Modern Latin America 2020 – Page 2

Class Notes 3/2/2020

Announcements: Great Decisions Lecture on Border Security on Tuesday Night and Unit Quiz #2 on Friday!

First of all, Marco started us off with Latin America in the news. He decided to look into the most recent election in Uruguay. The conservative group is now in power after 15 years of left-winged rule. This arose after many years of violence within the country, so people believe that this group will bring about change. However, the race was very close. The main reason for this topic was to enforce that there is no reason for outside intervention when it comes to other countries’ elections.

Second, we had a set up discussion about how historians should approach memoirs as primary sources for events. Historians should interrogate any source they are reading, but especially personal accounts of an event. Questions that could be asked should include:

What kind of biases does the author have?
Do other sources back up the events told in this memoir?
What are the motives of the author’s work?
How does the author depict themselves in the memoir?
Was the memoir written during or after an event/ are the observations directly from the event or memories of the author?

Of course, after a bit of brainstorming, we dove into The Motorcycle Diaries by Che Ernesto Guevara. Our main conversation ended up being about how Guevara became the man that he became. We started discussing whether historians can read his memoir without the interference of knowing who he becomes later in his life: a marxist revolutionary. Many decided that it was incredibly difficult to not let prior knowledge influence the way they read this, which is something to note, as we previously discussed, when reading a memoir as a primary source. One of the complexities of Che is that he was from an elite position, specifically classist, but was willing to work with lower class people in order to feel immersed into the different cultures he was experiencing. It was mentioned that Che was in a very privileged position, but tried to help out as much as he could — until he realized that the system was broken. Throughout the memoir, Che is finding his political identity through lived experiences. One of these experiences, for example, was when he attempted to help an old woman with asthma.

“I went to see an old woman with asthma, a customer at La Gioconda. The poor thing was in a pitiful state, breathing the acrid smell of concentrated sweat and dirty feet that filled her room, mixed with the dust from a couple of armchairs, the only luxury items in her house. On top of her asthma, she had a heart condition. It is at times like this, when a doctor is conscious of his complete powerlessness, that he longs for change: a change to prevent the injustice of a system in which only a month ago this poor woman was still earning her living as a waitress, wheezing and panting but facing life with dignity. In circumstances like this, individuals in poor families who can’t pay their way become surrounded by an atmosphere of barely disguised acrimony; they stop being father, mother, sister or brother and become a purely negative factor in the struggle for life and, consequently, a source of bitterness for the healthy members of the community who resent their illness as if it were a personal insult to those who have to support them. It is there, in the final moments, for people whose farthest horizon has always been tomorrow, that one comprehends the profound tragedy circumscribing the life of the proletariat the world over. In those dying eyes there is a submissive appeal for forgiveness and also, often, a desperate plea for consolation which is lost to the void, just as their body will soon be lost in the magnitude of the mystery surrounding us. How long this present order, based on an absurd idea of caste, will last is not within my means to answer, but it’s time that those who govern spent less time publicizing their own virtues and more money, much more money, funding socially useful works.

There isn’t much I can do for the sick woman” (Guevara, p. 73).

Che’s journey was one that affected him deeply, and eventually led him to becoming a revolutionary — further affecting the lives of many others.

For further reading on Che and his journey, check out these sources:

Larson, J. A., & Lizardo, O. (2007). Generations, Identities, and the Collective Memory of Che Guevara1. Sociological Forum, 22(4), 425–451. doi: 10.1111/j.1573-7861.2007.00045.x https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/j.1573-7861.2007.00045.x

United Nations. Statement by Mr. Che Guevara (Cuba) before the United Nations General Assembly on 11 December 1964. Accessed March 4, 2020. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bufHojkoGtw.

Reichard, Stephen. “Ideology Drives Health Care Reforms in Chile.” Journal of Public Health Policy 17, no. 1 (1996): 80-98. Accessed March 5, 2020. doi:10.2307/3342660.

