Modern Latin America

Review Sheet

Chapter 22 Section 1 Political and Economic development

Social Class(es) / Beliefs / Way to Achieve Power
Conservative/ Right Wing / Wealthy & military (minority) / Capitalism
Want to maintain power (little change)
No freedom of speech or press / 1) Violence and intimidation
Liberal/Left Wing / Poor workers and farmers
(majority) / Socialism/communism
Free & fair elections (which they would win because they are the majority)
Freedom of speech & press / 1) Elections
2) Violence (guerillas)
Fidel Castro / Led a communist revolution in Cuba
Revolution in Cuba / Castro and the liberal guerillas overthrew a conservative dictator (Batista) to establish a communist economy
Sandinistas / Left-wing, liberal guerilla group that over-threw a conservative government in Nicaragua
Contras / Right-wing conservative group in Nicaragua that the U.S. supported in order to prevent the spread of communism
Economic Nationalism / Idea of supporting one’s country’s economy by attempting to replace foreign made products with locally made gods; high tariffs are placed on imports
Coup d-etat / Military take-over of the government
Embargo / When a country stops trading with another country to try to get them to do something
Causes of unrest in Latin America / Large poor class, small rich class, modernization increased gap between rich and poor, poor wanted change but rich held the power
Economic independence in Lat. Am. / Replace foreign imports with locally made products; Strengthen local industries; Nationalized some industries & companies (i.e. oil & telecommunications)

Chapter 22 Section 2 Changing Patterns of Life

Machismo / The male domination of Latin American society
Effects of urban growth in Latin America / Difficulty finding jobs, housing shortage
Traditions effect women’s lives / Women are still considered inferior in many parts of society
Urbanization has caused more women to work outside of the home and become more educated
Change in the role of the Catholic Church / Idea of “Liberation Theology” – the Church should take a more active role in changing the conditions that contributed to poverty; They helped people organize for change (Romero)

Chapter 22 Section 3 Mexico

Porforio Díaz / Dictator of Mexico that implemented programs intended to modernize and strengthen Mexico’s economy (foreign investment, built railroads, developed mines, bought land); the people eventually rebelled against him
Constitution of 1917 / Redistributed land to peasants, decreased the power of the Catholic Church , protected the rights of workers, gave government control of certain resources such as oil and silver
PRI / Institutional Revolutionary Party; political party that has dominated the country because it pays attention to the needs of many different groups
Ejido / Community-based farms that were established by government land & farm reform

Describe Mexico’s economic development (see notes)

Type of economy - mixed

Land reform – Mexico took land from wealthy land owners and redistributed it more equally

Oil resources – used them for development, when prices dropped, reliance on oil revenue hurt their economy

Dealing with Debt crisis – cut spending on health care, education, and other programs; laid off thousands of government workers; sold state-owned industries

NAFTA

What acronym stands for / North American Free Trade Agreement
3 countries in NAFTA / U.S., Mexico, Canada
Tariff / Tax on imports; it is designed to protect domestic products and make money for the government
Free trade / No taxes or other restrictions on trade
Trade balance / Amount of exports compared to imports
Trade deficit / More imports (buy) than exports (sell)
Trade surplus / More exports (sell) than imports (buy)
Maquiladores / Factories built along the border between the U.S. and Mexico to take advantage of cheap Mexican labor
One argument for NAFTA / The availability of cheaper products will allow Americans to spend more in our own economy and it will improve
One Argument Against NAFTA / Because labor in Mexico costs less, many Americans are afraid it will result in the loss of American jobs

Chapter 22 Section 5 Brazil

Juscelino Kubitschek / Leader of Brazil who helped create rapid development and moved its capital
“Brazilian Miracle” / Rapid development and economic growth in Brazil
Groups that make up populations / 50% black (descendants of Africans); descendants of European colonists and immigrants, recent Japanese immigrants
Effects of development on the land & people / While the economy improves, development often increases the gap between the rich and the poor as only some benefit from the development, and the land and environment is often negatively impacted

Chapter 23 Section 1 Latin America and the United States

Mexican War / War with Mexico that began over Texas, The U.S. won and gained Texas and other territories in the southwest (Arizona, New Mexico, southern California)
Spanish-American War / U.S. wanted Spanish out of North and South America; U.S. defeated Spain; Cuba gained independence, Spain lost influence in Latin America; U.S. gained territories such as Puerto Rico, Guam, Etc.
Good Neighbor Policy / No country should interfere with the internal or external affairs of another country
Bay of Pigs / An attempt to oust (remove from power) Fidel Castro; the U.S. backed anti-Castro forces, but did not give them the support they needed and they were defeated
Cuban Missile Crisis / Soviet Union (USSR) placed nuclear weapons missiles on Cuba; The U.S. perceived a threat and threatened Cuba; USSR threatened the
U.S.; U.S. agreed to back off and USSR agreed to remove the missiles
Increase in US investment in Latin America / U.S. investment increased in the early 1900s; bought plantations and nines, built railroads and factories, invested in oil wells; unpaid debt, however, often caused the U.S. to invade and occupy land in hoes they would get their money back.
Cold War effects on US-Latin America relations / U.S. did what was necessary to prevent the spread of communism including support conservative groups than were guilty of human rights violations in order to maintain power

Chapter 23 Section 2 Regional and Global Issues

OAS & its Goals / Organization of American States; its goal was to increase regional cooperation (help settle regional disputes peacefully, discourage foreign intervention, and promote economic development and democracy)
Default / When a country stops paying, or cannot pay, back its loans from other countries
Why regional common markets / Many countries have joined together to create regional common markets; Common markets promote trade among the countries involved, and hopefully benefit their economies.
Success of regional common markets / Limited success because of political differences
Global Issues in Latin America / Debt, drug trade, environment, human rights
Effect of Foreign Debt on Global Economy / When Latin American countries cannot pay back money that was lent to them, it negatively impacts the countries that lent the money

BRAZIL’S RAINFOREST

Development of Amazon Rainforest / Developments often leads to the destruction of the rainforest; alternatives to this destruction have caused controversy and violence
Biodiversity / A variety of plants and animals in a certain area
Greenhouse effect / When gases and particles trap the sun’s energy in the Earth’s atmosphere
Rubber Tappers / They offer an ecological alternative to cutting down the rainforest by tapping the rubber trees to harvest natural latex; their efforts have caused controversy with people who want to develop the rainforest

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