I found these documents to be very interesting, especially as they are competing claims that create greater tensions among the Lago Agrio case conflict. Left, indigenous activists together with the global network of sympathizers have been able to find new ways to empower and increasinlgly capture the levels of power that have been for many years and still are highly influenced and controlled by corporate interests. The first document, an excerpt from the summary of the judge’s decision in the Lago Agrio trial that was prepared by the plaintiff’s lawyers explains the various bases on which the judgement was rendered. It tries to balance out the numerous pieces of testimonies and evidence against one another, and shows both sides of the conflict as much as possible.

Furthermore, the second document, an excerpt from the injunction granted by Judge Kaplan to Chevron in 2011 is interesting because of how he interprets the larger issues of the trial in Ecuador. This document is thus, very different interpretations of the same pieces of evidence. This makes it difficult for one to know the full truth of what happened during the Lago Agrio Case and the Texaco but provides us with multiple truths, depending on the perspective one takes. The perspective one chooses to opt toward is based on the similarity in ones values and interests, since these shape the worldview of one. The first document is a product of an Ecuadorian court, a particular history and of a political opening that was not expected by Chevron’s lawyers. On the other hand, the second documents context is a United States court, that was shaped by its own values and interests, that came to be because of the history it has.

Therefore, as Dawson makes clear, it is important not only to understand the multiple truths that come about in these two documents, but to also comprehend where power lies geographically, and how that power authorizes itself. We clearly see a changed geopolitical landscape in Latin America in the early 21st century, one consisting of more people speaking up for their own power or alternative power centers, not just the United States as the absolute truth. Thus, the Lago Agrio Case suggests an alternative narrative, where the forms of influence and domination that the upper class (who hold powerful corporate interests) once relied on are being challenged and reshaped by the people who do not share the benefits of globalization. As a result, the power from the United States has been starting to shift to the power of global capital, freeing people from their restricted areas and allowing them to shape their own future interests.

Newmont’s Conga Project in Peru Faces Uncertain Fate

http://www.forbes.com/sites/greatspeculations/2013/04/12/newmonts-conga-project-in-peru-fates-uncertain-fate/

In 2011, the The Newmount Mining Corporation started the Conga Project, an expansion of the Yanacocha mine in Cajamarca, Peru.  However, numerous protests in the city of Cajamarca, located only 73 kilometers from the expansion project have paused the development of the project since the water supplies would be threatened. Because it would be an open-pit mine, there is a risk of water contamination. The protests and rallies that have taken place since, refusing the claims of President Humala who says it will generate jobs and tax revenues.

The Conga project is a very ambiguous proposition as it may benefit or affect communities radically, damage the environment and/or meet economic interests by boosting local and national economic systems. However, because of the number of anti-mining protests, in November 2011, Peru’s central government requested the project to be suspended. Consequently, independent experts reviewed the approved environmental impact assessment report of 2010 in order to help resolve the environmental viability of the Conga project. As a result, they concluded that an international standard assessment was needed and recommended some water management improvements.

Newmount has thus started a “Water First” approach, constructing reservoirs before building production facilitates or initiating mining. This involves building reservoirs on high-mountain lake areas to make sure water is available for the local communities and its supply will last until the end of 2013. However does this solve the problems that will be created when the Conga project is implemented?

In my opinion it wouldn’t. Although the Peruvian government will benefit greatly with the profit gained by expanding the mine, they disregard important social and ecological factors that play a crucial role in the future of the community.

There are various social impacts that this project will cause including but not limited to: increase migration of workers, higher rates of criminality, disruption of social communities and a change in the landscape of the environment surrounding the area. For those who hold on to the national and local loyalties they were born and raised in, or those who cannot move, or simply insist that they would like to change the world they live in instead of living in another world.  This decision involves acting and speaking out. According to Hirschman, this is one of the ways in which members of societies behave in times of crisis, with their voice.  This is what gives power to the people, who are able to voice out their opinions and oppose ideas and actions they do not approve of, creating a change in their world.

