In the Dawson reading this week, I found his statement about Latin American states being ‘weak’ particularly interesting. I found his argument difficult because I was unsure about the term ‘weak’ he used to describe them. He stated that this is mainly because they ‘have always foun dit difficult to collect taxes, enforce their own laws, and govern their territories, or command obedience and loyalty[without] the threat of violence’ (Pg 323). Although these are good reasons for Latin American states to be called weak, there is a sense of contradiction in whether the weakness of a state is filtered down into the people.

Although many Latin American states are seemingly weak, it does not mean that the civilians sit idly by as their state politically worsens. They use their power of voice and more recently media as a way to get international attention about the injustice of their government.

For example, in Document 10.1, Madres Video Where are Our Children. The video depicts the how the mothers in Argentina were continuously fighting for the return of their children. They occupied the Plaza de Mayo on April 30, 1977 (Dawson, 326) and shortly became internationally famous because of the interviews that had surfaced on the news. Although the Madres started being stalked and kidnapped by the Argentinian government because of the threat they conveyed to the dictatorship, they had created enough fame to get the attention of President Jimmy Carter who started pressuring the Argentine government to release the Madres. I think that this shows the importance of Latin American civilians. Had it not been for these mothers, then there would not have been such a huge investigation into the disappearance of many young men.

Another example is from the Zapatista Army of National liberation in Mexico (EZLN), who were fighting fro women’s rights. In Document 10.2, Revolutionary Womens’ Law, it also conveys the sense of comradeship because of the inclusivity of the article: ‘the EZLN incorporates women into the revolutionary struggle, regardless of their race, color or political affiliation’ (Pg 345). There is a sense that women are finally realising the worth in themselves and will not take the physical and mental abuse that has held them back in Latin American states for so long. This is shown both through Document 10.1 & 10.2, as they show the pure strength women have when they are threatened.

It is clear that from these two examples, that although Latin American states may be considered weak by Dawson, the people who make up the population are not weak, but strong to challenge the violent and inhumane governments that have caused them so much harm.

This weeks reading was extremely depressing as it focused on the numerous amount of wars that took place in South America during the late 1900s. These were all interfered with by the US because of the countries lack of money and also the US’s desire for their ideology to be prevalent in the continent below them.

The description in Mario Vargas Llosa’s extract from “Inquest in the Andes: A Latin American writer explores the political lessons of a Peruvian massacre”, shows the brutality and almost inhumane behaviour that was taking place in many Latin American countries.

The reasoning behind the violent outburst by the villagers is that ‘the reporters were murdered because they walked into Uchuraccay with a Communist flag’ (pg 305). There is a sense of confusion in the report, as the author quotes that it is very unlikely for the reporters to walk into a village holding a communist flag because of the danger that it would put them in. But still, this shows how anxious many Latin American villages were. The idea that outsiders were not welcome in small communities, and that the political environment was so tense that even the idea of reporters coming into the village was so frightening that they needed to be killed. Not just killed, but completely mutilated in order to stop any effort of them getting revenge from the grave: ‘The bodies were especially mutilated around the mouth and eyes, in the belief that the victim should be deprived of his sight, so he cannot recognise his killers, and of his tongue, so he cannot denounce them. Their ankles were broken, so they could not come back for revenge. The villagers stripped the bodies; they washed the clothes and burned them in a purification ceremony known as pichja.'(Pg 304). 

This article conveys an exceptionally cannibalistic representation of the Peruvian villagers, and could be viewed as portraying the violence in Peru as a very negative thing. However, it is clear from the article that ‘The peasants always suffer the greatest number of victims. At least 750 of them have been killed in Peru since the beginning of 1983.’ (Pg 306). I think this shows that the violence acted out by the villagers is a by-product of the violence that was taking hold of all of Peru, because of the threat to democracy and therefore, their lives.

Raja, Shahzad. “The Cuban Revolution 3/5.” YouTube. February 28, 2011. Video, 10:00. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z3sZi9h_cwU.

The beginning of the video pans across the fighters. The men range dramatically in appearance and stature, which depicts the normality of the individuals and warfare in Cuba. The appearance of the men do not instantly evoke the image of war and revolution, because of their relaxed and composed posture. 

It shows the destruction that the Batista regime subjected their civilians too; how the overthrow by Che Guevara is a very welcomed response by the people of Santa Clara. The sheer amount of people on the streets in the video depict the rejoicing the civilians had over the revolution taking hold of Cuba.     

