Great Decisions – Latin American Politics ABBREVIATIONS AND SUCH: ALBA = Bolivarian Alliance for the People of our America - a staunchly anti-U.S. bloc led by Hugo Chavez and funded by Venezuelan oil $$$. Chavez called George W. Bush “the devil.” BRICS = Brazil, Russian, India, China and South Africa – BRICS nations have met in annual summit since 2009 CELAC = Community of Latin American and Caribbean States - Launched in 2011, consists of 33 Latin American and Caribbean member states. ECLAC = Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean – A UN regional commission launched in 1948, includes 45 member states. Headquarters in Santiago, Chile. FARC = Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia MERCOSUR = Economic bloc for free trade between Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay, Uruguay and Venezuela OAS = Organization of American States – Created in 1948, consists of 35 independent member states. PINK TIDE = The rise of left-leaning governments in Latin America in the late 90’s and going through 2000s. PMDB = Brazilian Democratic Movement Party “SHINING PATH” = Communist militant group started in 1980 in Peru. Classified as a terrorist group by Peru and the U.S. UNASUR = Union of South American Nations What and Where is Latin America? Latin America includes 45 countries. The term Latin America was coined in the 1860’s when the Napoleon III was trying to extend French imperial control over the whole region. He and his ministers used the term to try to suggest at least some degree of cultural similarity between the region and France. In one sense, Latin America refers to territories in the Americas where the “Romance” languages (Spanish, Italian, Portuguese and French) prevail: Mexico, most of Central and South America, and in the Caribbean, Cuba, the Dominican Republic, and Puerto Rico. Latin America Statistics: Population: 627 million (2015 est., roughly double the United States) Area: 7.4 million square miles Largest Cities: Mexico City, São Paulo, Buenos Aires, Rio de Janeiro, Bogota, Lima, Santiago Countries of Latin America North & Central America: Belize, Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Mexico, Nicaragua, Panama South America: Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador, French Guiana, Guyana, Paraguay, Peru, Suriname, Uruguay, Venezuela Caribbean: Antigua & Barbuda, Aruba, Bahamas, Barbados, Cayman Islands, Cuba, Dominica, Dominican Republic, Granada, Guadeloupe, Haiti, Jamaica, Martinique, Puerto Rico, Saint Barthelemy, St. Kitts & Nevis, St. Lucia, St. Vincent & The Grenadines, Trinidad & Tobago, Turks & Caicos Islands, Virgin Islands 1 Some History of Latin America 1846 claim vacant lands—many of which were owned by Mexicans. In April, Mexico and the United States go to war over disputed territory. 1868 1848 Angered by 300 years of Spanish rule, Cubans rise up in revolt. Many leave for Europe and the Mexico surrenders. United States and the 14th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution is adopted, declaring all 1862 people of Hispanic origin born in the United The Homestead Act is passed in Congress, States as U.S. citizens. allowing squatters in the West to settle and 2 1895 1921 Cuban rebels stage an insurrection, led by the Limits on the number of immigrants allowed poet Jose Martí. in the United States are imposed for the first time in the country's history. 1898 1932 On February 15, in Havana Harbor, Cuba, an explosion destroys a U.S. battleship—killing The United States government begins to 266 men aboard. The United States subsequently deport Mexicans. Between 300,000 and declares war on Spain. The war lasts 13 weeks. 500,000 Mexican Americans would be forced out of the United States in the 1930s. The Cuban Revolutionary Party (Partido Revolucionario Cubano) strikes a deal with the 1934 U.S. Congress; in exchange for the rebels' cooperation with U.S. military intervention, the The Platt Amendment, which restricted the United States promises to leave Cuba at the Cuban government, is annulled. end of the war. 1940s The United States acquires Puerto Rico As WWII sets in, many Latinos enlist in the through war and claims it as a territory. U.S. military—as a proportion, the largest ethnic group serving in the war. 1901 Under the Platt Amendment, the United States 1943 limits Cuban independence as written into the Prompted by the WWII labor shortage, the U.S. Cuban Constitution. The United States government launches an agreement with reserves the right to build a naval base on Mexico to import temporary workers Cuba and enforces that Cuba cannot sign (braceros), to fill the void in agricultural treaties with other countries or borrow money work. unless it is deemed agreeable to the United States. With these parameters in place, the U.S. 1944 government hands the government of Cuba over to the Cuban people. Operation Bootstrap, a program initiated by Puerto Rico to encourage industrialization and to Cuba declares its independence from the United meet U.S. labor demands, fuels a large wave of States migrant workers to the United States. 