Peruvians Emigrating in Droves to Escape Inflation, Food Shortages and Rebel War

http://articles.latimes.com/1988-12-25/news/mn-1402_1_food-shortages

In 1988, due to food shortages, increased inflation reaching 1110%, and an extended rebel war, many Peruvians are exiting the country, with more than half of the country leaving if they could. 52% of Peru’s 21 million people would emigrate if they could economically afford to. Officials show that there has been an 80% increase in demand for passports that would allow citizens to leave the country. Due to the economic circumstances, it is difficult to find jobs and as a result the number of emigrants has been doubling every year, pushing people to leave the country to find jobs that could support them.

In 1986, 27,017 Peruvians emigrated while in 1987, 53,076 citizens left the country. About 15,000 of them have tried to emigrate to Canada, compared to 2,000 people who left in 1987. During the same time, there was a lack of hope for the younger generation due to the Shining Path terrorism war that was also affecting the economic downfall that led to job losses, long food lines and a 50% loss in the average worker’s purchasing power. As a result, most of the Peruvian emigrants are university graduates, since there are only adequate jobs for 30% of the students who graduate. This has caused many to want to emigrate to places like the United States, a country that pays higher wages, has a better political and economic system in place and is able to pay them enough to live securely, allowing them to leave times of stress back in Peru.

Due to the large number of people who are trying to attain a tourist visa to the United States, Canada and Mexico, a business in fake visas has been created and has boomed over the past few years.  Clearly, this has been one of the only options Peruvians have had when dealing in times of crisis. Because citizens are technically free to move silently through the system, constantly forming and destroying relationships, they are able to—although with difficulty at this time— leave the country when they find themselves unable to participate in it. Exiting the country provides a warning sign of decline for Peru, especially for the state and government. Although citizens might want to voice their opinion to change this situation, they are unable to feed their families, putting their lives and future at risk, being an easier option to exit the country. Even after numerous times of trying to voice their opinion and change the world they live in, one reaches the point that they can no longer change the system and decide to then leave the situation they are living in.

In these texts and videos, we see how in different ways human rights groups emerge across Latin America during the 1970s and onwards with clear targets. We see how when states become weak and are unable or unwilling to recognize human rights, violence, protests, and speaking up through mediums of communication technologies come about. In the first video, a TV news interview, the sight, sounds and passion are portrayed, capturing the global attention as the mothers craft their narratives. The second document, a text that shows a movement closer to nature, more egalitarian and of a more primitive communism where they rebel against the Mexican government. The third document reveals a confrontation between the Guerrero (Mexico) state police and a group of peasants in a place called Aguas Blancas. The police ends up killing 17 members of the Southern Sierra Peasant Organization (OCSS). The video captures the entire event from start to finish, portraying the process of the killing and showing how intentional it was. This I found to be very interesting because it seems that the power of new forms of media are beginning to be used to bring truth to the country and the importance of communication technologies in creating a world in which cover-ups and conspiracies become almost impossible for states to create and control narratives and with it the flow of information. In the fourth and fifth documents, we see the music videos of the No Campaign assuring viewers of the happiness that will flourish in post-dictatorship Chile. In the sixth document, a collection of Chilean students who took their protest over tuition hikes and university governance to a global audience in 2011 is displayed through dancing. The seventh txt offers a possibility that the drug war simply could not be won, and thus reminds people that the war had placed one of the essential elements of a democratic society– a free press. Finally, the last document, a poet whose son was killed along with seven other youths in March 2011. He expresses his feelings towards the government whose interests he thinks should dramatically change.
Dealing with all these different mediums of communication technologies (videos, photographs, letters, internet, etc) how do you think the state has controlled the flow of information and promise of greater transparency today?

