The Latin American Economy - Steilacoom Latin American Economy ... foreign investments and the Great...

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The Latin American Economy

During the 1920s and 1930s, foreign investments and the Great Depression led some Latin American nations to emphasize domestic industry to balance their economies.

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• Many Latin American nations focused on the export of one or two products.

– Argentina: beef and wheat

– Chile: nitrates and copper

– Brazil and Caribbean nations: sugar

– Central America: bananas

The Latin American Economy (cont.)

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• By the 1920s, the United States became the largest investor in Latin America, replacing Great Britain.

• American firms gained control of copper-mining industries in Chile and Peru and the oil industry in Mexico, Peru, and Bolivia.

• U.S. businesses sometimes supported harsh dictators, such as Juan Vicente Gómez, to protect their investments.

The Latin American Economy (cont.)

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• President Franklin Delano Roosevelt created the Good Neighbor Policy, rejecting the use of U.S. military force in Latin America on principle.

• As a result of the Great Depression, U.S. and European countries imported fewer goods from Latin American nations, devastating their economies.

The Latin American Economy (cont.)

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• Latin Americans could not afford to import manufactured goods from abroad, so governments began to encourage new manufacturing businesses.

• Individuals did not have the money to start new businesses, leading many countries to set up government-run companies.

The Latin American Economy (cont.)

Figure 5

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Authoritarian Rule

In most Latin American countries, a small group of church leaders, military leaders, and large landowners controlled politics.

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• In the 1930s the Depression and domestic instability led many governments in Latin America to become militaristic or authoritarian.

• Argentina

Authoritarian Rule (cont.)

– Argentina was controlled by an oligarchy of landowners who made large profits from cattle and wheat exports.

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– The middle-class Radical Party, under Hipólito Irigoyen, became concerned with the increasing power of the industrial workers.

– Irigoyen eventually became corrupt and was overthrown by military officers who wanted to stop industrialization and return to the old export economy.

Authoritarian Rule (cont.)

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– During World War II, military officers formed a new government called the Group of United Officers and elected Juan Perón as president.

Authoritarian Rule (cont.)

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• Brazil – Large landowners who became rich from coffee plantation revenues controlled the republican government in Brazil.

– In 1930 a military coup made Getúlio Vargas president of Brazil.

– In 1937 Vargas made himself a dictator and ruled as an authoritarian with some fascist like features.

Authoritarian Rule (cont.)

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– Vargas focused on new industries which made Brazil Latin America’s chief industrial power.

– The military forced Vargas to resign in 1945.

Authoritarian Rule (cont.)

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• Mexico

– The Mexican Revolution reduced the power of landowners and created a relatively stable political order.

– The Institutional Revolutionary Party, or PRI, controlled the major groups within Mexican society and chose the party’s presidential candidate.

Authoritarian Rule (cont.)

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– In 1934 President Lázaro Cárdenas gained enormous support when he redistributed 44 million acres of land to landless Mexican peasants and took a strong stand with the United States over oil.

– Cardenas seized foreign-owned oil companies, infuriating the United States, which did not intervene because of the Good Neighbor Policy.

Authoritarian Rule (cont.)

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– The Mexican government paid the oil companies for their property and set up PEMEX, a national oil company, to run the oil industry.

Authoritarian Rule (cont.)

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Culture in Latin America

Latin American artists adapted the styles of European modern art to express themes relevant to their own culture.

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• New European art styles began to influence Latin American art when artists studying abroad brought back modern techniques.

• In major cities, wealthy elites became interested in the new styles, such as abstract art.

Culture in Latin America (cont.)

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• Many writers and artists, such as Diego Rivera, used their work to promote nationalism.

• Rivera wanted people to remember Mexico’s past, especially the Mexican Revolution.

Culture in Latin America (cont.)

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