This peace agreement endured for nearly fifty years, however the deep-seated animosity between those in favor of a strong central government and those supporting regionally driven political autonomy would simmer for years until reaching a boiling point. One factor that contributed to the increasing divide between the rural peasantry and the government was the economic downturn in the wake of the Great Depression. The increase in urban unemployment as a result of the Great Depression forced Colombians to migrate to the countryside to seek employment on coffee plantations, which was a Colombian economic staple. Eventually the international demands for Colombian coffee increased, and as a result, the plantations’ land values increased as well. …show more content…
The assassination of Liberal leader Jorge Eliecer Gaitán on April 9, 1948 in Bogota ignited this devastating conflict, as the Liberals blamed the Conservative Colombian government for the assassination. The Liberals, including both the urban lower class as well as the socialist leaning poor, reacted immediately in Bogota by attacking the Presidential Palace with the aid of defecting police. Though the violence in the capital was quelled in three days’ time, the anger spread like an uncontrollable wildfire to the rural countryside. In the countryside, the rural peasantry affiliated themselves with leftist ideals and soon engaged in violent resistance. This resistance emerged in the form of AutoDefensas, or politically affiliated self-defense groups. These groups and their varying political affiliations soon became imbedded in the fabric of Colombian society: Indeed, “the Conservative groups were loosely related to the police, at that time typically a local rather than a national force. Liberal groups followed their own urban leadership, while those on the radical margins turned to the Communist Party of Colombia (PCC), founded in 1930. It urged self-defense forces not only to “resist” but to declare their autonomy from the state—in the Marxist lexicon, to liberate their social as well as their political …show more content…
In essence, La Violencia systematically tore the country apart. The civil war, which began as a response to the palpable inequality in Colombia, “failed to remedy the country’s institutional and socioeconomic problems.” Indeed, Vanda Felbab-Brown continues, “after a decade of conflict, the concentration of land in the hands of the wealthy had increased, the peasants remained politically powerless, the same dominant classes retained control, and the exclusionary two-party political system was resuscitated.” La Violencia imparted a legacy of conflict that remains pervasive in the Colombian psyche today. Furthermore, La Violencia served as a catalyst for the initial consolidation of armed Leftist resistance movements—one of which would eventually become the
The time period between 1880’s and 1900’s was generally good for politics. The U.S did not face the threat of war and many of the citizens were living peacefully. However, as time went by, the farmers in America found that life was becoming very rough for them. The crops they planted such as, wheat, cotton, etc. were once the sustenance of the agriculture industry, but now they were selling at such a low price that it was hard for farmers to make a profit. Rather many of the farmers were falling deep into debt. Furthermore, the improvement in transportation helped the foreign market gain an upper hand. Farmers often had to pay rebates and drawbacks to railroad companies to ship their goods. Railroad companies used rebates to win over the large business owners and made up the loss in profit by charging smaller shippers way more. During the last twenty years of the nineteenth century, farmers considered monopolies, trusts, railroad, and loss in silver backed dollar as threats to their agrarian lifestyle. Overall, the farmers blamed their problems on two things; the money supply, and the railroads which were valid complaints.
Social conflicts are a given throughout any country’s history, but in Argentina, these conflicts intensified as the gap between the upper and lower classes grew ever more extensive (Gall). During Revolution of 1943, in the era of the “Infamous Decade,” Juan Peron began his slow rise to power, first as the head of the military of the Labor Department. It was here, when he attended a charity gala for disaster relief from the devastating earthquake that struck Argentina, that he met then Eva Duarte (Page “Evita” 7). Evita began to sit in Colonel Peron’s meetings, where she made the occasional, but memorable contribution (Page “Peron” 85). In this time to 1945, Juan Peron built up his power within the government, and the Army forced Peron’s resignation and placed...