Near the end of the video, there is a reunification of people who have been fighting and were exiled in the Batista regime. The joy and positivity that can be seen on the individuals faces convey the sense of achievement and pride in the fighters. It is interesting how there is a sense of a familial relationship in the individuals meeting together again. I think that this portrays the closeness of the Cuban fighters and population in general.

This source will be useful as it shows the impact and scale of the military revolution that began the revolutionary process. It will provide a good starting point for the timeline of our project, as it will set the scene of the environment in Cuba and how this later on affected the revolution. The footage seems to focus on the instantaneous joy that the revolution caused to the people of Cuba. This will be interesting to question whether there is an underlying tension of what is next for Cuban society after the military revolution?

Also I think that it would be interesting to question the intentions of the source. Personally, my first thoughts on the source was that it seemed to be a rather biased source because of the overt positivity on the military revolution for the people of Cuba. Almost as if the footage was glorifying the revolution. There is only a very specific kind of information that the video portrays to the audience. But I think that this is necessary in order to depict how the success of the military revolution was interpreted as an end to the chaos that had plagued Cuba for so long. However, how this was actually just the end of the beginning, as the revolution in Cuba was an extremely long and tedious process.

Jany, N. (2018). The Cuban revolution of 1959 – legitimating an ongoing revolutionary process. [online] Sozialpolitik.ch. Available at: https://www.sozialpolitik.ch/fileadmin/user_upload/2018_1_Forum_Jany.pdf [Accessed 19 Nov. 2019].

The text explains how the Cuban Revolution came about in the late 1950s, and how the ideology attached to the movement penetrated to the foundations of Cuban society, and it is still in effect today. The article talks about the abuse that had always been present in Cuba’s history, as it explains the passing of power from Spanish colonial rule to US dominance over the country after Independence. The article explains how the US started to exert control over Cuba through neglecting Cuban representative during the peace negotiations with Spain after the war and occupied the island for four years immediately after the war. 

The foundation of disapproval of Spanish and United States regimes in Cuban people had been planted. The Imperialist and capitalist regimes that both countries enforced were seen in a disapproving light for Cuban people. A turning point in the escalation of the country yearning for a revolution came about with Fulgencio Batista. His presidency was contaminated with corruption, nepotism and social inequality. This was a catalyst in forming a strong and unbreakable disapproval of his rule, and a need for a radical change in Cuban society and rule.   

This article will be helpful for our group project, as it focuses on a great amount of detail on how the ideology that Fidel Castro conveyed to the Cuban population was extremely influential, as it became part of the national discourse – “[t]he themes of struggle and continuity of the revolutionary process became fused […] in a unifying historical construct”. This will help us to provide evidence of how the revolution is still ongoing in Cuba, and that in a sense the two are unable to be apart because the two were always intertwined.   

The article notes that the entire historiography of the Cuban Revolution can not be fully covered in his work, but it is clear that it will provide a good background on the beginnings of the revolution, but also an insight into why Cuba’s revolution was not necessarily a ‘revolution’ in the assumed definition, as there is no specific end-date to it. Nina Jany – the author – notes how the actual definition of a revolution does not necessarily have to end. I think this will prove to be very beneficial in our project, as it can help us come to a conclusion about the Cuban revolution. 

This weeks reading was about the Cuban Revolution, and about the conflicting elements that occurred from it. I found it very interesting about how Dawson questioned the idea that the Cuban Revolution had a clear timeline. Dawson quoted how “Fidel insisted that the Revolution was not an event, but a process” (Dawson, 247). This idea was interesting to me especially in relation to the primary sources by Yoani Sánchez, from 2009, 2011 and 2013. These extracts depicted how Cuba was still plagued by a chaotic and rather depressing society. For example, “the poorest people in the area took over the old factory—now closed—and began to dismantle it.”. The date of the extracts is what I found really interesting in terms of the Revolution timeline, as it portrays the idea that cuban society is still experiencing the “process” of revolution.

