2nd Hour - "25 Not Quite Random Things About Latin America"

the PRI (Institutional Revolution Party) was a mexican political party that ruled mexico for over 70 years. The PRI is a socialist party. Mexico is one of the only nations with its two main political parties being from the same party(socialist).

-Connor Wilson

Gabriel Garcia Márquez
-1927- Present
-Colombian author, screenwriter, journalist, and short-story writer
-Won the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1982
-Author of "One Hundred Years of Solitude" and "Love in the Time of Cholera"
-His writing expresses themes of solitude, and references to a civil war in the '60s that killed hundreds of thousands of Columbians.

Salvador Allende - Chile

Salvador Allende was the first democratically elected Marxist to become a president in the americas. He helped found the Chilean socialist party, a marxist group that was against the Soviet Union influenced communist party. During the time when he was president, the economic situation in chile was awful.He tried to redistribute wealth by nationalizing industry, creating higher wages while keeping the prices of goods the same, and nationalizing the banks. President Richard Nixon wanted to organize a coup against Allende, and in 1973 he was removed from power. Just before the capture of the Presidential Palace (La Moneda) he gave a famous farewell speech to Chileans over the radio and was later found dead, supposedly because of suicide.

"Mothers of the Plaza de Mayo"-Argentina
skrikava

1. Los Desaparecidos "The Disappeared"
2. Thousands of Agentinian families lost members.
3. Coup on March 24, 1976, military junta seizes power.
4. Wanted to wipe out the left-wing terrorism
5. 1976-1983, many thousands of people were accused of being connected with terrorism, or opposing the government (mostly innocent civilians that had nothing do with terrorism, or any means of violence
6 arrested and vanished without a trace.
7. Secret Detention Centers
8. Torture, beatings
9. abduction
10. Mystery
11. Murder
12. More than 30,000 Argentineans disappeared
13.Plaza de Mayo-Mothers protest, and march, demanding where they family members went
14. acts of repressions
15. Disagreements against governments
16. Silence People
17. Kidnapping
18. Targeted Marxists
19. Targeted left-leaning Peronists
20. Targeted Jews
21. Targeted catholic clergy
22. Targeted psychologists and scientists ("suspicious jobs)
23. Targeted random people.
25. Along with torture was rape, electrocution with cattle prods, use of razor blades
26. Most killed or died from torture
27. Tossed in the ocean
28. Released in random locations, never to come back again.
29. Mother's of the Plaza de Mayo-organization that continues to search for their lost loved ones
30. Human rights activist group.
31. Fought to re-unite abducted children
32. In protest they wear white head scarves with children's name on them
33. Location: Buenos Aires-that's where the plaza is.
34. Have come there every thursday afternoon.
35. Formed by two women who lost their children.
36. Some disagree with numbers
37. Military says 3,000, Mother's say 30,000 abducted
38. Organization offers free education
39. Free health
40. Promotes revolutionary ideas.
41. MIlitary gave up authority in 1983
42. Probably should have mentioned this earlier, but the war was known as the "Dirty War"
43. "National Re-organization Process"-military government
44. Operation Colombo-another example of kidnapping/abducting
45. Operation Charly-illegal methods to be used during the Dirty War.
46. Night of the Pencils
47. Argentina-where this all took place...
48. 14 founders
49. Casa Rosada presidential palace 4/30/77.
50. ESMA-concentration camp
51. Three mother founders "disappeared".
52. Mother's organization wanted to create
53. Keep memory of disappeared children
54. Create independent universities, bookstores, libraries, cultural centers.
55. Headquarters are in Buenos Aires.
57. Split in 1986, two groups:
58. Mothers of the Plaza de Mayo-Founding Line
59. focuses on legislation to help in recovering remans and bringing ex-officials to justice.
60. Identifies children
61. Second group is Mothers of the Plaza de Mayo Association
62. Takes a more political approach.
63. Does not doubt their children disappeared
64. Believed majority faced inhumane torture and murdered.
65. Will not recognize deaths until government admits its fault and connection to the dirty war.
66. wants a "complete transformation of Argentine political culture" and "envisions a socialist system free of the domination of special interests". That's what the Mothers want..
67. Trials of the Juantas
68. Still looking for the missing
69. Unjustified actions the junta took
70. all in the name of suspicion
71. Unethical torture
72. Wrong