1917 1950 Puerto Ricans are granted U.S. citizenship. The U.S. Congress advances Puerto Rico's political status from protectorate to In February, Congress passes the Immigration commonwealth. Act of 1917, which enforces a literacy requirement on all immigrants. 1951 The Bracero Program is formalized as the Mexican Farm Labor Supply Program and In May, the Selective Service Act becomes the Mexican Labor Agreement, and will bring law, obligating Mexican immigrants in the an annual average of 350,000 Mexican United States to register for the draft even workers into the U.S. until 1964. though they are not eligible. 3 1954 to 1958 1986 Operation Wetback is put into place by the President Ronald Reagan signs the U.S. government. The initiative is a Immigration Reform and Control Act government effort to locate and deport (IRCA). It is intended to toughen U.S. undocumented workers—over the four-year immigration law; border security is to be period, 3.8 million enforced and employers are now required to monitor the immigration status of their 1959 employees. It also, however, grants amnesty to nearly three million immigrants – mostly Fidel Castro and his band of revolutionaries Mexicans – who had quietly slipped across march into Havana, following an armed revolt the border during the 1970s and '80s. that ends in the overthrow of military dictator Fulgencio Batista. 1992 1961 A series of peace agreements finally ends the bloodshed in El Salvador. On April 17, 1,400 U.S.-trained Cuban exiles invade Cuba—within 72 hours, Fidel Castro's 1994 forces easily defeat the Bay of Pigs Invasion. NAFTA takes effect, eliminating all tariffs Rafael Leonidas Trujillo, dictator of the between Canada, Mexico, and the United States Dominican Republic, is assassinated in a C.I.A.- within 15 years. Imports from the maquiladoras backed plot. become duty-free. 1962 2002 U.S. reconnaissance planes discover Soviet Elected president of Brazil in 2002 and re- missiles in Cuba. Travel to and from Cuba is elected in 2006, the former union leader Luiz prohibited. Lula da Silva promised major social reforms and oversaw the emergence of Brazil as an economic 1980 powerhouse, which did much to raise millions of people in the country out of poverty. The archbishop of San Salvador, Oscar Romero, was assassinated. Rallies in support of Romero 2003 turned bloody when police opened fire on the crowds. This was the spark for the 12-year El Hispanics are pronounced the nation's largest Salvador civil war. minority group—surpassing African Americans. 1985 2012 Iran-Contra Affair. Hugo Chávez wins Venezuelan election. The U.S. took millions of dollars from a weapons sale to Iran and routed them and guns 2013 to the right-wing "Contra" guerrillas in Nicaragua. The Contras were the armed Hispanics make up about one-sixth of the opponents of Nicaragua's Sandinistas, following U.S. population—nearly 51 million people. By the July 1979 overthrow of strongman Somoza e the middle of the century, the Latino and the ending of the Somoza family's 43-year population is expected to reach 127 million— reign. nearly 30 percent of the projected population of the country. 4 Election Results in North & Central America COUNTRY HEAD OF GOVERNMENT NEXT PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION Mexico Enrique PEŃA NIETO July 2018 Belize Dean BARROW By Nov. 2020 Costa Rica Luis Guillermo SOLIS Feb. 2018 El Salvador Salvador SANCHEZ-CERÉN Feb. 2019 Guatemala Jimmy MORALES Sept. 2019 Honduras Juan Orlando HERNANDEZ Nov. 2017 Nicaragua Daniel ORTEGO Nov. 2021 Panama Juan Carlos VARELA May 2019 Election Results in South America COUNTRY HEAD OF GOVERNMENT NEXT PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION Argentina Mauricio MACRI Oct. 2019 Bolivia Juan Evo MORALES-AYNA Oct. 2019 Brazil Michel TEMER Oct. 2018 Chile Michelle BACHELET Nov. 2017 Colombia Juan Manuel SANTOS May 2018 Guyana David GRANGER May 2020 Paraguay Horacio CARTES Apr. 2018 Peru Pedro Pablo KUCZYNSKI Apr. 2021 Suriname Desire Delano BOULERSE May 2020 Uruguay Tabare VAZQUEZ Oct. 2019 Venezuela Nicolas MADURO Dec. 2018 Election Results in the Caribbean COUNTRY HEAD OF GOVERNMENT NEXT PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION Antigua & Barbuda Gaston BROWNE By Mar. 2019 Bahamas Perry CHRISTIE By May 2017 Barbados Freundel STUART By Feb. 2018 Cuba Raul CASTRO No elections held since 1959 Dominican Republic Danilo MEDINA May 2020 Grenada Keith MITCHELL By Feb. 2018 Haiti Jovenel MOISE Oct. 2021 Jamaica Andrew HOLNESS By Feb. 2021 St. Kitts & Nevis Timothy HARRIS By Feb. 2020 St. Lucia Allen CHASTANET By Dec. 2021 Trinidad & Tobago Keith ROWLEY By 2020 5 WHAT’S THE LATEST FROM LATIN AMERICA? Venezuela’s President Maduro hikes minimum wage by 60% as of May 1, 2017 Including food subsidies, the worst-paid workers will now take home about 200,000 bolivars a month - less than $50 (£38) at the black market rate. It comes a month after deadly protests erupted in the country.