In document 9.1, an excerpt from an essay published by Mario Vargas Llosa, describes the investigation of the murder of 8 journalists in the Highlands. He agreed with inflicted rhetorical violence on the peasants, and perhaps justified other forms of violence indirectly. He describes the peasants as primitives using stone sling-shots and using pictures that were taken right before the massacre, he provided proof of a dialogue between the journalists and peasants, the latter who attacked them anyway convinced they were enemies, even though the journalists were unarmed. The fear within the people was clearly present and as an event of miscommunication/misunderstanding, Llosa portrays it as a planned attack and killing. This document clearly shows that guerilla movements were not “peasant movements,” but young adolescents and adults born in the cities, among intellectuals and middle-class militants. The democracy of Latin American countries will never be strong as long as it is the privilege of one sector of society and an incomprehensible abstraction for all others.

In the second document, an interview with President Gonzalo who almost celebrates violence and a war of annihilation (violence as cleansing, as ritual where the nation is reborn in the bloodbath). He believed that only by destroying, demolishing the old order, could a new social order be brought into being. Gonzalo together with Llosa share a superficial view of peasant and indigenous cultures, deeming them as inferior and almost deserving of dying. They had a strong vision where rural cultures desperately had to be re-made as they were useless and dangerous in their present form.
How does this view towards peasant communities and indigenous cultures differ from Fujimori’s words and actions during his presidency?

In the third document, Fujimori’s rationale for dismantling the Peruvian state, he claims he was paving the way for the establishment of a democratic state (his end goal) as it would effectively guarantee the equal participation for all citizens, not just the elite. For so many years, corruption and politcal infiltration have permeated throughout the government to such an extent that justice is treated as a commodity. Fujimori discusses how regionalism is no longer a solution, but a problem, since it has created regional “microcentralisms” and a new source of national frustration that has stemmed into terrorism. His urgency for national reconstruction is not clarified by annihilation, until years later he is accused for killing citizens while trying to cleanse populations. The justice Fujimori was fighting for as shown in document 9.3 is now being played on him.

These texts brought about the importance of the influence the government has on media production, especially as more of the means began to expand and increase across Latin American countries. In document 7.1, a newspaper article from the New York Times reports the tales of Peronist corruption, repression and fakery. It mentions how there has been a serious split within the peronista party over Eva’s candidacy to the point that some members of the council were forced out for advocating the governor of the Province of Buenos Aires as second place on the ticket. The New York Times selectively reports Latin American events in a more negative view.

The second document, an account on the “renunciamiento” from the Peronist Party of Buenos Aires does not provide us with the dialogue from the crowd. Eva advocates for Peron as he brought social justice, economic independence and the civic, moral and spiritual sovereignty of the country. She also strongly promotes General Peron as the leader that will bring justice and freedom. However, the words in the text do not appear to be what was Eva actually said. This shows how dangerous it is to rely on written texts from archives in order to reconstruct a past that did not take place through the medium of the written word.

The third document, an approximation of what was actually said in the “renunciamiento” only provides us with fragments or a small glimpse of the moment that happened. This version seems considerably different then that given by the Peronist Party, showing how written data was easily transformed by political leaders to portray a different reality through media. Eva asks the audience to not make her do what she does not want to do, something completely opposite from what the second document said, where she was willing to devote her life if it meant bringing happiness to one household in her Nation.

The last document, is an accurate rendering of what Eva said on the radio after the “renunciamiento.” All these documents show us how different realities can be portrayed through media, be it radio in the 1940s or online articles today. The texts show us how powerful the government was and is today to be able to influence society into thinking certain ways through forms of media such as: radio, TV, newspapers, etc. It was a way for political leaders to reach out to the “humble” “working class” people and convince them to believe in them so that they could remain in power. This way, the “audience” or national community is able to connect with the words said by such leaders and come together to promote their rights as the working class across the country, promoting the industrialization processes that make the region rich. Since times like these, the reliability of media communication is questioned, leading to the distrust of such sources.

