Latin America Overview: A perspective.

A few thoughts have occurred to me while I have been traveling through Latin America. Some of them might be considered controversial and some not. In any case, I will share them here for perspective.

While traveling I have been reading the histories of various Latin American countries. I think there is a common misconception in the United States that there is something inherently violent about Latin America. Over the last twenty years we have been given travel warnings about the area, and heard of assassinations, government killings, and communist intrusions into region. Many people are satisfied to believe that this is simply how things are, and that change is not possible. I disagree.

To begin to understand other countries and other cultures, one must begin to ask questions. One must also question the sources of information that give them their news. As I have been reading about Latin American countries, I have identified what appears to be a commonality in their histories, a struggle for land.

When the Spanish came to the North and South American continents, their motivation was conquest and glory for Spain. Once the land was under the control of the Spanish, the second phase was extraction of the wealth. This could be done through farming, mining, or a number of other ways. The indigenous people were essentially enslaved by the landowners. They had the simple choice of continuing to farm and work on their native land, giving most of their income to the land owners, or moving away without anything to start somewhere else. That is, if they could find other land that without starving or being killed during the journey.

In this one-sided system called encomiendo, the Spanish let the indigenous people live on their land and gave them religious instruction. In exchange for eternal life, the Indians received a miserable earthly existence, and almost no access to change, mobility, or justice.

With only small numbers of encomiendos, and large amounts of native populations (ones that survived the European diseases and the wars), the wealth of the country (that of which that as not transported back to Spain) was concentrated in the hands of a small minority of the population.

The concentration of wealth is not as much of a problem as the ability to access land. Land is one of the most important things you can own. Without land, where can you put your stuff, where can you grow things, were can you setup a shop? If you are a renter, you will always be at the mercy of someone else. This is one of the most important issues in the development of Latin America.

Wars of independence were fought for self-determination. However after the wars of independence were fought, freedom from Spain did not change the ability to own land. The same people owned the land, but now they did not have to send money and resources back to Spain -- they could keep them for themselves. From their point of view, they had invested their time, money, sweat, and resources to build what they had -- why should they spread the wealth? After all they were giving jobs to all the people around them.

Conditions continued to get worse for the campesinos (the workers). As time went on, the populations expanded -- which meant less wealth for the average worker. They were stuck in a cycle of poverty, and most importantly, most of them did not believe they could create change.

Reformers popped up through the years and their issues always stemmed from core issue of land reform. People need access to land -- and more importantly they need the ability to own land. Thus the two sides were drawn up. Those who sought land reform, and those who wanted to maintain their rights to land they had owned and developed.

Unfortunately many people have lost their lives in this struggle, many of them without even having a voice.

How do you see the situation? Which side do you sympathize with?
What changes would you recommend?
Who would these changes affect, who would they benefit and whom would they anger?
Does your family own or rent your house? Which do you think is better?
Can you think of anyone who has social power over you?
How is justice determined in the United States? Can you think of examples when American "justice" was not really fair? What was done about it? Is there still injustice in the United States? What might be done about it?

Additional Questions to think about:
Compare and Contrast the indigenous people of North America's experience from those of Central and South America.
Why has the United States invaded so many Latin American countries over the last two hundred years?
Based on the United States history and news that is reported, do you think the United States is thought to be a violent place, or a peaceful place?
Vocabulary: controversial misconception inherently intrusions commonality motivation conquest extraction indigenous enslaved mobility concentrated self-determination invested poverty stemmed