The Civil War in El Salvador lasted from 1980 to 1992, and the El SAlvadoran government was doing their best to minimize the threat of their opposition. Their main opposition, The Frente Farabundo Marti Para La Liberacion Nacional; otherwise known as the FMLN, was a guerrilla group that was organized to fight the corruption in the country. 175). One of the main goals of the organization was to create a new society that is not degrading its citizens and promotes equality. Throughout El Salvador’s history, one organization to the next would run the country through repressive actions and social injustice. One of the main reasons that the FMLN fought the acting government were due to these social restraints on the lower- class citizens in El Salvador.
In 1910, Francisco Madero, a son of wealthy plantation owners, instigated a revolution against the government of president Díaz. Even though most of his motives were political (institute effective suffrage and disallow reelections of presidents), Madero's revolutionary plan included provisions for returning seized lands to peasant farmers. The latter became a rallying cry for the peasantry and Zapata began organizing locals into revolutionary bands, riding from village to village, tearing down hacienda fences and opposing the landed elite's encroachment into their villages. On November 18, the federal government began rounding up Maderistas (the followers of Francisco Madero), and only forty-eight hours later, the first shots of the Mexican Revolution were fired. While the government was confide...
Plan Colombia is a long-prevailing foreign aid package bestowed to the country of Colombia from the United States. This foreign aid package grants substantial financial assistance to Colombia, intending to fight the “War on Drugs” and to reduce the trafficking of narcoleptics, but there is a multitude of other factors and implications, both unintentional or indirect and intentional due to ulterior motives. To accomplish the goals of Plan Colombia, most of the aid has been provided in the form of armed forces. This situation is complicated because of the ongoing civil war between the government of Colombia and the left-wing Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia - People’s Army (FARC). Additionally making matters difficult has been the strong association of the Colombian military and some right wing paramilitary units. Such conflict in Colombia exacerbates its drug problem, but Plan Colombia allegedly seeks to tame.
The Andes had a legacy of resistance that was unseen in other Spanish occupied place during the colonial period. There were rebellions of various kinds as a continued resistance to conquest. In the “Letters of Insurrection”, an anthology of letters written amongst the indigenous Andean people, between January and March 1781 in what is now known as Bolivia, a statement is made about the power of community-based rebellion. The Letters of Insurrection displays effects of colonization and how the “lesser-known” revolutionaries that lived in reducción towns played a role in weakening colonial powers and creating a place of identification for indigenous people.
As the Medellín Cartel was the largest drug cartel in Colombia at the time, they had controlled 80% of all the cocaine supply that was entering the United States. Despite the fact that Escobar donated millions of dollars to the local people of Medellin and funded the construction of schools and sports centers to help create a good reputation for himself. But even if he did donate millions of dollars to the poor, it was still just a chip into the Medellín Cartel’s wealth. By looking at the statistics of the number of people who were affected by Escobar’s acts of terror it has become evident to me that the negative effects of the Medellín Cartel had heavily outweighed the benefits of how Escobar tried to give back to the local people of Colombia.
Guatemala held democratic elections in 1944 and 1951, they resulted in leftist government groups holding power and rule of the country. Intervention from the United States and the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) backed a more conservative military minded regime. A military coup took place in 1954 to over throw the elected government and install the rule of Carlos Castillo Armas. Carlos Armas was a military general before the coup and with the CIA orchestrated operation he was made President from July 8th 1954 until his assassination in 1957. Upon his assassination, similar militant minded presidents rose to power and continued to run the country. Due to the nature of military dictatorship, in 1960, social discontent began to give way to left wing militants made up of the Mayan indigenous people and rural peasantry. This is the match that lit Guatemala’s Civil War, street battles between the two groups tore the country and pressured the autocratic ruler General Miguel Ydigoras Fuentes to fight harder against the civilian insurrection. Similar to the government Abductions th...
Many years of war made Latin America’s economy suffer, and made it almost impossible to be able to recover from their debt. A stable economy was crucial to be able to gain credibility, from other countries so that investments would continue. In Peru, for example the silver mines and machinery where destroyed beyond repair. “Horrendous economic devastation had occurred during the wars of independence. Hardest hit were…Peruvians silver mines. Their shafts flooded, there costly machinery wrecked.” 120(Chasteen ). This made Peru suffer greatly because this was one of their main trades. In Mexico, one of their largest economic struggles was the lack of transportation infrastructure, meaning that Mexico did not have railroads. Mexico also lacked navigable rivers which made it much harder to be able to...