In Document 8.5,  Yoani Sánchez’s “In 2013: Reasons to stay alive”. This source is similar to one of the earlier sources, Document 8.2. They both focus on Cubans leaving Cuba in ‘exile’. The consistent themes in documents from very different time periods. This presents the idea of continuity in the Cuban revolution, and also to a certain extent, the failure of the revolution. I don’t necessarily think that the revolution was a failure, but the primary sources by Sánchez about the more recent environment in Cuba. Document 8.5 is particularly interesting when thinking about the future of Cuba, because Sánchez illustrates how the increasing amount of exile is limiting the time left for Cuba to become a better society. For example, “But someone has to stay to close the door, turn the lights off and on again. Many have to stay because this country has to be reborn with fresh ideas, with young people and projects for the future.” – this quote was very interesting to me because most of the primary source before this is about the hopelessness that Cuba is quickly approaching. However, this quote portrays a glimmer of hope about how the Cuban Revolution of the past will be rekindled in the younger generation.

This week’s readings were about the rise of populism in Latin American society. Populist politics focuses on appealing to the ordinary masses. It strives to put normal citizens at the forefront of politics rather than being an afterthought to the elite. In a modern society, populism is often considered a negative form of politics because of the appeal to extremist groups like white supremacists.

However, in the primary sources from this week it is clear that the rise of populism is a very necessary and vital part of Latin American progression because of the long divided past that had shadowed LA politics up until now. From the ‘discovery’ to the ‘liberal’ politics of LA, these had always played out short in creating a voice for the normal people living in LA. It made the majority turn against each other based on class, gender and race in order to destabilise the power that they could have been capable of.

In the primary sources, the speakers come across as the opposite to the former leaders that have been prevalent in the primary sources. For example, Porfino Díaz who promised a free regime under a dictatorial – style compared to The Peronist Version of the Speech’ in Document 7.2. Where the speaker calls for a new and advanced style of LA society. Putting the ‘slavery’ and segregation behind them so they can live a more hopeful and just life.

The importance of the primary sources being in the form of speeches, illustrates the impact that populist politics had on LA society. An important part is that the speakers are a variety of different people, for example Elita. Previously, a woman being considered such a big inspiration would have been unthinkable because of the segregation that they experienced in the past societies. This acceptance of marginalised speakers creates a powerful sense of progression in Latin American society. The speakers would be relating to everyone in the crowd and would create the sense of national identity that these big events created. They forged a sense of community that had not been as prevalent in the past.

This week’s reading is almost a contrast to last week’s reading, because instead of looking at the optimistic future of Latin America (LA), it looks at a variety of different examples of the reality. The readings varied from rebel manifestations and also poetry.

Rubén Darío’s poem titled “To Roosevelt” is a different kind of source that we have normally looked at during the the term, but it is particularly interesting. The description before the poem talks about how Darío is considered a modernist Latin American writer. This is prevalent in his poem, because of the style. The style of the poem is reflective of a modernist style because of the break from traditional form.

Darío conveys his disagreement with the United States, because of the clear distinction between the US and LA. This is shown through the pronouns of ‘you’ and ‘us’ in roder to describe the two different countries.

The beginning of the poem sets the scene of the controversy between the US, because of its promotion of liberality, but in practice the country is still entrenched in its conservative foundations of Puritanism. There is also a constant extended metaphor of the US being violent and oppressing to others. In the first line, Darío refers to the US as ‘Hunter’, and then refers to them as the ‘future invaders of our naive America/ with this Indian blood, an America’. This reference seems to be comparing the US to the European monarchy in terms of its abuse of power. Darío highlights the idea that the US appears to be progressive, it is just a facade of the old traditional ways of the European monarchy.

James Creelman’s description of Porfino Diaz is overwhelmingly positive, as he opens his excerpt with a description of Diaz’s facial features and. Initially, I thought that the primary source was a piece of romance literature about Mexico because of the beauty that is depicted of the landscape and Diaz. However, it seems that Creelman is just incredibly respectful of Diaz, who he states is a ‘masterful genius’ because he turned Mexico – forcibly – into a ‘democratic’ country.

Creelman explains how Mexico has been transformed into an idyllic democratic country because of the increasing national treasury and ability for trade. He quotes how when Diaz become president Mexico’s yearly “foreign trade amounted to $36,111,600… To-day her commerce  reaches the enormous sum of $481.363,388” (136). This increase in trade income is amazing, and illustrates Diaz as Mexico’s light after many years of violent wars.

Moreover, Diaz invested into a “ten thousand mile railway” (137) which not only helps trade, but helps to bring a sense of national identity to Mexicans as they have easier access to all of Mexican environment. As well as this, Diaz established a successful school system, which allows an increasing amount of pupils to attend school, from the previous “4,850 schools… [it has grown to] more than 12,000 schools” (136). This will help the development of Mexico, because of the increasing intelligence of the younger generation.

