any of Taylor & Francis or Routledge’s collection of thousands of eBooks please go to http://www.ebookstore.tandf.co.uk/.” © Peter Calvert 2004 All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be photocopied, recorded, or otherwise reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means without the prior permission of the copyright owner. ISBN 0-203-40378-9 Master e-book ISBN ISBN 0-203-41027-0 (Adobe e-Reader Format) ISBN 1 85743 211 8 (Print Edition) Development Editor: Cathy Hartley Copy Editor and Proof-reader: Simon Chapman The publishers make no representation, express or implied, with regard to the accuracy of the information contained in this book and cannot accept any legal responsibility for any errors or omissions that may take place. FOREWORD Latin America, in the first decade of the 21st century, remains as exciting, interesting and unpredictable as ever. In 2004 Haiti, the first Latin American country to gain its independence, celebrated its second centenary. But although the structure and organization of government, politics, production, international relations and trade in the region are by now well established, important changes are under way, and the Latin American countries are becoming more important than ever before in world politics as a bridge between the USA and the rest of the world. This Political and Economic Dictionary of Latin America seeks to provide an overview of the region based on the most up-to-date information available at the time of writing. Latin America, for the purposes of this book, encompasses all of the countries in the Americas South of the Rio Grande/Río Bravo, which separates the USA from Mexico, and includes the Greater and Lesser Antilles. Entries in the dictionary are designed to stand on their own in providing definitions and essential facts, with coverage of recent developments, and, wherever possible, full contact details. The broad scope of the dictionary ranges over political groups (both legal and illegal), institutions, main government leaders and prominent individuals, trade unions, financial and trade bodies, ethnic groups, countries, territories and principal cities, as well as essential terms and concepts. Cross-referencing between entries is indicated by the simple and widely familiar device of using a bold typeface for those words or entities which have their own coverage. The longest individual entries in the book are those for the region’s individual countries and territories, giving a succinct description and historical survey to place recent events in context. For all but the smallest economies, the country entry is followed by a separate entry on that country’s economy, again combining up-to-date basic data with a short overview and a focus on recent issues and developments. I am most grateful to Matthew Beech for the help he has given me on this project. Chandlers Ford, April 2004 THE AUTHOR Peter Calvert is Emeritus Professor of Comparative and International Politics at the University of Southampton. He has written on Latin American politics, comparative politics in the third world, and environmental politics. His most recent publications include: Peter Calvert and Susan Calvert, Politics and Society in the Third World, 2nd edition (2001), Peter Calvert, Comparative Politics: an Introduction (2002) and Peter Burnell and Peter Calvert, editors, Civil Society in Democratization (2004). ABBREVIATIONS Apdo Apartado (Post Box) Av., Avda Avenida (Avenue) Ave Avenue b. born Bldg Building Blvd Boulevard Capt. Captain CEO Chief Executive Officer Chair. Chairman/person/woman Co Company Col Colonel Col. Colima; Colonia Corpn Corporation CP Case Postale, Caixa Postal, Casella Postale (Post Box) DC District of Columbia; Distrito Capital; Distrito Central DF Distrito Federal Dir Director DN Distrito Nacional Edif. Edificio (Building) esq esquina (corner) Exec. Executive f. founded FL Florida Fr Father Gen. General GNI Gross National Income Gov. Governor ha hectare Km Kilometre(s) kph Kilometres per hour Lic. Licenciado Lt Lieutenant Ltd Limited m metre(s) m. million Maj. Major Man. Manager MBA Master of Business Administration Mgr Monseñor mph miles per hour No(.) Number; numéro; número NW North-West NY New York OECD Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development Of. Oficina (Office) PO(B) Post Office (Box) PPP purchasing-power parity PR Puerto Rico Pres. President Prof. Professor Rd Road rtd retired RJ Rio de Janeiro Sec. Secretary Sgt Sergeant SP São Paulo Sq. Square St Street; Saint Sta Santa UN United Nations US(A) United States (of America) INTERNATIONAL TELEPHONE CODES The code and relevant telephone number must be preceded by the International Dialling Code of the country from which you are calling. Anguilla 1 264 Antigua and Barbuda 1 268 Argentina 54 Aruba 