Modern Latin America 2020

History 216

Peyton O'Laughlin

Motorcycle Diaries Blog Post

Peyton O’Laughlin

Question: How does Guevara view the economic and health implications of various occupations during his travels?

Answer: I think Guevara often views the health implications that many Latin Americans face being in direct relation to their long hours and low wages. Examples of this ideology are present in how he describes the mining process in Chile, always detailing the labor as excruciating due to its inherently rough physical work and the environmental climate of the mountains. Likewise, the living conditions conflated with this type of work is always described as poor. Equally, Guevara highlights the economic factors that play into health by exemplifying the waitress he meets in Chile. As a doctor, Guevara is keen on the fact that the waitress has a heart condition but she does not seek medical help because she either cannot afford to miss work or cannot afford medical attention. Later, when Guevara is recanting his time in Chile, he describes the condition of many Chilean hospitals and describes them as filthy and not well maintained with lacking amount of medicine, equipment, and funding. Furthermore, some of the pricing for medical attention can cost from 300 to 500 Chilean escudos, which is said to be “legalized theft.” In sum, Guevara highlights these situations in his writings because they are of importance to Latin American power structures. The income inequalities and poor working conditions only add to rampant health problems. Likewise, these issues tie into years of economic subordination to foreign influences bent on economic control.

Class Notes 02/17/2020

Peyton O’Laughlin

Firstly, Giovanny discussed the Venezuelan migrant crisis. Important highlights of this project were xenophobia that accompanies mass migration incidents as well as the political and economic factors that occur from this situation. Through this news event, Giovanny called upon the theme of “Americanos” and nativism during the Latin American wars of independence in comparison to rhetoric regarding the Venezuelan migrant crisis, “Somos planas.” 

Next, we narrowed our historical focus to neocolonialism in Latin America from the late 19th century to the Great Depression. The main topic of focus was defining neocolonialism and how this historical facet affected the lives of Latin American people. A large portion of the class revolved around examining photos of Latin American workers under neocolonial as primary sources. Importantly, this activity provided us to think critically about the cultural, political, and economic factors that shaped the lives of Latin American people during this period. Not only were Latin American people affected, but their economic structures were altered due to foreign influence. Likewise, Latin America experienced a large influx of European immigrants, this resulted in continued cultural changes and a shift in political ideologies, liberalism to consolidated authority and oligarchies. Finally, through the photos, we discussed familial, socio-economic, and racial dynamics of the world of work, mainly agricultural, in Latin America during the period. This last piece of the class was largely developed through observations of clothing, how individuals were placed in photos, the type of work that was being represented, racial tones, types of agricultural or natural resources, and the locations the photo presented. 

In terms of understanding neocolonialism, from the neocolonizers perspective, one can take precedence from Woodrow Wilson’s Mobile Speech (1913). Through Wilson’s speech, one can observe the views and sentiments of the United States towards Latin American countries under neocolonialism. Wilson details how Latin American countries were apt to foreign, mainly the United States, the influence due to their lack of industrial development. Latin American countries vied outside the limits of utility to the world economy and this ideology was the justification for imperialized invasion and economic control by the United States during neocolonialism. 

Key terms 

  • Neocolonialism: the use of economic, political, cultural, or other pressures to control or influence other countries, especially former dependencies. 
  • Oligarchy: a small group of people having control of a country, organization, or institution. 
  • Debt Peonage: a system where an employer controls the physical and economic mobility of a worker by limiting their access to supplies not sold by the owner which results in a burden of debt to the worker. 

Reputable Sources 

Questions 

  • What was the justification for the economic intervention of Latin America by foreign influences? 
  • Briefly describe the system of Debt Peonage. 
  • Explain why a Latin American country under neocolonial rule would produce low-cost exports? 
Image result for latin america colonialism political cartoon
The Ones Who Began It: The Spanish-American War of 1898 (Part 2)

Latin America In The News: Death and Butterflies

Peyton O’Laughlin

In January of 2020, the body of a well-known environmental activist, Homero Gómez, was found in a well at the Michoacán Butterfly Reserve in Michoacán, Mexico. Gómez’s body was said to have received blunt trauma to the head in the autopsy. Two weeks later, the body of a part-time reserve tourist, Raúl Hernández Romero, was found on a nearby butterfly sanctuary with “injuries possibly inflicted with a sharp object.” Neither situation has yet to be declared a case of murder by local police.  

Many Reserve staff and community members believe that the deaths are the result of organized crime in the region. Gómez was very active in the region for the protection of the trees in the Butterfly reserve from the illegal loggers, who some say are in connection to the Mexican Cartels. Through his activism and his time as commissioner of the Ejido that the reserve is portioned on, Gómez advocated for ecotourism and called for many local and state intervention to protect the world-famous reserve. 