A mother’s love is one of the strongest passions in the world. This love can drive a mother to do drastic deeds to save her children and her family. The mothers and the grandmothers of the Plaza de Mayo truly exemplify the power of a mother’s love. Their love was shown during the Dirty War in Argentina in 1976. During this time, the awful military dictatorship run by Jorge Rafael Videla made people disappear to make others scared of speaking out (Goldman 1). The mothers and grandmothers of the Plaza de Mayo were the only people to stand up against the government and protest for the location of their children. These wonderful women showed the world that love can triumph over fear and evil. The mothers and grandmothers of the Plaza de Mayo were brave women who helped to end the Dirty War. These wonderful women also helped to fix the repercussions of the dictatorship by fixing families that had been destroyed in this time.
America obtained a pinpoint on the global map at the turn of the 19th century. The Spanish American war was a turning point in American history in that it changed the political, social, and economic aspects of society. Prior to the war, America was focused on itself as a nation and expanding nationally. However, at this period in time, the U.S. decided to expand beyond national borders and partake in the global market. By participating in this war, the U.S. was exposed to the concepts and practices of imperialism, yellow journalism, and jingoism. As demonstrated in Crucible of Empire, the Spanish American War altered American society by adopting imperialism, yellow journalism, and jingoism.
Between the years of 1976 to 1983, the period known as the ‘Dirty War’ was in full force in Argentina. During this period, thousands of people mysteriously went missing, and are referred to now as the ‘Disappeared’. It is believed that many of the disappeared were taken by agents of the Argentine government, and perhaps tortured and killed before their bodies were disposed of in unmarked graves or rural areas. Whenever the female captives were pregnant, their children were stolen away right after giving birth, while they themselves remained detained. It is estimated that 500 young children and infants were given to families with close ties to the military to be raised. Within this essay I would like to touch on the brief history of the Dirty war and why the military felt it was necessary to take and kill thousands of Argentina’s, and also the devastating affects the disappeared, and stolen children are having on living relatives of those taken or killed. It is hard to imagine something like this happening in North America relatively recently. To wakeup and have members of your family missing, with no explanation, or to one day be told your parents are not biologically related is something Argentina’s had to deal with, and are continuing to face even today.
Colombia is one of the oldest democracies in Latin America with solid functioning institutions, progressive laws, an active civil society, and one of the most ecologically diverse countries in the world. Economically speaking, Colombia has had a surprisingly turnaround over the past decade due to the confidence and business opportunities that the investors have found in its emerging market. However, the improvements made in the economy are not sufficient to ensure sustainable economic development. On May 15, 2012, the U.S.-Colombia Free Trade Agreement (FTA) went into effect, and after almost two years its effects have had a negative impact in Colombia’s economy, mainly in its agricultural sector, which constitutes 11.5% of the country’s GDP (Cámara Colombo Coreana). The farmers complain that cheap imports from the United States are hurting their sector leaving some of them almost in bankruptcy. During August and September 2013, the country was in a nationwide strike against the Free Trade Agreement, which had different areas of the country paralyzed specially in Bogota, the capital city.
On the morning of December 20, 1973 Prime Minister Luis Carrero Blanco, the heir apparent to Dictator Francisco Franco, was assassinated in Madrid by ETA terrorists in what would later be described as “a massive explosion.” ETA members had learned that Carrero took the same route to church every day. Seeing an opportunity they could not afford to miss, they rented a ground floor apartment on his route and dug a tunnel from the apartment to the center of the street, where they would place 75 kilograms of explosives to be set off as Carrero drove by. (Aizpeolea,
“The Killing Machine: Che Guevara, From Communist Firebrand to Capitalist Brand.” Llosa, Alvaro Vargas. The New Republic. July 11, 2005.