These descriptions of all of Diaz’s successful work in Mexico is hard to fault, as it depicts a man who seems to just genuinely care about the people of Mexico. I’m not sure if the previous primary sources have made me into a pessimistic person, but after reading I felt like it was a trap. Why was everything suddenly positive?

After thinking about it, I looked back at Diaz’s speech to Creelman and managed to find some areas of criticism for his regime. He talks about “enforced peace” (132, 135) on the people of Mexico when he initially came into power. How he had to transition the people into a democratic system, which poses the question, is Mexico’s democracy founded on fear and resisted support? Especially when Diaz talks about the people of Mexico, he only appreciates the middle-class as they are clever enough to understand politics but not greedy enough to desire more power.

Another question I have about his regime, is whether or not it can be defined as democratic, as he has been the only President, there is no opposing party and he states himself how he will help guide the next president on how to act similar to him. This type of democracy seems to be very similar to a dictatorship to me.

The readings for this week portrayed a follow on from last week, as it looked at how the change to a ‘liberal’ government effected the marginalised people in Latin America. From the reading, it is clear from the reading that the major problem in the new independent society have, was defining who was a free citizen. In my response, I will focus mainly on the treatment of African people. A major part of the marginalisation is because of the scientific ‘evidence’ that had begun to get more credibility. This scientific research focused on the cleanliness of blood in order to determine the acceptability an individual had of becoming a citizen.

There is a constant comparing of North America and Latin American in the reading, as it talks about the different lives Africans had in these two environments. On page 85, Table 3.2 compares the amount of emancipated blacks in North America and Latin American countries. What particularly amazed me was the number of free people of colour in Brazil compared to in USA. This is because of the facade that the US conveyed of being a progressive country in their ideals; that independence was equal to liberation. This table clearly shows that Brazil, who was one of the last countries to abolish slavery is actually a better environment for slaves to become free than in USA. That being said, the table clearly does not show what kind of environment any of the countries had towards the free and enslaved blacks.

The primary text that I found most interesting amongst the sources, was the Political program of the Partido Independiente de Color, 1908. This manifest of the demands of rights was particularly significant because it was in Cuba, which was one of the most oppressive countries of former African slaves. The demands that they make are very progressive and a lot of them are not in place in modern society. This manifest reminded me of the manifests that I have read by the Civil Rights Movement and also Black Power. This counters the idea of Latin America being a conservative and oppressive country that has historically been the notion that I have been taught.

This week’s reading focused on the politics of Latin America in the nineteenth century. I will focus mostly on the short story by Esteban Echeverría, The Slaughterhouse. This story was a revolutionary piece of literature in Latin America, as it was one of the first pieces of socio-cultural reflection. It used allegory in order to portray Echeverría’s personal opinion on the government in Latin America.

The setting of the story sets the scene for Echeverría’s perspective. The environment is like a battlefield, with the human and animals that are described having very little difference in their behaviour. For example, ‘An old woman set off in angry pursuit behind a young man who had smeared her face with blood. His friends, responding to the troublemaker’s yelling and cursing, surrounded and harassed her the way dogs will badger a bull.’ The humans are compared to animals in their behaviour, which illustrates Latin America’s political environment as blood-thirsty.

Moreover, the theme of blood in the text is interesting when analysing the nature of politics. The entire text is filled of extremely explicit violence and gore when it comes to talking about animal blood and parts. I personally interpreted this violence of animal parts as being a metaphor for the politics. Echeverría presents the animal body as the political body, as he describes people fighting for ‘a prize piece of offal’, or ‘a tangle of intestines’. The cannibalistic nature of the people in the text are desperate to have a piece of the animal’s body, which could represent how the people of Latin America are desperate for some form of political power. They are fighting each other for the chance to gain societal power, as the political body is so limited.

In this sense, the parts that certain people are described as having is important, the intestines are shared by ‘four hundred black women’. Also there are ‘capering boys and black and mulatto women… scavenge for chitterlings’. These representations show how the oppressed in Latin American society are treated unfairly, and have little power for finding political power.

In analysing Echeverría’s text, I am not necessarily saying that his ideas are correct and that the government in Latin America actually represented the illustration that he creates. However, it is an important text in thinking about the history of literature in Latin America, and how it helped to shape the culture.