20th Century Latin America

DEMOCRACY

Free Elections• >1 political party• Universal suffrage (all adults)

Citizen Participation

•High levels of education & literacy•Economic security•Freedoms of speech, press & assembly

Majority Rule w/ Minority Rights

•All citizens equal before the law•Shared national identity•Protection of individual rights (e.g., religion)•Representatives elected by people

Constitutional Gov’t•Gov’t based on tradition & law•Widespread civics education•Acceptance of majority decisions•Shared belief no one is above law

Mexico• Following Mexican Revolution,

government passed Constitution of 1917

• 1920-1934 military generals elected president & National Revolutionary Party created

• 1934-1940 President Cardenas – Promoted labor rights– Carried out land reform – Nationalized oil industry

Mexico (cont.)• 1946 name change Institutional

Revolutionary Party (PRI) – Election fraud ensured gov’t control – Severe economic problems (lack of

jobs, land and huge foreign debt)• 1968 – Student protest at Aztec

ruins resulted in hundreds dead• 1994 – Chiapas revolt (Zapatistas)

led armed revolt for social & economic reforms (esp. for Maya)

• 2000 – PRI lost Presidential election to Vincente Fox (PAN)

Argentina

• 1946 – 1955 Juan Peron (former milt.) est. a dictatorship w/ wife Eva (“Evita”) until shortly after her death in 1952– Lots of social welfare programs– Limited foreign-owned business w/ import substitution

(local manufacturers produce goods at home to replace imported goods)

– Limited freedoms

Argentina (cont.)

• 1955 milt. coup by mid-1970 economy was in ruins & terrorism was on the rise

• 1976 milt. coup by Lt. Gen. Jorge Rafael Videla seized power & imposed martial law state terrorism led to the disappearance of 20,000 “desaparesidos”

• 1983 Raul Alfonsin elected President democracy restored, but economic problems persist despite

• 1989 Carlos Menem (Peronist) → econ. problems• 1999 Fernando de la Rua → resigned in 2001 (econ. problems)• May 2003 – Nestor Kirchner (Peronist) elected & first time that econ.

has seen a turn around – his wife Cristina Fernández de Kirchner elected 2007