297 Bahamas 1 242 Barbados 1 246 Belize 501 Bermuda 1 441 Bolivia 591 Brazil 55 British Virgin Islands 1 284 Cayman Islands 1 345 Chile 56 Colombia 57 Costa Rica 506 Cuba 53 Dominica 1 767 Dominican Republic 1 809 Ecuador 593 El Salvador 503 Falkland Islands 500 French Guiana 594 Grenada 1 473 Guadeloupe 590 Guatemala 502 Guyana 592 Haiti 509 Honduras 504 Jamaica 1 876 Martinique 596 Mexico 52 Montserrat 1 664 Netherlands Antilles 599 Nicaragua 505 Panama 507 Paraguay 595 Peru 51 Puerto Rico 1 787 Saint Christopher and Nevis 1 869 Saint Lucia 1 758 Saint Vincent and the Grenadines 1 784 Suriname 597 Trinidad and Tobago 1 868 Turks and Caicos Islands 1 649 United States of America 1 United States Virgin Islands 1 340 Uruguay 598 Venezuela 58 A Acción Democrática (AD) Democratic Action, Venezuela Social democratic party. F. 1936 as Partido Democrático Nacional by Rómulo Betancourt, one of the small group of men exiled by the dictator, Juan Vicente Gómez, who met at Barranquilla, Colombia, in 1931 to concert opposition to the dictatorship. Between 1935 and 1937 they tried to put together the nucleus of a Popular Front government, but in 1937 left-wing activity was banned, and the party suppressed. At the change of government in 1941 the party obtained legal recognition under its present name, and in 1945 members played a key role in the junta that overthrew Gen. Isaías Medina Angarita. In 1948, in the first elections held under the Constitution of 1947, the AD candidate for President, the novelist and thinker Rómulo Gallegos, was successful and, though he was deposed a few weeks later, the experience of the trienio was to guide both Betancourt and the AD when they returned to power after the popular uprising that overthrew Marcos Pérez Jiménez in 1958. Since that time it has remained the dominant political party in Venezuela, though eclipsed by the Movimiento V República in 1998. Leadership: Henry Ramos Allup Address: Casa Nacional Acción Democrática, Calle Los Cedros, La Florida, Caracas 1050 E-mail: [email protected] Internet: http://www.acciondemocratica.org.ve/ Acción Democrática Nacionalista (ADN) Nationalist Democratic Action, Bolivia The ADN was formed as a vehicle for former dictator Gen. (retd) Hugo Bánzer Suárez (1971–78) for the July 1979 general election, in which he came third with 14.9% of the vote. In the 1980 general election his share of the vote increased slightly, to 16.9%, and the ADN won 30 congressional seats, which were finally taken up when Congress was recalled in September 1982. The ADN initially supported the July 1980 coup led by Gen. A– Z 2 Luis García Meza, but in April 1981 this backing was withdrawn. A month later Bánzer was arrested on a charge of plotting a counter-coup. The general election of July 1985 resulted in Bánzer winning the largest share of the vote (28.6%) in the presidential contest, while the ADN obtained 51 seats in Congress. However, because no presidential candidate had obtained a clear majority, a centre-left alliance in Congress elected Víctor Paz Estenssoro of the Movimiento Nacionalista Revolucionario (MNR) as President. For the May 1989 election the ADN entered into an alliance with the Partido Demócrata Cristiano. Bánzer, the alliance’s joint candidate, won 22.7% of the vote in the presidential contest and was narrowly outpolled for second place by the MNR candidate, Gonzalo Sánchez de Lozada. Personal enmity between the two candidates precluded an ADN-MNR pact and ensured that neither was elected President by Congress, which opted for Jaime Paz Zamora of the Movimiento de la Izquierda Revolucionario (MIR). The resultant Acuerdo Patriótico (AP) coalition Government led by the ADN and the MIR assumed power in August 1989. In return for the presidency, Jaime Paz Zamora awarded the ADN 10 out of 18 ministerial posts, including the most important portfolios of finance, defence and foreign affairs. Bánzer personally took the chairmanship of the Political Council of Convergence and National Unity, a post which gave him effective control over government policy. In March 1992 MIR leaders ratified Bánzer as the AP’s 1993 presidential candidate. However, although the AP secured 43 seats in the Chamber of Deputies and eight in the Senate, Bánzer himself could only manage second place in the presidential election, victory going to Sánchez de Lozada of the MNR. The AP was consequently dissolved in August 1993, with Bánzer resigning as ADN leader in November. In February 1995, however, Bánzer returned to the leadership of the ADN. In August 1997 Bánzer again became President, having headed the popular polling in June with 22.3% of the vote and secured election in a congressional vote with the support of an ADN-headed ‘mega-coalition’ which included the MIR, Conciencia de Patria and the Unión Cívica Solidaridad.