Central and South America

Who said this?

• He wasn’t sure which Latin country he was in but they are all alike• Unable to find on Internet but I remember that Ronald Reagan said

this

Introduction

• Why are you taking this class? • Have you traveled to or lived in any Latin American countries?• Anyone with a background in dentistry?

Immigrants all Mexicans?

• When Mexico sends its people, they’re not sending their best. They’re not sending you. They’re not sending you. They’re sending people that have lots of problems, and they’re bringing those problems with us. They’re bringing drugs. They’re bringing crime. They’re rapists. And some, I assume, are good people.

• Actually many come from other Central American countries and some from other parts of the world.

Overview of Latin America Class

• Week 1 Overview and Mexico• Week 2 Guatemala, El Salvador, Honduras, Nicaragua• Week 3 Cuba • Week 4 Colombia and Venezuela• Week 5 Costa Rica and Panama • Week 6 Chile and Argentina• Week 7 Brazil• Week 8 Summary

Topics by country

• Overview of country• Geography• Culture• Languages• Music

• History • Political system• U S role• Charitable organizations

Major American Interventions

• 1823 Monroe Doctrine• European powers obligated to recognize Western Hemisphere as United

States sphere of interest • Note: 1821 year of independence for many L.A. Countries

• 1954 Guatemala (U.S. –backed military coup) • 1961 Cuba (Bay of Pigs) • 1965 Dominican Republic U.S. military occupation • 1973 Chile U.S. helps coup overthrowing Salvador Allende• 1981 Nicaragua Reagan administration helps the contras

How many Countries can you identify?

Mexico in 1840

Mexico Today

Mexican Flag

Mexico Overview

• Area 770,000 square miles (U.S. 3.8 million square miles) (slightly larger than Alaska)

• Population 129 million (U.S. 327 million people)• Most populous Spanish-speaking country• Official name: United States of Mexico• Motto: The Homeland is first• GDP: 15th largest in the world• First in the Americas in world heritage sites

• Many archeological sites

Mexican History

• Precolumbian Mexico• About 8000 BC• Stone tools date to about 10,000 years ago • One of six cradles of civilization• Home to Mesoamerican civilizations

• Olmec, Toltec, Teotihuacan, Zapotec, Maya, Aztec• Teotihuacán formed military and commercial empire which ended 600 BC

• 1000-1519• Central Mexico Toltec dominated • Mixtec dominated Oaxaca (southern state in Mexico)

• Aztec of central Mexico had an informal empire • Today 63 indigenous languages officially recognized

Major Historical Dates

• 1519 Herman Cortés of Spain arrives at Vera Cruz searching for gold• 1520’s 3,000,000 natives killed by smallpox, introduced by the

Spanish• 1535 Mexico becomes New Spain as part of the Spanish empire• 1521-1821 era of New Spain - silver exports linked Mexico to the

world• 1810-1821 war of independence (September 16 independence day) • 1823 Revolt against Agustin de Iturbid, first emperor, establishes

United Mexican states with a republican constitution in 1824

Mexican historical dates

• 1836 General Antonio López de Santa Anna, a dictator, suspended the 1824 constitution spreading civil war across the country. The republic of Texas, the Republic of the Rio Grande, and the Republic of Yucatan declared independence.

• English-speaking settlers flooded present-day Texas, outnumbering the Tejano. Tejano became separate from the Mexico City government.

• 1846 U.S. annexes Texas and the US army routes the poorly-equipped Mexican army.

• 1848 Treaty of Guadelupe Hidalgo forces Mexico to cede California, Texas, and New Mexico, more than 1/3 of Mexico’s land

• 1854 Gadsden Purchase adds southern Arizona and southwestern New Mexico

Mexican History

• 1862 Following Mexican suspension of debt payments to England, France, and Spain the French invade Puebla and are defeated on May 5, 1862 (Cinco de Mayo).

• 1876-1911 Porfirio Diez keeps running for president. As a result of his long tenure, Presidents today are limited to one six year term.

• 1910 After Diez was re-elected but electoral fraud was alleged and the Mexican Revolution began. 900,000 of 1910 population of 15 million were killed.

• 1929 Institutional Revolutionary Party founded. It would rule until the year 2000.

Mexican History

• 2000 Vicente Fox of the National Action Party unseats the Institutional revolutionary party candidate. Felipe Calderon, another NAP candidate, wins in 2006.

• Calderon barely won over Andrés Manuel Lopez Obrador• Calderon’s war on drugs did not go well

• 60,000 killed in drug wars • Launched universal health care • Great Recession

• 2012 Institutional Revolutionary party returns when Enrique Peña Nieto is elected.

• 2018 Andrés Manuel Lopez Obrador wins

Obrador – populist presidentProposals

• Increased financial aid for students• Double pension for the elderly• Double minimum wage• Amnesty for non-violent drug offenders• Universal access to public colleges• Legalization of marijuana• End to corruption• Small Mexican farmers have been hurt by NAFTA

Mexican immigration to the U.S.

