Latin America

A Broken Latin America

Latin America is a curious case in the political world; with ever changing governments, one of the highest regional poverty rates and a corrupt federal system that is tied into the narcotics industry. Why is this region so politically unstable, and is it getting better or worse? This question can easily be answered when the political history of Latin America is examined. Latin America is a region birthed through war and revolution, as well as hundreds of years of colonization by the Spanish Empire. Ruled by the elites since the 19th century, Latin America has struggled with oppressive dictators, poverty and the narcotics trade which has crippled the economy and left South America with virtually no middle class. These
Many of the early Latin American nations were formed around a central government that wanted to preserve their territories and interests of the state, through the use of force and elitist rule over the lower classes. This produced nations that were very militaristic and corporatist who in many cases disregarded their constitution and laws. These new nations put self preservation and market growth at the top of their priority list, which sparked conflicts with neighbouring countries. During the 19th century, the elite classes were rising to power and establishing Republican governments that were similar to a monarchical state, as there was one ruling class and a lower class that formed over 90% of the population. This percentage varies from nation to nation, however the systems which these nations used were evolved forms of the early caribbean colonization era systems, used in places such Nassau and The Dominican. A notable change in Latin American politics was the introduction of the constitution around 1825, which allowed nations to lay out a representative government and give the other social classes a say in national politics. While the constitutions were meant to be binding, Latin America saw a period of instability where force was often used to
Throughout the long reign of central governments and the elite class, the low class was oppressed and subject to forced labour and conscription. This oppression of the low class was the motive for many “people’s” revolutions and socialist movements. As it was previously stated, the conservatives were generally wealthy or middle class people who approved of a strong central government. In the case of Venezuela, in the 1980’s. The opposition leader Carlos Perez was aiming to privative many industries and open up markets in a corporatist manner. This sparked national outrage, and the lower class, the proletariats, revolted and took back the government buildings. In this instance, we can see how the power of the people can outweigh the power of a government and in a similar manner, how easy it is to topple the democratically elected government. This was one of many such events that have occurred throughout Latin America’s history. Fidel Castro with the aid of Che Guevara, a socialist freedom fighter, toppled the conservative government of Cuba in 1959. This was the end of capitalism in Cuba, and the nation has since been a communist state. This is one of the few Latin American nations to maintain the same ruling style and government for a lengthy period of time, as the state was able to reign in the armed forces and the government and form one ruling body. While many of these revolutions are the product