Latin America

Latin America

Thursday - Aug 19

For our assignment today you will investigate the changing role of economic resources in Latin American History.

For research, consider the role of the control of economic resources during the following Latin American Conflicts:

The Pacific War 1865-1866 (Chile, Peru and Bolivia)

The Spanish American War 1898 (US and Spain)

The Ecuador-Peru War 1941 (Peru and Ecuador)

The Cuba Revolution 1953-1959

Write a short paper that compares and contrasts how the control of economic resources were involved in these conflicts.

Monday's and Tuesday's Assignment

The class working assignment today is to research a specific political faction and report how it has changed or evolved during the years 1825-2006:

Country:
Ecuador

Political Factions (You choose one)
Elitists
Populists
Church
Indigents

Be prepared to give a 7-10 minute presentation to the class using power point or other multi media form.

You may work individually or in groups of two.

Good luck!

Wednesday Classwork

From 1990-2006 much of the political struggles centered around economic problems. Often this was caused by populist policies meeting economic reality.

Imperial Globalization and Social Movements in Latin America

by Prof. James Petras and Prof. Henry Veltmeyer

Between 1980 – 1990, Latin America experienced a period of moderate growth and stable world prices for its commodities. This was a period of major dismantling of state regulations of the economy and weakening of the social safety net. Yet there were not major social uprisings nor mass social movements, except in Chile between 1985 – 1986, which ended with a US backed political pact between the Pinochet dictatorships and the Socialist-Christian Democratic parties and their subsequent ascent to government in 1990.

During the first half of the 1990’s world commodity prices declined to historic lows, the social safety net continued to deteriorate; capitalist profits soared in an orgy of privatizations and foreign takeovers, while overall growth stagnated. Social movements grew, mass mobilization, extended from the countryside to the cities but few popular rebellions occurred.

Look at the following situations. For each one, a starting point is made where you can learn some information about the situation. Search the Internet for additional information to answer the questions at the end of this assignment.

1) Argentina Economic/Political Crisis 1999-2002

http://www.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,189393,00.html

2) Ecuador's Sucre Crisis 1999-2002

http://www.solidarity-us.org/node/1629

Questions:

For each country, what were the political forces which made the economic problems difficult to solve?

To what extent are these situations similar to Ecuador's curent economic difficulties?

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Here is the assignment for tonight's class

Questions:

1) What was the name for Fidel castro's revolutionary group in Cuba?

2) Why was it named this way?

3) Compare the revolutionary movements of Castro in Cuba and the´'Shining Path ' revolutionary movement in Peru.

4) Give two reasons why the Cuba revolution of Castro was successful, while the Shining Path revolution was not.

Wednesday Assignment

For Wednesday we will be working on a little detailed research.


Access this site:


Latin American Revolutions


And review the information it has on the Mexican and Cuban Revolutions along with the Chilean "Road to Socialism".


What Internal and External factors lead to these governmental changes?

Compare and Contrast these three events.


Write a 1-page paper answering these questions and turn it in by Monday, 9 August.

History of U.S. Interventions in Latin America

Here is information about our Thursday research assignment. This week you will work in groups to research into US Military interventions into Latin America. Chose one country that had more than two military interventions. Then research what happened and why. What were the results of these different interventions?

History of U.S. Interventions in Latin America