With this, I close with some concluding questions:

How does Che Ernesto Guevara’s experience represent the lives of other marxist revolutionaries?
Was Che aware of the privilege he held while he was traveling?
Was Che’s race an important influence in the journey that he took/ how would this experience have been different if he were not white?

Citations:

Guevara, C. (2017). The Motorcycle Diaries: Notes on a Latin American journey. Melbourne: Ocean.

Lecture Tuesday: Border Lines & Global Flows

This is a reminder that Great Decisions of Wayne County will be sponsoring a public lecture tomorrow evening (Tuesday, March 3) by Alan Bersin, titled “Border Lines and Global Flows: The Future of Border Management and Security Is Not What It Used to Be.” Mr. Bersin is a former Assistant Secretary for Policy and International Affairs and Chief Diplomatic Office in the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (2012-17), and is currently a Senior Fellow of the Belfer Center at Harvard University’s Kennedy School of Government. His lecture is the second of a five-event series on Democracy, Trade, and Migration.

This lecture is free and open to the public, and will begin at 7:30 p.m. in Gault Recital Hall. A dessert reception will follow in the lobby area of Scheide Music Center.

Motorcycle Diaries

Reading Question: How Did Che Guevara’s Experience at the San Pablo Leper Colony build into the framework of a Marxist Critique?

On the surface, the reality of the San Pablo leper colony may seem like a reasonable, natural division in society. It certainly was in the 1950s. While Che Guevara had expressed anger at the treatment of working people of lower socio-economic status in his travels, the arbitrary nature of class divisions is clear when the members of each class are not fundamentally different, but are rather the result of a larger social system. Leprosy of course carries with it a real socio-economic disadvantage that places the afflicted at the lowest point in the social hierarchy.

Che’s rejection of this boundary between people, where there is an obvious, yet superficial, physical difference between lepers and non-lepers is the one of the greatest expressions of his commitment to the ideal of egalitarianism. After having witnessed firsthand the stratification of Latin American societies, Che’s gravitation towards revolutionary politics makes a great deal of sense. To correct a system he views as so inherently corrupt, what can be characterized as an “extreme” stance seems to Him, and his fellow revolutionaries in the future, a reasonable one.

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.

Indigenous People in The Motorcycle Diaries

My discussion question is, how does Che view indigenous people in The Motorcycle Diaries? He displays a strong sense of appreciation for indigenous people, due to their troubled past at the hands of colonialism that lasted many centuries. On page 93, he states that indigenous people are “a defeated race. Their stares are tame, almost fearful, and completely indifferent to the outside world. Some give the impression that they go on living only because it’s a habit they cannot shake.” This quote shows the hardships indigenous peoples had to deal with during the colonial times and Che feels their pain. Also, he notes their struggles in contemporary society at the hands of modernization and its actors. He states on page 97 that indigenous people are “brutalized by modern civilization and their companeros”. Since indigenous people had been pushed to the bottom of society for so long as a result of slavery, they are fighting an uphill battle to advance at the rate of the “white man”. In the novel, indigenous people’s oppression by Europeans and higher class individuals in society are noticed and acknowledged, and Che exhibits a sense admiration, as well as empathy for them.

Communism in The Motorcycle Diaries

My question is: During his travels, which experiences directed Guevara to adopt his communist ideology?

The first time Guevara hinted at having an interest in leaving the medical field and entering politics was when he met Hugo Pesce. Pesce was a doctor working in the San Pablo leper colony in the Amazon. When Alberto and Guevara saw the poor living conditions there, he started to think about changing his career path to political activism in order to help indigenous communities and other underrepresented groups. Guevara further exhibited wanting to help indigenous communities when he visited the Inca temples in Lima. During his visit, he became more aware of the European attempts to erase Latin American history and culture. While travelling through Latin America, Guevara spent a lot of time with people of the working class. He listened to the issues that plagued the working class communities he worked in. Having experienced extremely poor conditions, Guevara began to develop a philosophy that there is an eternal struggle between the oppressors and the oppressed. He saw indigenous people and minorities working to death in the copper mine of Chile while American businessmen profited. Guevara developed a strong support for the proletariat and was excited by the idea of a violent overthrow of the oppressors. It was his experiences with the struggles of the underrepresented working class communities of Latin America that directed Guevara to develop his communist ideology.

