Chapter 10 Section 4

A. The Latin American Economy  Latin American economy based on exports  Argentina exported beef and wheat  Chile exported nitrates and copper  Brazil sugar  Central America, bananas  Latin America made little money off of exports  Political instability and economic crisis led to the rise of dictators

 Role of the United States U.S. was main investor in Latin America U.S. invested money into L.A. countries and ran them U.S. firms became owners in L.A. companies United Fruit Co., owned land, railroads, and packing plants U.S. owned copper mines in Peru as well as the oil industry in Mexico, Peru, and Bolivia U.S. also kept dictators in power to serve their interests

U.S. supported Venezuelan dictator Juan Vicente Gomez L.A. began to resent the U.S. U.S. felt control justified to protect itself 1930s, Franklin Roosevelt tried to change relationship Passed the Good Neighbor Policy ○ Rejected use of military force in L.A. ○ By 1934, no U.S. troops were in L.A.

 Impact of the Great Depression Disaster for L.A. Decreased demand for exports Worst hit, were countries that depended on only one export Good effect of depression was that L.A. couldn’t afford to purchase manufactured goods L.A. started to manufacture their own goods Problem was that gov’t controlled many of these new industries

B. The Move to Authoritarianism  Most L.A. countries ran by elite group of church leaders, military officers, and large landowners  Military forces crucial to keeping control  1930s, dictators began to take over  Argentina Controlled by an oligarchy ○ A select group of people ○ Large landowners that had grown wealthy from exporting beef and wheat ○ Ignored the middle class of people

1916, Hipolito Irigoyen leader of the Radical Party, elected pres. Of Argentina Radical party feared the working class going on strike Military concerned w/ rising power of middle class 1930, Argentine military overthrew Irigoyen, and landowners took back control The gov’t was overthrown again in 1943, and Juan Peron elected new president

 Brazil Controlled by land-owning elites made wealthy from growing coffee 1900, ¾ of world’s coffee grown in Brazil Depression devastated coffee industry 1930, gov’t overthrown by Getulio Vargas Gave workers 8-hour workday 1938, Vargas established a fascist-like state Outlawed political parties and used secret police 1945, Brazil was chief industrial power of L.A. 1945, army forced Vargas to resign

 Mexico Mexico had a revolution in the 1800s Gov’t was democratic, but only one party dominated One party in power was the Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI) Every 6 years, party chose new candidate, and people voted for him president was Lazaro Cardenas Distributed 44 million acres of land to peasants

 By Mexico angry about U.S. and British control of Mexican oil  Cardenas seized the oil companies  The U.S. companies were furious, asked Pres. Roosevelt to take them back w/ U.S. troops  Roosevelt refused b/c of Good Neighbor Policy  Mexicans cheered Cardenas as leader who stood up to U.S.  Eventually, Cardenas paid the U.S. oil companies for the property  Mexico then created a national oil company called PEMEX