I found the texts and films to be very interesting as it was able to provide different perspectives on the relationship between the United States and Latin America. In the first text, Sandino provides a more traditional perspective and shows less of a concern with the parochial battles between liberals and conservatives than about the larger influence of the United States on Nicaragua. He believes in the unity of Latin America as the means of fighting against imperialism, similar to Simon Bolivar’s dream, as we read about before.

The film titled “Silent War” on the other hand, was a more generous view of the relationship between the United States and Latin America. It focuses on the aid and investment that the United States provided as effective means of promoting economic progress and modernization. However, I feel like the consequences of such intended ways of ‘helping’ are dismissed, neglecting the negative social effects these changes have caused in Latin American countries when trying to improve infrastructure.

In the film “Journey to Banana Land,” the positive impacts of UFCO in Guatemala are portrayed. It is seen as a powerful source for interrogating a series of other assumptions about class, gender and ethnicity. The video almost sounds like a commercial, where the culture of Guatemala (from the city to the highlands) are shown in very positive way, comparing it numerous times to the United States.

Additionally, Dorfman and Mattelart deliver a critique of the US imperialism in the 1960s. They believe one must understand a set of assumptions about the modern and primitive world in order to understand American imperial practices. They say cartoons were created to serve as instruments of imperialism and provides multiple examples of such concept. This is a very interesting perspective as disney world and cartoons are usually not seen as a means of controlling other countries’ ways of thinking as shown in the Donald example.

In Ruben Dario’s poem, he alternatively offers an overturn to the North American assumptions about their own superiority. In Zapata’s text he declares a war against Madero, for not complying with the promises he made and has intentionally ignored and silenced the pueblos who demand from him the fulfillment of the promises he made. This I find to be very typical of Latin American leaders. Every presidential election within the past decades in Peru, have started with many promises and ended with none completed. In Jose Vasconcelo’s excerpt, he provides us with 3 laws or stages indicated by the law of personal taste as the basis of all human relationships. These include the material or warlike (only matter rules), the intellectual or political (where reason prevails) and the spiritual or aesthetic (sought in creative feeling). Writing in the aftermath of the conflict, Vasconcelos is driven by a desire to reconstitute and celebrate a torn country and actively participates in the reconstruction process. Through his celebration he strongly embraces hybridity as mankind’s best hope where the best qualities of all races will be saved and the worst discarded. Finally, in the last document, Jose Carlos Mariategui provides in his essay acknowledges Marxists, who combine the political ideology of those who advocated the 1919 general strike in Buenos Aires, Argentina, focusing on the rural problems that shape the Peruvian leftists. Instead of focusing on an emergent working class, he sees indigenous peoples of Peru as the source of an organic form of communism. He believes it is not the modern proletarians who will defeat capitalism in Peru, but the communist Indians. I somewhat agree with this last statemenent and I feel like it is hard for people to consider/understand mainly because they see the Indian “economy” or “society” as backwards or primitive and have a hard time adopting their ways of life in todays modern world.

I found this chapter to be rather significant as it played a huge role in the creation of ‘modern’ Latin America. As portrayed in the document which is an interview between an American journalist and the President of Mexico, Porfirio Diaz, one can acknowledge the physical transformation in the country’s landscape as connections between Mexico and other countries increased in the early 20th century, accelerating the pace towards a ‘civilized’ and constructed society. The export boom as defined by Dawson was a “tragedy which inequalities deepened and were further entrenches, where certain forms of violence intensified and the victimization of the region at the hands of the outside world was re-inscribed through a unique global system.” This transformative step that was taken by various Latin American countries, specifically Mexico as the document shows, was a step in my perspective towards an unsustainable form of living. The need (greed) for more became more widespread among Latin America and local systems were unable to keep up with the consumerist mindset of the people inhabiting these areas, therefore, a global system became a much more prioritized and wanted system by the elites, the ones who controlled and shaped Latin America’s future. I feel like this dream towards a more ‘connected’ and ‘integrated’ global system is a trap where people feel more connected because of the greater access to resources, technology and an increase in the capability of what one can do. However, it neglects very important environmental concepts that form part of who we are. The relationship between humans and their environment was completely forgotten and the focus was put merely on humans. Just as we saw in prior readings were men were receiving an unequal amount of rights compared to women and slaves, in this new “export boom” society, the main focus is given to the human species, forgetting the components that make up who we are– nature and the valuable ‘resources’ they provide for our survival.  Thus, complex civilizations are formed, with cities becoming centres of trade creating a materialistic world where goods and services are exchanged converting resources as infinitely able to be extracted rather than understanding the limits to a balanced world.

