Exam 3 Flashcards
1
Q
Fidel Castro
A
- Son of a spanish Immigrant
- Lived a privileged life
- Went to law school of Havana involved in student politics
- Imagine himself helping with the overthrow of Trujillo in DR
- Went to Bogota Colombia on a grant from Juan Perone
- Hopeful he could become an elected leader in Cuba in 1952 wanted to run for Congress; Batista cancelled elections; end of Castro having a convenetional career
- 1953 led an uprising of 1000 people; very poorly planned hoped it inspire others to stand up; Castro was captured put in prison for a couple years
- Was an exile in Mexico
In attempts to overthrow Batista, he waged guerilla warfare with the help of Che and gains a support of people from the mountains - New Year’s Eve 1958-59 Batista left and leaves gov to whoever can claim it 1959-1961 complext interplay between Cuba, SU, and US
- Castro made a revolution and wanted to transform Cuban society
- Holds mass rallies; tremendous following of poor people, reduced rent, harvest workers would be employed year round, realized any kind of revolution he created would bring conflict between US
- Nationalized privately owned lots of American owned land causing US to end sugar quota
- Wooed the soviet union; told them he was creating a revolution and soviets begin going to Cuba and support him in hopes of an ally in the Western Hemisphere
- CIA tried to inspire an uprising against Castro - Bay of Pigs
- The Cuban Missile Crisis- Castro was furious with Soviets for removing nuclears; SU keeps giving aid but Castro is determined to go it alone and support revolution in the Western Hemisphere against Soviets best wishes
- Neither a victim not a puppet, made LA matter: Now the US wasfearful that another revolutionary government would be established; the US learned to live with Castro but wanted to contain his influence which meant the US would have to be invested in LA in ways they had never been before the cold war; Cold War can not be won there but it could be lost there
- Castro implemented radical egalitarianism: promotes society in which everyone is the same; created new education, healthcare, employment for people year round, Anti-americanism becomes pillar of his administration
- Castro contained in the begining of 60s under JFK LA is not an issue anymore
2
Q
Ernesto “Che” Guevara
A
- Doctor in Argentina
- Man in search of a cause
- Loved to write
- Had been in Guatemala in 1954 when US backed overthrow of Arbenz
Che was disappointed bc Arbenz had armed the workers and fought against overthrow - Met Castro and thought he was too moderate but knew this guy was going to fight
- Developed close political tie that would last until Che’s death in 1967
- Studied guerilla warfare in Mexico helped castro
- Later thanks US for Bay of Pigs because it helps finalize the power over Cuba
- Most responsible and associated with encouraging revolution to other countries around the hemisphere and around the world
- What he learned from Cuban Rev: he wrote this: a small group of dedicated revolutionaries can defeat a well backed US army, you dont have to wait for revolutionary conditions to happen, you can create them; many were inspired by the battleground in the countryside and the mountains
- Che believed there should be a revolution on three continents: LA, Africa, and Asia (Tri-continental Strategy) Africans didnt want him there became on the outs with Castro
- Soviet Union did not trust Che and were worried when Castro was supporting Che
Went to Bolivia and tried to start revolution there; didnt work - Ultimately he failed
- Excecuted Oct 9th 1967
- Becomes a martyr despite failure in Bolivia (where he started his revolution)
3
Q
Eduardo Frei
A
- Many in Kennedy Admin were developing strong personal ties to Christian Democrat Party
- Devout christians that believed in reform and thought they needed to be very active to improve life for the less fortunate
- US put a lot of covert money in Frei’s candidacy
- Won election with more than 55% of the vote
- Saw this as clear indication that people of chile wanted to move forward
- Tried to encourage land reform, unions, created massive literacy program, hoped that some of his programs would help the stagnant agriculture and modernize agriculture
- He could not be a candidate in 1970
4
Q
Salvador Allende
A
- Socialist Senator almost elected president in 1958 election
- Very wealthy
- Had become a doctor
- Convinced capitalism had failed and believed that democratic socialism was the only way for the country (Chile)