• 1850- early 1900’s no restrictions on Mexican immigration• 1929 Great Depression 400,000 Mexican citizens repatriated• 1942 Bracero program for temporary minimum wage workers during

WWII• 1954 operation wetback INS begins deportations• 1965 Bracero program terminated, quotas replaced• 1967 maquiladora program (assembly factories in Mexico) creates

130,000 jobs• 1986 Immigration Reform and Control Act

• Undocumented immigrants living in U.S. in 1982 legal residence

Mexican Immigration (2)

• 2012 more Mexicans leaving U.S. than entering it• Lower birth rate in Mexico• 2008 economic crisis • Better economy in Mexico • Record deportations under Obama administration• Organized crime in Northern Mexico• Loss of income sent by immigrants hurts communities in Mexico

Chichen-Itza

Chichen-Itza

• One of the greatest Mayan centers of the Yucatan peninsula• Important example of Mayan-Toltec civilization • 1000-year old city• Located close to two natural cavities (source of water)

• At the edge of the well of the Itzaes• First settlement about 455 AD• Second settlement of Toltec warriors 10th century • Other building surrounded the pyramid• City declined about 1440 A.D.

Tulum

Mexico City

• Rests on former Lake Texcoco• Originally built by the Aztecs in 1325 • Frequent seismic activity• Rests on a soft base which is sinking • 7,200 feet about sea level

• 21.3 million in greater Mexico City• 1985 earthquake magnitude 8.0 killed at least 5,000 people

• Many buildings between 6 and 15 stories damaged

• 12,000 feet above sea level

Mexican government

• 1917 constitution establishes three levels of government: federal union, state government (31 states) and the municipal governments

• Executive branch President who is elected for six years and appoints the cabinet. He has the power to veto bills

• Legislature: bicameral Congress of the Union• Senate of the Republic

• 128 senators (64 elected by plurality vote, 32 first minority, 32 proportional from closed lists• Chamber of Deputies

• 500 (300 plurality vote in single-member districts, 200 proportional (closed party lists)

• Judicial branch (Supreme Court appointed by President, approved by the Senate)

Presidential Sash May be worn only by the current President

Has the three colors of the Mexican flag

Education in Mexico

• Preschool (ages 3 – 6) optional and private• Primary school (ages 6 – 12) mandatory 90% attend• Middle school (ages 12 – 15) mandatory 62% attend• High school (15 -18) mandatory – 45% finish

• College prep• Vocational

• University• 4 years as in U.S. public and private• Only 25% participate

Politics of Mexico

• Four main parties• Institutional Revolutionary Party founded from factions of the

Mexican revolution. For seventy years, each President chose the next President with the “tap on the shoulder”

• National Action Party – conservative party founded in 1939 rules from 2000-2012

• Party of the Democratic Revolution (a leftist party)• National Regeneration Party, a leftist-populist party, started after the

2012 election and currently rules.

Mexican Painter Frida Kahlo

• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=znxRGH92XDg&list=PLBCEE01A16CA41801

• Born 1907 died 1954• Bus accident in 1925 left her unable to walk• 1928 Married Mexican artist Diego Rivera• 1929 Moved to Cuernavaca• 1930 Moved to San Francisco• Exhibitions in the US, France • Relatively unknown until the 1970’s• Movie “Frida” starring Selma Hayek

Painting – Frida KahloSelf-Portrait -Broken Column –Two Fridas

Pop Music in Mexico

• Carlos Santana• Discovered at Woodstock

• 1975 Chicago concert in Mexico City ends with turbulence• Temporary ban on all concerts by American musicians in Mexico

• 1990’s Monterrey becomes center of Mexican pop • Not many other Mexican bands made it big in the U.S.• Lila Downs

• Granny-winning artist from Oaxaca, Mexico celebrates indigenous roots• Born to a Mixtec cabaret performer and a Scottish-American art professor

Lila Jones –cover of “Al Chile” album

• has sung in five indigenous languages: Mixtec, Zapotec, Mayan, Nahuati, and Purépecha

• Merged traditional rhythms with jazz, blues, and bolero

Excerpts from Interview in Rolling Stone and on 1-A• https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-latin/lila-downs-new-lp-

al-chile-interview-841209/• https://the1a.org/audio/#/shows/2019-08-13/lila-

downs/118524/@00:00

How can I help: Back to Back Ministries

• Cincinnati-based organization which helps orphans in Mexico and elsewhere

• Offers week-long mission trips where volunteers do construction projects and meet students

• 153 million orphans in the world or 11% of all children• Sometimes parents have children they can’t support and give them up to

orphanages • https://back2back.org/

Cuernavaca

• 1 ½ hours south of Mexico City• Popular city for international students to study Spanish• “City of Eternal Spring”• 338,000 inhabitants in 2010 (tremendous growth)• Many Mexico City residents have 2nd homes there• Some resettled there following 1985 Mexico City earthquake• Hilly terrain similar to Cincinnati

Cuernavaca

Taxco – Silver town

Is it safe?

• U.S. State Department has level 2 warning on all of Mexico• Exercise increased caution• Includes Baja California, Yucatan, Quintano Roo (Cancún) and Oaxaca

• Several Mexican states have level 4 advisories (travel not recommended)

• Colima, Guerrero (Taxco) , Michoacán, Sinaloa, and Tamaulipas

• Check before you travel