Latin America after Independence from Spain and

Portugal
1. How did the Cold War affect Latin America? Why did the United
States get involved?
The Cold War affected Latin America because the United States and the USSR
were the two main groups because they decided to go against each other and
disagreed on what each other had to say. If you said yes, then you were able to
get more power of support from the Soviets but if you said no, then the United
States would be your heavily armed buddy.The United States had to come
together to fight against the Soviet Union in communist Latin American countries
such as Cuba, Guatemala, Nicaragua, and Chile. The United States thought that
the meaning of communist equaled evil.
2. What is the difference between left and right wing? And why is it
confusing?
The people that believed in the left wing government are called liberals which
means that they believe that more people should take part in government
choices, to give more people a voice. While for those that believe in the right
wing government are called conservatives and they are the smaller government.
The conservatives think that the government should play a less of a job in
helping people out. They consider the left leaning government a bigger one and
they control business. While for the right leaning government, they let business
do whatever.
3. Why did the United States get involved in Cuba?
The United States was extremely involved with the economy in Cuba and they
decided to control the sugar production because it was the main crop there.
Cuban people were mostly poor since all the money was either going to the
United States or corruption of the government. Since Fidel Castro was a
communist, Cuba was an enemy of the United States and the United States
refused to trade with Cuba. United States citizens are not really able to go to
Cuba and Castro imposed strict censorship. He is still currently the leader today
even though he is in ill health but his brother Raul is now charge.
4. Whats a banana republic?
A banana republic is a country that has a powerless government and is runned or
controlled by a company for the purpose of producing and exporting a good
(mostly bananas). People export bananas because its the cheapest fruit around.

5. How did the CIA get involved in Guatemala?

Militant dictators took control of Guatemala all the way up until the 1950s and
one of the dictators was named Jacobo Arbenz Guzman. He had enacted land
reforms that were communist in nature but the United States was strongly anticommunist. The CIA also known as Central Intelligence Agency tried to help
overthrow him in 1954. The coup was followed by decades of violence that was
under the leadership of a military junta. The Guatemalans began to have a
democratic government in the year of 1996 and there is currently and still a
strong military force there. But people blame the United States for starting the
violence.
6. What is the other infamous September 11th?
Salvador Allende, Soviet leader, took control of Chile in 1970. The United States
helped Augusto Pinochet took over the government in a military coup on the
original infamous September 11th, 1973. People suffered massive human right
violations from the harsh rule of Pinochet. Thousands of people were killed and
tortured while Pinochet gave up power in 1990 to a democratically elected
leader. But there was hundreds of legal charges that was against him for the
human rights violations. He ended up dying before he had to pay for the price.
7. Who were the disappeared in Argentina?
Argentina was making a lot of money from the meat production before the Great
Depression occurred. When the depression did hit, the people decided to turn to
the authoritarian leadership. Juan Peron, military general, took power after the
World War II. Eva Peron, his wife, was popular but when she was alive, she
enjoyed a lot of support. But she was popular with the poor workers which is also
known as the descamisados or the shirtless ones. During the time of Perons
dictatorship, he supported the Dirty War, the government sponsored the killing
of about 30,000 people who didnt agree with the government's views. The ones
that were killed were called disappeared, because they were taken out of their
homes or even off the street by secret police.
8. Why was it controversial when the United States intervened in
Nicaragua?
The United States intervention was held in Nicaragua and it was the most
controversial. Somozas family held control of Nicaragua until 1979 and that
same year the Sandinistas went against the government. They were very far left
so they ended up connecting with Cuba and the USSR and they helped them
because those countries helped them to supply them with weapons. Contras,
who fought against the Sandinistas for power were the ones the United States
supported (anti-communist group). The United States helped supply the Contras
with weapons by secretly sending the weapons to Iran which then shipped them
over to the Contras. Since it was during the Iran-Iraq war they ended up calling it
the Iran-Contra Affair.

9. What violence occurred in Brazil and El Salvador?

After the Great Depression, Brazil turned to dictatorship. Getulio Vargas was the
dictator for them and he turned Brazil into a fascist state. Fascism is the most
extreme form of conservative government but he ended up ruling until 1945 as
the poor slept in favelos. SInce all of this occurred, Brazil slowly returned to a
democratic rule and a civil war broke out in El Salvador in 1979. 75,000 people
ended up being killed during the war.
If democracy is a goal of the L.A. nations, what does a nation have to have
in order to achieve this goal?
The nation has to be able to have strong leaders for their nation because without
strong leaders then the government will go downhill. Also, when having a
government you dont want bad leaders take charge of it because it wont set a
good example for you and the nation. Next, they need to have a good
organization because without a good organization then they would be
unorganized and all over the place which isnt good at all. Also, they have to
have a election to be able to see who is running and who is going to win to be
able to see what they will able to do in the long run. Having all these
requirements will help you be able to achieve the goal for a good democracy.