Reading Question blog post – The Motorcycle Diaries

My question is, is it possible to read this book without reading into the person Che was to become?

Reading this book, we all know the revolutionary Che to become and there are obvious connections and links in the book. Our perspective is quite different from that of Che, who when he wrote this, did not know of his own fate. I purpose attempting to read the book against the grain – that is, reading it without knowing what he did later. We often read this book like we do reading a book that we already know the end to. I personally prefer to view this book as a Bildungsroman. It is a trip about personal growth. This is a very formative period in his life– he is only 23 years old when he takes this trip and has not completely entered the adult-working world. There is no doubt that there are very strong undertones about his future, such as “…I see myself, immolated in the genuine revolution, the great equalizer of individual will, proclaiming the ultimate mea culpa. I feel my nostrils dilate, savoring the acrid smell of gunpowder and blood, the enemy’s death; I steel my body, ready to do battle, and prepare myself to be scared space within which the bestial howl of the triumphant proletariat resound with new energy and new hope” (165). At the same time, we also see a somewhat immature Che, such as when he is heartbroken or when he gets a little too close to a local’s wife, so he and Alberto are chased out of town. Further, Che criticizes people of African descendant when he writes, “the black is indolent and a dreamer; spending his meager wage on frivolity or drink; the European has a tradition of work and saving, which has pursued him as far as this corner of America and drives him to advance himself, even independently of his own individual aspiration” (161). I believe it is important to resist the urge to jump to conclusions about his later life and appreciate this book in itself, appreciating a young, pre-revolutionary Che and not getting caught up in his almost mythical legacy.

A Shifting Tide

After fifteen years of being the dominant political party in Uruguay, the Broad Front coalition finally lost an election. On Sunday, Luis Lacalle Pou was inaugurated as the next president of Uruguay. The right-wing victory of Pou is an extreme shift in governance as the Broad Front had cultivated positive economic growth over the past fifteen years. However, trust in the Broad Front has dwindled recently with little recent economic growth and a spike in homicide rates. Many voters believe the Broad Front has not done enough to quell rising drug use and murder rates. Pou and the National Party have gained popularity largely through their commitment to ensuring public safety in Uruguay. The National Party also appeals to voters because of its promise to lower government spending and tax rates. Because the cost of living in Uruguay has been so incredibly high in recent years, tax cuts and lower government spending is certainly appealing for most voters. Last year, Uruguay experienced its worst deficit in roughly 30 years. While the Broad Front was in power during this deficit, the National Party is committed to lowering it. According to economist Ignacio Munyo, “Uruguayans pay 30 percent more for a litre of gasoline, than Argentines, Brazilians and Chileans.” There is a lot of optimism surrounding Pou’s effectiveness in office because of the National Party making up the majority of congress. However, the election win for the National Party signifies a larger shift in tide in Uruguayan society. While the vote is fairly evenly split between the Broad Front and the National Party, the latter is gaining momentum more rapidly than ever before. This election fits into a greater historical context because the divisiveness of politics is increasing when it took so long for the country to become fully unified following independence from Spain. However, legitimate democratic elections in Uruguay must be celebrated in the wake of many historical Uruguayan regimes being overthrown, assassinated, or corrupt. Legitimate democratic elections demonstrate to Europe and the United States that intervention is not necessary.

Marco Peticca

Yanakiew, Monica. “Uruguay Ushers in First Conservative Government in 15 Years.” Uruguay News, Al Jazeera, 1 Mar. 2020.