Fidel Castro was born on August 13, 1926
He was born into a wealthy family
He was a Cuban politician and one of the primary leaders of the revolution
He overthrew the U.S. backed dictatorship of Batista
He was prime Minister of Cuba from 1959 to 1976
He then became President of the Council of State of Cuba
He “currently” serves as First Secretary of the Communist Party of Cuba
U.S. tried to overthrow Castro but failed with the Bay of pigs invasion
Castro told his people that revolution had no time for elections
He feared he would lose an election

1. He is Bolivia's first Indian president
2. Became president January 22, 2006
3. Background - born in Orinoca, Oruro
4. Was not able to finish high school
5. 1997 - was elected for Congress
6. 2002 - was expelled from Congress, made statements about Bolivia's armed resistance (said government was committing a massacre in Chapre)
7. 2002 - Ran for president, lost to Carlos Mesa
8. Carlos Mesa resigns, 2007 elections moved up two years
9. Morales runs against former president Jorege Quiroga, wins
10. He says something along the lines of "My presidency is marking a new era, 500 years of colonialism are now at an end"
11. Popular with the people - wanted to help his community so he moved from "neoliberal policies of his predecessors"
12. Socialist policies - anti-capitalism
13. U.S. relations - not so good

Frida Kahlo
She was born in 1907 in Coyoacán, Mexico. She was a Mexican painter and a communist, who was married to Diego Rivera. She painted surrealism, and mainly painted self portraits. Often her paintings conveyed a message of her longing for a child, her relationship with her husband, and her reflections on Mexican vs. United States culture. She suffered several tragedies in her life. When she was young she had polio, making one of her legs smaller than the other, explaining why she always wore long dresses. She was also in a terrible bus accident when she was older, and was impaled by an iron handrail. While on bed rest for several months, she had a mirror put in her room and began to pass the time by painting herself. This began her successful painting career. Because of the bus accident, she was unable to have children, something that really affected her and was often portrayed in her portraits. Frida also expressed communist ideas in her paintings, and often portrayed capitalist ideas negatively. She died in 1954. She was very important because through her paintings she demonstrated the ideas she had. It was especially important that they were through paintings because many people in Mexico spoke many different language, and artwork was something everyone could understand.

Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva
1. current president of Brazil
2. ran three times before and was unable to get into office
3. 35th president of Brazil
4.he didn't learn how to read until he was ten and dropped out of the 4th grade to help his family work
5.lost his little finger on his right hand in the press
6.reformist line
7.socialist
8.1982 he added the nickname Lula to his legal name
-Jake Campbell

Vicente Fox

Was governor of Guanajuato for 4 years.
He was one of the first state governors of Mexico to give a public account of the finances of Guanajuato.
He began his run for president in 1997
He campaigned for a better future "today"
In 2000 mexico ended the 71 years of PRI rule by electing Vicente Fox as president.
Fox took office as president on December 1, 2000, marking the first time in Mexico's history that an incumbent government peacefully surrendered power to an elected member of the opposition.
He was a center-right candidate.
He was very ambitious,
He wanted to reform the police,
Get rid of political corruption,
End the rebellion in Chipas
And open up Mexico's market to other free market forces.
He also wanted to negotiate something that would allow illegal immigrant workers, he wanted them to have a better life and be allowed to live with them.
He also helped strengthen the democracy in Mexico.

Mackenzie Melton

The Dirty War began in Argentina on March 24, 1976, carried out primarily by Jorge Videla's dictatorship. It was, quite simply, a pogrom directed against any and all of his potential enemies, from trade unionists and left-wing militants, to students and journalists who appeared to disagree with his policies. After the opposition, many of whom still supported Perón, began to fight back, forming armed groups such as the FAR, the FAL, and the People's revolutionary army. Overall, between 9000 and 30000 argentinians were killed or disappeared. Some major players included Isabel Martinez de Perón, Jorge Videla, Roberto Viola, and Leopoldo Galtieri, all of whom ordered and continued the Dirty War.

