Eduardo Galeano: How Poorly Treated Latin America

There were a few points in this book that taught me about life and how crazy it can be sometimes. The photographer named Fulgencio was very afraid of hitch hiking to Mexico City with a stranger, especially with all of us expensive equipment. On the ride, Fulgencio is so paranoid that the guy is going to kill him, he grabs a machete out of the back of the truck. In doing so he gets kicked out of the car and loses all of his photography equipment anyways. This taught me that we need to trust each other more, Just because there are a few crazy people in the world, we shouldn't let them give us all a bad name. I mean, the guy picked Fulgencio up when he was in desperate need of a car, and gives him a ride. He should have been thankful, not picked up a machete and threaten the guy. Another thing this book taught me was that just because your sister doesn't want your kid anymore because she

What Did You Expect To Learn When You Picked Up The Book? To What Extent – And How Effectively – Were Your Expectations Met?

We can begin by talking about migration and its effects on a global scale. Migration is one of the main areas of focuses in Latin America and Latino Studies. It helps us understand the effects of globalization on Latin American countries, the global relationship between the United States and Latin America, and how this relationship affects the Latin American people. This article goes through explaining the push and pull factors of why Haitians are being both pushed into the United States and pulled away from their home country. With the 2010 earthquake that hit Haiti, economic as well as political factors pushed Haitians to migrate. They started with Brazil but as their economy worsen, Haitians looked furthered to the United States. And the United States allowed them to do so as a humanitarian provision that came as the result of the 2010 earthquake. This pulled further struggling Haitians with the promise of a better life to make the dangerous journey. But with the abrupt change in policy, this shatters the already struggling Latin American countries with several displacements. We can go even further, analyzing other areas of study such as how the displacement of these immigrants will affect Latin America itself. Or how, on a national scale, the displacement of the migrating Haitians will affect

Death squads and disappearances caused mental anguish to so many citizens of countries plagued with war all over Latin America, just like Lupe and her family. Gabriel Garcia Marquez poses the question, “why could social justice not be a goal for Latin America?” Countries in Latin America like Nicaragua, Guatemala, EL Salvador, Argentina, and Chile were striving for social justice. Some even had democratic elections and were on the right path but the fear of communism that plagued the United States since the beginning of the Cold War halted any of the progress Latin American countries could have even made. Any sort of progress, whether it was farmers and peasants like José forming unions and organizations fighting for human rights, or democratically elected presidents like Arbenz or Allende that fought for agrarian reform and nationalization of resources was completely shut down either directly or indirectly by the United States. Social justice was definitely a goal for Latin America. The region is not filled with savages that can’t grasp democracy; even Marquez “rejected the idea that ‘violence and pain’ was the natural condition of the region.” The United States halted and set aside any progress for social justice in Latin America because it feared losing its powerful influence in the

The Latin American countries have been subject to many changes ever since the American continent was discovered. These changes have mainly affected the economy, culture and power changes these countries have suffered throughout the years. According to Jon Charles Chasteen on his book “Born in Blood & Fire” During the twentieth century, there were three main events that changed the course of Latin American countries and their economies. These three events were, the emergence of nationalism, the end of World War II, and the Cuban revolution. However, in my point of view, the event that created more impact in Latin America and the future of these countries has been Cuban Revolution. It is not a secret that the Cuban Revolution created a big impact to the country’s future, unfortunately this revolution not only changed Cuba, but also the entire region of Latin America.

Reading the book Harvest of Empire by Juan Gonzalez, has been very informative to me and has changed my perspective on U.S. foreign policy. Each account of the families from the different Latino countries has similar underlying trends that can be found because of the U.S. involvement in their countries. Every single instance of U.S. involvement in Latin American countries seems to evolve around the idea of greed and profit. The U.S. is like a business that only cares about the income of money and not about the morality of their actions. On top of all the injustice the U.S. government has employed, they don’t bother to own up to their mistakes and they tend to sweep their involvement under the rug. For example, the Iran-Contra scandal mentioned in the book of the Reagan administration was the result of using drug money from Iran to buy weapons for the Nicaraguan contra rebels against the Sandinista government of Nicaragua. It infuriates me that the U.S. would support a dictator that suppresses the rights of its citizens and all the while they want to take down the established, popular Sandinista government. The U.S. wants to do all this so that the new government will support U.S. interests in Nicaragua. When the scandal was uncovered, all Reagan could say was “I’m sorry” and “It won’t happen again” even though our involvement had the result of many lives lost in that war/rebellion. Unfortunately, this theme did not only occur in Nicaragua