- Founder of socialist party 30s
- Minister of Health in 40s
- Known as a senator and a veteran parliamentarian
- Chile had 6 year terms so US had time to prepare for the 64 election
- Do to US detante attitude towards LA under Nixon, Allende is able to win by 1% in 1970 and upsets US
- US covertly tried to meet with military men but they made it clear they would not block his ratification
- “La Chilena” chilean path to socialism
- US wanted to make sure Allende didnt last so they create a coup climate
Polarization in the media military decided to remove him - Killed himself and told Chile not to engage in civil war and to defend their rights
- Chilean Democracy is destroyed, Congress is shut down, huge numbers of people are rounded up and kept in the soccer stadium where they were tortured and interogated
If US was involved in Coup on September 11th is still unclear
5
Q
Augusto Pinochet
A
- Became the symbol of human right’s abuses in LA
- Evil right wing Dictator
1976 Pinochet there is a guy who was Allenede’s ambassador and foreign minister who was in US attempting to help congress block aid; in a car in DC and a bomb on the bottom of the car blew up killing Letelier and Moffitt; - guy who is receiving tons of aid from US is willing to commit an act of terrorism on US soil in the capital
- in power from 1973 to 1990
-in Chile
6
Q
Jose Napoleon Duarte
A
- Reformist
- Educated at Notre Dame
- Leader of the Christian Democrats in El Salvador
- Had breif moment of openness in political system that allowed him to become elceted mayor of San Salvador
- National Governement refused to give any funding to this city because they didn’t want to encourage electing reformist leaders
- Had run for presidency in 1972 but the military didnt like that
- He was tortured in prison and then sent into exile
- he returned in 1980 during the civil war
- He was elected president in 1984
- attempted to end the war with great amount of foreign aid, but due to guerillas, leftists, and rightists, his attempts at reform were unable to be carried out
7
Q
Hugo Chavez
A
- From a poor family
- Mixed race
- Had ambitions to become a baseball player
- Thought the way he could do this was go to the military academy and play baseball there
- He loved the military life
- Became a paratrooper
- Attempts a coup in 1992 and it is clear it would not succeed in Venezuela
- Went on tv and admitted his failure and tells his people to back down
- Put on trial
- In 1998 the month oil prices reach their lowest and poor population exploded exponentially and the people elect Hugo Chavez as president
- Promises dramatic changes; Bolivarianism
- Became Anti-American in 2001 with criticisms of Bush for going to war in Afghanistan
- 2002 there is a two day coup where he is briefly taken prisoner and asks him to resign for office; very quickly streets filled with supporters of Chavez; people in the military stayed loyal to him and freed him within 48 hours and he went back into power; Bush recognized the coup quickly and Chavez blamed US from this point on
- Castro and Chavez became friends and Chavez provides oil to Cuba
- Chavez kept getting reelcted fairly but it is becoming more and more less democratic
- Died from cancer in 2013
- The irony of the relationship with Venezuela under Chavez during the Bush years was that it was a time of high oil prices and the US was reliant of Venezuela for 1/7 of its imported oil during Chavez years; the US was “funding” ; US oil refineries were well equipped for Venezuelan oil; buying oil in US helped support Chavez
8
Q
Sandinistas
A
- Nicaragua seemed stable, US created institution: National Guard suppose to be apolitical organization but family dictatorship emerged (under Somoza) and brought stability; had control over the National Guard which was very corrupt; in post war era there was a rise of a new export crop causing people to be pushed off their land so large landowners could produce cotton
- Revolutionary group rose after the 1960s
- Had their own traditions to relate to influenced by Cuban revolution; inspired by what fidel and Che had done in Cuba
- Said they were an authentic national movement thriving on national traditions (related to Sandino)
- Divided into factions and couldn’t get along reducing them to an unthreatening group by the end of the 1960s and moreso by mid 1970s
- Luck in the aspect that the last of the Somozas to rule was the least politically effective of the other Somozas; massive earthquake in 1972, National Guard stealing money from people around the world who sent money and supplies; from then on after 1972 Somoza had no political credibility; doesn’t necessary lead to Sandinista victory