MANUEL NORIEGA - PANAMA
*Unknown birthdate between 30's-40's, ascended in the military and gained political influence, promoted himself to general in 1983, beginning his de facto rule of Panama as a military dictator
*Meanwhile he was part of the US CIA, paid by the CIA, which was a pretty dumb thing, because he was probably funneling information to Cuba and other countries and was very involved with drug trafficking.

CIA from late 1950 until he was finally indicted by the Drug Enforcement Association in 1988.
*His rule known as narcokleptocracy, he was a very bad ruler, held rigged elections or didn't hold them, tons of corruption, assassination of his mentor, shooting on peaceful demonstrations, lots and lots of drug dealing and trafficking, etc
*Finally in 1989 the US imposed sanctions on Panama, then the US invaded on december 20th of that year, but the invasion was deemed violation of international law by the UN
*US tried to detain him, but had trouble and finally got him in 1990. He was a tried in a American court and convicted on eight counts of drug trafficking, racketeering, and money laundering, sentenced to 40 years in prison, then reduced to 30 years, then reduced to 17 years for good behavior, and when he was released, he was incarcerated into a French prison, where he remains today, I think, and he's about 76 years old.

Hugo Chavez is the president of Venezuela. He was elected president in 1998. He formed a revolutionary force within the army and he failed to overthrow President Carlos Andres Perez in 1992. Chavez spent 2 years in prison. He has organized reforms that have caused very divided opinions of his presidency. He has shunned U.S and European support. He supports FIdel Castro. He accuses the U.S. of supporting that attempt to overthrow him in 2002.

Juan and Evita Peron

1. Juan was elected president three times
2. Was also Secretary of Labor and Vice president
3. Overthrown in 1985 by a military coup
4. When he died in 1974 his third wife Isabel Martinez succeeded him in office
5. His second wife Evita Peron was greatly liked by the people and still consider her and her husband icons.
6. They founded the Peronist Party which took over the country after their death.

FARC they are a guerrilla fighting group in Columbia. Considered a terrorist group by the Canadians, Americans and many Europeans. They control much of the land in Colbumia. The longest active terrorist group in the America. Started in 1964 and is still currently active. There are estimated 11,000-18,000 current guerrilla fighters in FARC. They make money by kidnapping people and ransoming and by drug trafficking. They use children to easily infiltrate areas and as soldiers.

Tlatelolco Massacre

The Tlateloco Massacre was a massacre by the government that targeted student and civilian bystanders and protesters in the Plaza de las Tres Culturas, a part of the Tlatelolco section of Mexico City, (For French Students: Square of the Three Cultures) on the night of October 2, 1968. This massacre was also known as The Night of Tlatelolco.

Zapatista Army of National Liberation

This political/ideological movement in Mexico was popular among the southern peoples of most farming communities, as the Zapatista army focused heavily on the promotion of the lower class in the national government. They founded a system of libertarianism and pro-socialist policies that attempted to rebuild the government from the bottom up, so to give lesser citizens a chance to contribute to the actual workings of the government. The Zapatista Army suggested the appointment of local government officials for periods no more than two weeks. Since 1994, the Zapatista Army has continued its fight against the Right-wing Mexican government by peacefully forming independent municipalities with the intent of resisting the present rule. Their famous slogan, still used today, makes reference to the idea that their struggle is all in the name of the people. They seek not the power of governing, but the satisfaction of revolutionizing political thought.

NAFTA- Mexico

NAFTA was the North American Free Trade Agreement, that removed trade barriers between Mexico, United States and Canada. But the peasant rebels in southern mexico staged and uprising and a gunman shot Luis Donaldo Colosio. NAFTA was supposed to help the economy because the work wages would be cheaper, it was rather successful.

Laurel Winsor