U.S. history is a key structural determinant of why Latinos have faced hardship, but now making up over 33% of the nation’s population have found their voice. In the documentary, Harvest of Empire Journalist and author of the book Juan Gonzalez, “Harvest of Empire” discusses the controversial issue in America of Latino immigration. He examines U.S. intervention in each of the Latin countries which in turn caused them to migrate to North America. “People in the U.S. have no idea why we come to this country. No idea. And if they do, it’s probably the wrong one” says Mariana Cabrera a Guatemalan immigrant (Harvest, 18:51). Her country of Guatemala had many changes going on in terms of government structure. In 1951 Jacobo Arbenz was appointed as President of Guatemala and wanted to help alleviate poverty in the country by land reform. According the documentary 2% of the owners had control of the land and 75% were in the hands of the United Fruit Company. The United Fruit Company was controlled by America and used the Guatemalan land to create an American powerhouse. With Arbenz in rule, Guatemalan government values did not match those of

When the Europeans first arrived in Latin America, they didn’t realize the immensity of their actions. As history has proven, the Europeans have imposed many things on the Latin American territory have had a long, devastating effect on the indigenous people. In the centuries after 1492, Europeans would control much of South America and impose a foreign culture upon the already established civilizations that existed before their arrival. These imposed ideas left the continent weak and resulted in the loss of culture, the dependence on European countries, and a long standing ethnic tension between natives and settlers which is evident even to this day. The indigenous people of South America, which

Things appear different after five hundred years, yet it does not take much examination to realize that everything is the same. We focus on the minute changes, but these major themes of power, history, and the struggle for the control of knowledge are eternal and transcend the everyday. De las Casas wrote to a king to try to prevent a tragedy that he could not. Today the Latin America people face similar fates to their ancestors five hundred years prior. While the outcome is not as bloody, the loss is just as grave. Western knowledge seeks to destroy the last remaining semblances of the vast groupings that make up the term “Latin American culture.” It is not an active action in appearance, but the passive grouping into the West’s categories of race and culture has subtle motives of destruction. People are no longer ruled by kings, they guide themselves under the burdensome weight of Western knowledge and ideas. The existence of options, choices beyond growth and development, establish awareness that there is a way out of this evil. Latin American people were not born in the West, but are continually defined and judged by the system. Under such forces, it appears that the only two choices are to assimilate or bear the burden of being considered inferior. Decolonial thinking provides new pathways that lead to a new age for Latin America, providing the people recognize these pathways and are willing to take the steps to follow

Also, Mr. Nax recommended it to me saying this book is popular and a manageable

The second’s week reading the “All that trouble down there” by James Dunkerley tells how the US media represented Central America during the conflict times these countries faced. Most of the history of Central America were told by US journalist. Since, most Americans didn’t know what was happening in Central America and the Caribbean. When the US films show the border, it represents it as a margin, a ___ of civilization. This representation was being seen for a very long time, and there is a belief that Latin America is not or can be as good as the United States.

American attitudes towards Latin America can be summed up as an extension of larger global directives, and the exclusion of foreign powers in the region. This was highlighted especially during the Cold War as US involvement was essentially in competition with the USSR. Latin America was therefore a mere pawn in the larger context of US-Soviet competition for global dominance. The actions and methods used are also characterized by the lack of an international authority, or an atmosphere of inter-state anarchy, which shaped their calculations in the endeavor to increase their influence over Latin America. When one analyzes the situation, it seems only rational that the United States treated its southern neighbors so, due to the geographical

Open Veins of Latin America is the book to remember. Uruguayan author Eduardo Galeano is responsible for the creation of this relevant and controversial masterpiece, which follows the history of Latin America and the Caribbean through centuries of struggle against poverty and those imperial powers who abused of Latin American resources and created inequality. With a leftist political point of view, magic realism and historical events, Galeano epitomizes a Latin America craving redemption and progress. He illustrates his ideas by laying out the story from 1492

I decided to write this research paper because we were assigned to find an issue or subject within Latin America to write about. One of the most widely known and influential revolutionary figure in the history of Latin America is Ché Guevara. Ché knew how to use his intelligence and judgment in all the circumstances he encountered taking advantage of each moment as if it was a highly intensive chess game he was sincerely

“Open Veins of Latin America” by Eduardo Galeano primarily focuses on historical events following the “discovery” and colonization of Latin America. This book however, unlike many others has very distinct and contrasting ideas. In his historical piece, Galeano incorporates many peculiar ideas that have since caused controversy following the publishing of the book in the year 1973. As we examine the cover, the subtitle (“Five Centuries of the Pillage of a Continent”) gives us an antecedent of our authors viewpoint on the subject and what’s to come later in the book. Without a doubt, one of the major themes and the books main purpose is to clarify the events that took place in Latin America involving the pillage of land and natural resources by foreigners. In his “Seven Years Later” segment of the book, Galeano claims that he wanted to uncover lies and things that have been hidden in the history books. Galeano also wants to uncover the social, economic, and political disparity that Latin American indigenous people were/are facing compared to and as a direct result of foreigners who were/are benefitting and prospering from Latin American land and people.