The article touches on other issues such as organized crime in the Michoacán region, and the greater expanse of Mexico, corruption on the Ejido that the butterfly reserve is located, Mexican environmental activism, and the state of the global climate crisis. 

Many of the articles depict Homero Gómez very positively and almost like that of a saint. He is known as a jovial and generous person that dedicated his life to protecting the butterflies, and he stood with upstanding morals against the tyrannical cartels and loggers. The Guardian article was the only article to show a darker aspect of Gómez, stating that politics on the Ejido were known to be corrupt and when he was commissioner, Gómez was not the cleanest. This claim to “shady” activity was said to possibly draw enemies, but for the most part, Gómez was considered a genuinely liked individual. The immediate connection to the cartel does not seem farfetched in all happenstance as the bodies exhibited injuries that would detail homicide and the recent developments of organized crime in Mexico branching into illegal logging as global timber prices rise. Likewise, the regional police force of Michoacán has a lackluster record for solved murder cases (3% total closed cases), which adds to the seemingly lawless and corrupt depiction of Mexico in the articles. 

Ultimately, these articles declare that we consider themes similar to those of Latin America under neocolonialism. The cartels, or at least the loggers and others that show interest in the taking advantage of the resources of the reserved land, draw similarities to the foreign powers that sought to take control of the natural resources of Latin American land for profit. Importantly, the Mexican government, in this case, parallels with the Latin American governments under neocolonialism as they have proceeded to take little to no action following the astoundingly high number of deaths of Mexican environmental activists (14 in 2018, and the two deaths on the reserve that occurred two weeks apart). Many of these deaths have been claimed to have involvement with the cartels, as the activists were highly critical of efforts of organized crime to illegally control and gain monetary benefit of protected Mexican resources. To clarify, the Mexican government has taken a stance of no action, which places the Mexican activists, communities, and resources at risk, similar to that of the obedient neocolonial governments that sought to assist in the foreign economic interests rather than to the assistance of the Mexican people and their aspirations of Mexican land. 

Agren, David, and Oliver Milman. “Fear in Mexico as Twin Deaths Expose Threat to Monarch Butterflies and Their Defenders.” The Guardian. Guardian News and Media, February 8, 2020. https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2020/feb/08/monarch-butterflies-under-threat-mexico-aoe 

Wamsley, Laurel. “Sadness And Worry After 2 Men Connected To Butterfly Sanctuary Are Found Dead.” NPR. NPR, February 3, 2020. https://www.npr.org/2020/02/03/802359415/sadness-and-worry-after-2-men-connected-to-butterfly-sanctuary-are-found-dead 

Gallón, Natalie. “A Second Monarch Butterfly Conservationist Has Been Found Dead in Mexico.” CNN. Cable News Network, February 4, 2020. https://www.cnn.com/2020/02/03/americas/second-butterfly-conservationist-dead-mexico-trnd/index.html 

Student Research Question

Peyton O’Laughlin

My research question is Does the history of Panama consistently become framed in a lens of economic advantage? Panama, along with various Central American countries, is famously disregarded in the discussion of Latin America due to its small size and population. Likewise, Panama has significant amounts of natural resources and a beneficial geographical location, between the Pacific and Atlantic Oceans. These factors resulted in decades of colonial and neocolonial actions by domestic and foreign influences. Sentiments regarding the economic benefit of the nation and its utility in effectively handling trade developments and resources have long been present. Ultimately, the goal of my public history project is to examine primary sources and pieces of Panamanian and Latin American history to observe how significant historical figures, countries, and institutions view Panama in the larger discussion of Latin America and individual sovereignty with regards to economic advantage and prestige. 

Sources: 

Hay, John, Canal Treaties: Executive Documents Presented to the United States Senate, Washington: United States Department of States, 1914. https://catalog.hathitrust.org/Record/100346769 

Carter, Jimmy, “Address to the Nation on the Panama Canal Treaties,” (Speec, Washington, DC, February 1st, 1978), The American Presidency Project, https://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/documents/address-the-nation-the-panama-canal-treaties 

Ovidio Diaz Espino, How Wall Street Created a Nation: J.P. Morgan, Teddy Roosevelt, and the Panama Canal, MJF Books, New York, 2001. 

Mauer, Noel and Carlos Yu, What Roosevelt Took: The Economic Impact of the Panama Canal, 1903-37, Harvard Business School, 2006. https://www.hbs.edu/faculty/Publication%20Files/06-041.pdf 

Palka, Eugene J., A GEOGRAPHIC OVERVIEW OF PANAMA: Pathway to the Continents and Link between the Seas, United States Military Academy, Springer, 2005. https://link.springer.com/content/pdf/10.1007/1-4020-3297-8_1.pdf 

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