Mexico, Cuba, and Central America

14.2-3

The Mexican Way

• 1960’s students in Mexico began to protest the 1 party government

• 1968 University students in Mexico City gathered to challenge government policies– Police opened fire and killed hundreds

• Official party of the Mexican Revolution was the Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI)

New Economic Policies

• 1970’s oil was discovered in Mexico– Oil prices dropped in 80’s and Mexico couldn’t pay its

foreign debts• Privatization: the sale of government-owned

companies to private firms• Vicente Fox- first person elected president from

an opposing party since 1910• Cesar Chavez-founder of the United Farm

Workers Union

Cuban Revolution

• Fidel Castro seized Havana in 1959 – Many Cubans who disagreed with Castro fled to

the U.S.• 1960 U.S. declared a trade embargo against

Cuba- prohibited trade• Castro started guerrilla wars and encouraged

peasants to overthrow old regimes in other parts of Latin America

Upheaval in Central America• El Salvador: Civil war broke out in 1970-80’s

– U.S. provided weapons and training for Salvadoran army to defeat Marxist guerrillas- peace in 1992

• Nicaragua: U.S. supported the Somoza regime– Used their position to enrich themselves and when opposed, used

murder and torture to silence it– Jimmy Carter refused to support them

• Panama: U.S. helped Panama become a nation in 1903- gave us permission to build canal– Manuel Noriega took control in 1983 and by 1989 Bush sent U.S.

troops to Panama because of Noriega’s involvement with the drug trade

The Nations of South America

Brazil, the Colossus of Latin America

• Brazil faced many economic problems– Foreign debts, massive inflation, and uneven

distribution of wealth• Luiz Inacio (Lula) da Silva became president

and tried to make Brazil more independent in global trade– Social problems remained severe– 15% of people in cities unemployed in 2003

Argentina and Chile

• Juan Peron: member of military regime– Used his position to gain support of the workers

by improving working conditions and unions– Became VP and then President of Argentina– Followed a policy of increased industrialization

and tried to free Argentina from foreign investors– Created fascist gangs that used violence to terrify

Peron’s opponents– Eventually overthrown and sent into exile

Argentina Cont

• Military was defeated at the Falkland Islands and was discredited

• New presidents worked to restore democracy• Inflation and foreign debt have been a

handicap, but growth still continues

Chile

• Augusto Pinochet overthrew the Marxist president Salvador Allende

• Pinochet’s regime was brutal– Thousands of opponents were tortured,

murdered, or imprisoned– Outlawed all political parties– Desaparecidos “The Disappeared”