- In 1976 there’s about 100 sandinistas and they still can’t get along
- Some people say Jimmy Carter is the reason the Sandinistas came to power; others say he was to blame because he was promoting human rights and undermining traditional allies in Latin America; however, his policy was inconsistent in Central America was what was undermining Somoza
It’s Somoza and the things he does that starts the Sandinista revolution in early 1978 - In early 1978, Chamorro a moderate, publisher of a Nicaragua newspaper “La Prensa”; he would criticize the corruption of the Somoza, he publieshed a series of corruption in the plasma industry; a bomb under his car kills him and this sets everything in motion from that point on because Nicaragua really admired Chamorro: symbol of opposition to a dictator government
- Led to spontaneous uprisings expressing disgust with Somoza regime for killing honorable man for the next few months; Sandinistas have nothing to do with this
Somoza responds with tremendous force: bombs poor neighborhoods, 1978 3000 people killed, young men in poor neighborhoods are being rounded up and taken to torture chamber and never seen again - No interventions from Carter admin because he believed in non-intervention, the violence continues and there are periodic uprisings
- In order to lead, the Sandinistas must follow and unify: poor people started to think of themselves as sandinistas;
- Sandinistas unify in MArch 1979 Castro tells them not to upset the US; ally themselves with moderates and other countries begin providing arms (Panama and Venezuela
- The US was not responding effectively until 1979 they wanted the moderates in power not the Sandinistas but it was too late
US responded after Bill Stewart, US ABC news worker was killed in Managua by the National Guard and it was filmed and was aired all over the world; now everyone sees the corruption in the National Guard and US cut all ties; encourages Somoza to resign and goes into exile; allowing the Sandinistas come into power - Carter claimed to believe that if the Sandinistas were handled in the right way they could create ties with them unlike they had handled the situation with Castro in Cuba; wanted to keep Nicaragua from becoming another Cuba and wanted to keep the rest of LA from becoming Nicaragua
- Sandinistas had moderate allies; wanted a mixed economy and to keep capitalism; promised political pluralism; Sandinistas believed the people had chosen them so why should there be elections
- Sandinistas supporting revolution in El Salvador; Carter cuts off aid going to Nicaragua
9
Q
Contras
A
- National guard men that had gone into exile in surrounding countries; known as contras because they were against the revolution; started getting aid from Argentina dictator that thinks Carter has messed everything
- Reagan starts providing support for the Contras
Become important issue for Reagan - Reagan calls them the moral equivalent of our founding fathers
- Congress was upset because they didn’t like the fact Reagan moved away from human rights policies and didnt like the contras because the leaders were former members of the national guard throughout the 1980s they contras continued to be lead by national guard members; guilty of human rights abuses, overtime the congress said they would not support the contras;
- associated with national guard
-2. never a a very efficient or effective guerilla force
Reagan admin tried hard to fight against that
- associated with national guard
10
Q
FMLN
A
- Guerilla movement in 1980s in El Salvador
- Transformed from a guerilla movement to a political party
- Issues between corruption
- Does it matter? The US doesn’t care about the politics of LA anymore
11
Q
Tri-Continental Strategy
A
- Che believed there should be revolution on three continents: LA, Africa, and Asia
- Asia already had an example of what he wanted to see replicated
- The US was already fighting war in Vietnam
Castro wanted to see this too - Che went to Democratic of the Congo Bolivia
- Che believed this revolution through western hemisphere would be good because it would be helping people and Cuba would have more allies
- Soviets did not support; did not trust Che and worried when Castro was supporting Che
- Peace Corp has been a model as a very specific way of trying to win the Cold War by going to the third world and showing that the American people cared about what was going on under Kennedy
