A Venzenski Production

Revolutions, Repression, and

Democratic Reform in Latin
America
Aaron Ventresca and Adam Zalenski
 Revolutionary movements challenged the established
order

A Dark Time of
Constitutional governments were regularly overturned
Violence

A dubious decade of democracy degraded to a despair

of dictatorship (You're welcome for the alliteration Mr.
Malone...)
 Cuba

▪ Fidel Castro consistently "butted heads" with the United

States

▪ The Cuban communist government survived coup d'état

efforts by the United States

▪ The failure of the United States to overturn communism in

Cuba fueled other Latin American revolutions
Brazil
▪ Brazil was the first nation to experience a political
reaction to the Cuban Revolution
▪ Democratic President João Goulart was overthrown
▪ Death squads- illegal organizations like the SS in
Germany- murdered thousands of civilians
▪ The communist economic reforms put in place were
called "the Brazilian Solution"
Chile
▪ In 1970, Salvadore Allende took on new socialist
reforms and nationalized Chile's industries
▪ Richard Nixon attempted to undermine Allende's
authority
▪ The Chilean economy soon began to tank, affected
by inflation, mass consumer protests, and poor
foreign trade
▪ A military uprising led by Augusto Pinochet
overthrew Allende with the help of the U.S.
government in 1973
▪ The uprising was horribly brutal, causing numerous
fatalities
 ▪ Juan Peron was exiled in 1955
▪ Isabel Martínez de Peron, Juan Peron's third wife, inherited
the presidency in 1974 after his death

▪ She was a poor leader who failed to address rising

guerilla factions that led to mass kidnappings and labor
Argentina protests
▪ Argentina began what is known as "the Dirty War"
▪ In the Dirty War, more than 9000 Argentines lost their lives
fighting against leftist terrorist groups
 ▪ Dictator Anastasio Somoza was overthrown in 1979
▪ The Sandinistas formed
▪ Members of a coalition that overthrew Somoza and
attempted to install a socialist economy

▪ The Reagan administration attempted to quell the

Nicaraguan Revolution through the funding of "Contras"
Nicaragua or "Counters" (Counter-Revolutionaries)

▪ In 1990, the Sandinistas finally gave up and called for

free elections
▪ The Sandinistas horrendously lost, and instead, Violeta
Chamorro of a more moderate coalition was selected
 El Salvador

▪ In El Salvador, yet another

guerrilla movement plagued the
political scene
▪ The Farabundo Marti National
Liberation Front, or FMLN, was
taking power
▪ The Reagan Administration
attempted to compensate by
supplying the El Salvadoran army
with millions of dollars of aid
 ▪ The extremist dictatorships in Brazil, Chile, and
Argentina all ended by 1990 due to their own excesses
and desires to return to a stable government
▪ By 2000, the Cold War had more than concluded, and
And End to about 95% of Latin Americans lived under regular
Dictatorships civilian rule

and Revolution
 The United States Exerts its Dominance
▪ The United States was responsible for thwarting the
Nicaraguan and El Salvadoran conflicts by funding
military proxies

▪ The United States further prevented conflict by invading

Grenada to arrest dictator Manuel Noriega
So What Does This All Mean?
The United States was able to reform
Latin American nations by
encouraging foreign investment,
eliminating many social welfare
programs, and increasing employment

Latin American industries began to

grow by selling public-sector
industries
"A modified form of liberalism that favors
free market capitalism" - Dictionary.com

This idea helped reform Latin American

economies

Neo-Liberalism
 Contemporary
Catastrophic
Conflict
(Once again, you're welcome Mr. Malone...)

▪ Argentina endured a political and

economic meltdown in 2001 and 2002
▪ A renouncement of neo-liberalist ideas
led to this downfall
▪ A stream of left-wing, anti-neo-liberalist
presidents were elected
▪ Brazil (Luiz Inacío Lula Da Silva,
2002)
▪ Argentina (Nestor Kirchner, 2003)
▪ Bolivia (Evo Morales, 2005)
▪ Ecuador (Rafael Correa, 2007)
 ▪ ECON- The rise of neo-liberalism and spread of free-
market capitalism to Latin American countries

Why is This Stuff ▪ SOC- Dictatorships in Latin America

Important in ▪ CUL- Diffusion of communism and socialism into the

Western Hemisphere
APWH? ▪ SOC- Division of people into factions and political
parties
Thanks!