I found this chapter, including the documents, very interesting as it provided a broad range of perspectives from people who thought differently about race and gender throughout the 19th century in Latin America. In Peru for example there was a clear racial divide– deep fragmentation became noticeable, where clearing of indigenous lands left new territory open for white settlers to turn to “productive” ends. This is still actively being done today. Although in quieter ways, the Peruvian government is still trying to force indigenous peoples out of the territories they have been living on for years.

Clearly, emancipation was perceived and experienced differently across Latin America. This involved complex stories of pressured from the outside world, internal elite conflicts and pressure from slaves themselves. Additionally, the reaction of people to emancipation in their country was also very different across the continent. Former slaves in Cuba focused on creating stable families and communities, leaving political organizing for individual rights for later. The Cuban government made it difficult for coloured people to move up the social classes, while in Brazil it was very much facilitated.

Something that struck me was the amount of discrimination in Cuba towards coloured people. They were casted out for being “dangerous primitives, a threat to national progress.” However, how was progress defined then? What kind of development were they looking at? Afro-Cuban traditions were particularly targeted as they were  perceived as an epidemic of savagery, creating a widespread idea of fear towards these people.

Out of the five documents at the end of the chapter, I really enjoyed the last one. Although I didn’t really agree with the purpose of the text, it portrayed a very different perspective on gender equality that I had never seen before. Josefina Pelliza de Sagasta believed the emancipation of women was unattainable and even harmful if ever attained and that God made women the way they are for a reason. Thus, the destiny of women could not be the same as the destiny of men as women have that loving, nurturing, caring characteristic that defines who they are.  Overall, the compilation of documents were people or either against or for the abolishment of  slavery and/or emancipation of women provided a very diverse set of perspectives that is very much a feature of Latin American culture.

I found it very hard to read the narrative by Echevarria. Mainly due to the gruesome in his depictions, but also due to the strong influence the Church and government had on the people, yet it showed no morality in its actions. There was so much hatred towards the Unitarian people, that they enjoyed torturing them before killing them. It’s hard to believe that such religious Catholic people that to my understanding are supposed to hold some basic moral values, think it’s acceptable to be hurting others for a laugh. One fact that I was unaware of and learned through this reading was the fact that eating meat was considered a sin in the 1830s. The fact that modern science today (which in my perspective is not always true and objective) proves that the consumption of meat and fish is healthy for one to consume was considered sinful in a religion so common today strikes me. How/when did this law change in Catholicism?

Additionally, I was struck by the fact that basic human rights were hard to achieve back then, when I thought many people knew how to grow their own food and were allowed to grow and eat whatever they needed to survive. However, this doesn’t seem to be true. The Church and the government controlled many individual decisions that took place. So for how many years has it done that? Since it’s still evident today with many food sovereignty issues worldwide regarding genetically modified seeds that are being controlled by Monsanto and the government that is allowing it to happen.

Furthermore, it seems that the Church tends to give more than one exception to certain things. For example, as we saw in the reading about Catalina de Erauso, the pope was able to forgive her for becoming a transgender, disobeying her parents and lying to so many people throughout her journey. In this case, the Bishop granted the Restorer a special dispensation to eat meat, even though this was considered a sin. How is it that this religion is able to so many times forgive people who have not followed the Church’s rule to an extent that murder even becomes acceptable?