Scaring
them Red
The post-war era was a global time of rebuilding and
remodeling both cities and policies. In Chapter 8 of Born In Blood & Fire, author John Charles Chasteen looks in to
the progression of Latin America during the period post-World War II. At the
recently established United Nations, the Economic Commission for Latin America
(ECLA) was proposed and created by Raúl
Prebisch, an economist from
Argentina. His policy centered on Latin America’s exportation of raw materials
in a global economy dominated by the industrialized Europe and United States. During
this same time, nationalists began to increase in Latin America.
With more and more radical leaders beginning to emerge in
Latin America, the world watched as a new growing power began to surface,
communism. Many countries had been hit hard with the war, so the United States
had set up the Marshall Plan, a.k.a. European Recovery
Program, which used roughly $13 billion to essentially jumpstart the economic
recovery of Europe from 1948-1951. While the Marshall Plan successfully sparked
economic recovery in Europe, the United States did little to help out any of
their Latin American allies, giving them barely 2% of aid between 1946-1959. It
was due to acts like these that further separated many Latin American countries
from the United States. As a result, countries like the Venezuela, Guatemala
and Bolivia were being taken over communist dictators, through various
revolutions. The United States attempted interventions on many accounts through
the endorsing lesser-evil dictators like Marcos Pérez
Jiménez in Venezuela, Rafael Trujillo in the Dominican Republic, “Papa Doc”
Duvalier in Haiti and Anastasio Somoza in Nicaragua.
Though many countries opposed the United States and instead
opted for communistic ideals, none really hit the mark quite like Cuba. Fidel
Castro, with his brother Raúl Castro and a Argentine medical student named
Ernesto “Che” Guevara, returned to the country after being exiled years
earlier, and launched attacks against the then dictator Fulgencio Batista, who
was supportive of the United States. The revolutionaries influenced several
idealistic students like themselves to join their crusade. After escaping the
Cuban army, in which only 12 of them survived, the revolutionaries hid in the
Sierra Maestra mountains, where they fought the Cuban military for about 2
years. Batista fled the country in late 1958, ushering in the new era of Fidel
Castro. The United States was furious with Cuba and with Castro, especially
after he expropriated their oil refineries. First, the United States stopped
purchasing sugar, Cuba’s main export, which was almost immediately retaliated
with expropriating more US-owned buildings and business. This went back and
forth till in late 1960, the United States placed an embargo on all trade with
Cuba. From there, things between the United States and Cuba got much worse. Things
almost escalated to World War III when the Soviet Union started putting nuclear
missiles in Cuba and then US President John F. Kennedy gave the Soviets the
ultimatum, withdraw the missiles “or else”, an event later known as the Cuban
Missile Crisis. That, along with the Bay of Pigs massacre, only led the US to
campaign against the upcoming threat of communism, while Cuba was becoming the
face of anti-American ideals.
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Slow,
but Steady Progression
Previously in Born in
Blood & Fire, John Charles Chasteen discussed the affects of a post-war
world had on Latin America and how it ultimately assisted in the rise of
communism. Fortunately, there was a chapter skip and 30-year fast-forward from
the era of the Red Scare to the 1990s. During this time, we see what is
referred to as a “pendulum swing” away from nationalistic ideals and into the
ideology of neoliberalism. This change was exactly what needed to happen for
many of these countries. Hyperflation that had been largely affecting countries
like Brazil and Argentina had been stopped temporarily. Foreign capital had
been pushed for, bringing popular food chains in major cities in Chile, Mexico,
etc. A new transnational operation that is still popular today was introduced
as the maquiladora, which is an assembly plant that uses cheap labor to put
together imported materials. Unfortunately for the workers, having labor costs
so low means the employers can hire/fire people with the twitch of a finger.
The United States was much more helpful in this era, promoting and advising
different types of economic reforms, by economists from the University of
Chicago, a.k.a. the Chicago Boys. Despite many changes and reforms to the
different economies in Latin America, many countries were still very poor. The
average-U.S. worker would make roughly $46,000 while their neighbor Mexico
would only average about $8,000 per person. But of course with any type of
economic stance, there will always be pros and cons relating to it.
Another important topic that hadn’t been discussed in a
while was the issue of race and how neoliberalism affected the general opinion.
Mestizos, or descendants of both Spanish and Native American, were often seen
as the majority of their countries respectively. Similar to the United States
and other countries in the world, dark skin color, both indigenous and African,
was often looked at as a social disadvantage. While certain aspects of racism
unfortunately still exist, Latin Americans have shown to be some of the most progressive
by combing aspects of the indigenous, European and African culture into one big
multicultural society. This can be shown in the Afro-Brazilian act of capoeira,
a combination of martial arts and dance. Or in several religions that have
surfaced during the twentieth century including Candomblé from Brazil, Santería from Cuba and Umbanda, an
Afro-European religion from Brazil. But changes weren’t only surfaced due to
the expanding and integrating culture in Latin America, but also of the
ever-growing population of Latinos in the United States of America. In fact,
Latinos are officially the largest group of immigrants in the US, making up
about 17.1% of the population according to the US Census Bureau from a 2013
study. Not only can Latinos boast their large numbers, but also they’ve also
proudly changed certain aspects of the US culture. There are Spanish-language
television networks and movies, Hispanic food being sold in stores and are
becoming even more popular. Heck, a Latino just recently took home 3 Academy
Awards, including Best Picture, Best Director, and Best Original Screenplay.
Yet there are still issues today dealing with immigration and racism. Many
people complain about there being too many immigrants (mainly Latinos) in this
country. Odd argument, considering the fact that this country was founded by
immigrants. But times are progressing. There has been an African-American who
has led our country for 6 years, who has helped this country’s relations with
Latin Americans. More Latinos are becoming more accepting of the United States
and the embargo on Cuban trade has finally been lifted.
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