12
Q
North American Free Trade Agreement
A
- Us begins to look at economic integration
- Canada is US number one trading partner
- Mulroney and Reagan good friends and began to make a Canada Us Free Trade Agreement
- Carlos Salinas elected pres of Mexico in 1988 noticed Berlin Wall was coming down and thought that all new foreign investment was going to be flooding into eastern Europe; talked to his friend G H.W Bush
- US, Canada, and Mexico agree to NAFTA
- 3rd party candidate Ross Perot, said NAFTA was insane a wealthy and poor nation signing a trade agreement; “the great sucking sound”; said it was going to take all the jobs from the US and suck it down to Mexico
- The agreement was signed in the last few weeks of Bush’s admin before Clinton came into office
Impacts: - NAFTA is reached; mexico gives up huge amount of income from tariff revenue
- After a few years all restrictions on manufacturing trade eliminated
- Mexico becomes 2nd trading partner of US; expanded dramatically and Mexico sells 80% of its exports to the US; both public opinion in US and Mexico is that is has been more beneficial to the other country
13
Q
Human Rights
A
- Not something people were concerned about this time
- Blooming in 70s
- Focused on torture, murder and abuse; yet the US was sending a tremendous amount of aid, US clearly wants Pinochet government to succeed, fight between congress and its roles in regards to US affairs; Congress wanted to block the aid to Pinochet government
- Kissinger thought that US should not be concerned with other countries do to it’s people
- Jimmy Carter US has to regain the moral high ground from things done in Cold War; US would now support human rights around the world
- Remoralize politics in US
Primarily in South America where the US reduces drastically the amount of military aid for the military dictatorships - Carter admin people met with human rights activists in LA, many LA said it was not appropriate for US to be intervening
- Carter not consistent in efforts, he makes an impact in SA though, not consistent in Central America which creates a lot of problems for the US in Nicaragua
- Reagan comes into power is against human rights as a policy
14
Q
Jacobo Arbenz
A
- son of a Swiss-German immigrant who was a morphine addict who lost his business in medicine before committing suicide
- Arbenz realized the only way to success in life was through the military for education
- He became the Secretary of Defense under Arevalo
- He was a quiet but prominent political figure and played an important role in the establishment of democracy in Guatemala in 1944.
- Married to Dona Maria who introduced him to Karl Marx writing
- met with communists covertly bc he believed they were honest people that wanted things to change
- Believed Guatemala was a feudal society
- Like Marx believed there had to be a process the society had to pass to become communist
- Feudalism, capitalism, socialism, and then reach communism
- Knew for things to change he would have to get people land
- Land reform law passed which took land away from large landowners
- mostly effected UFCO
- US used CIA to overthrow democratically elected gov bc of Eisenhower ties to UFCO also thought Arbenz was communist and taking orders from Soviet Union
- Thought if the land reform was successful, the communist party would get credit and grow
- Pressures build and Arbenz resigns hoping to save reforms
- US puts Castillo Armas in power
- Impacts: CIA major victory, Guatemala proved US didn’t have to worry about LA during Cold War
15
Q
Manuel Antonio Noriega
A
- Late Reagan Admin had US ties to Noriega
- military man, very poor family
- played a prominent role in saving Torrijos and his administration
- associate of populous leader
- came in power in 19833 in Panama
- built on ties that he long had with US government
- had been on pay role of CIA for decades, pay role of US armed forces for decades
- was friends with everybody
- worked with Reagan in aiding contras, friends with Castro, worked with drug cartels in Colombia, recieved accommodation from durg enforcement Agency of US for turning people in,
- ties to drug deals go him indited by Grand Jury of Miami; becomes national embarrassment
- Noreiga gave speech where he talked about state of war existing between US and Panama and that gets spun into Noriega claiming war on US
- Bush invaded Panama in December largely to remove Noriega
- Worst dictactor and drug dealer LA ever had
- US succeeded very quickly and sentenced to prison in US
