Lesson 21: Including US Intervention in Central America in the Immigration Debate

Review:

• Group assignments
• Country Timelines
• Exam 4 on Thu, Apr 18
• Final on Thu, Apr 25

Presentation:

• Complete timeline reporting
• Harvest of Empire segments

• El Salvador (1:07:30-1:18:45)
  • Salvadoran Military
    • Assassinated Bishop Óscar Romero (recently canonized)
    • Raped and murdered 4 American nuns
    • Slaughtered entire villages
    • Many leaders trained by the US Military, in the US (School of the Americas)
    • Backed and financed by the US govt
  • MS-13
    • Started in LA in the 1980s by Salvadorans who fled civil war

• Guatemala (11:40-18:30)
  • Post-WWII had progressive government enacting land reform
  • CIA infiltration and overthrow of government
  • Brutal repression of political opponents and indigenous population
  • Over 200,000 killed and 50,000 missing during decades of turmoil
  • Majority of victims were indigenous Mayan
    • Nobel Peace Prize winner Rigoberta Menchu
  • Documented evidence that death squads were supported and trained by CIA

Discussion:

• Did these interventions contribute to today’s instability in the region?
• Does the US have any legal/moral obligation to accept immigrants from the region?
• Mexico

Assignment:

• Prepare to discuss the US-Mexico border in class Tue
• Watch Cartel Land (assigned previously)

Lesson 20: Brief History of US-Mexico Relations

Review:

• Nicaragua
• Exam 4 on Thu, Apr 18
• Final on Thu, Apr 25

Presentation:

• Intro to Harvest of Empire (03:00-4:10)
  • Premise: US interventions in Latin America have resulted in immigration
• Activity:
  • Form groups to investigate
    • Cuba
    • Dominican Republic
    • Puerto Rico
    • Guatemala
    • El Salvador
  • Investigate timeline of key events in relations with US
  • Prepare to discuss immigration dynamics between your group/country and the US
• Mexico
  • Timeline of US-Mexico Relations (Council on Foreign Relations)
  • Mexican-American War (1846-1848)

  • 

  • Over 350,000 Mexican Americans served in the military during WWII
  • Bracero Program
    • Started with the Mexican Farm Labor Act of 1942
    • Extended by Migrant Labor Act of 1951
    • Program terminated in 1964
    • 5 million employment contracts offered in 24 states over 22 years (1942-1964)
    • Migrant workers continue to work on farms in the US
      • The Harvest (La Cosecha)
      • Farm workers and immigration
      • ICE crackdown in California’s Central Valley (LA Times)
      • Migrant farm workers in Pueblo County (Centro de los Pobres – Avondale)
  • Mexicans recruited to work in factories in the Industrial Midwest (1950s-1960s)
    • Mexicans in Chicago
    • Chicago has the 2nd largest Mexican immigrant population

    • 

      

  • Recession in the US and devaluation of Mexican Peso in 1982
  • Mexico’s Drug War (Council on Foreign Relations)
    • US War on Drugs
    • Cartel Land (2015 Documentary)
  • North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA)
    • Mexican farmers can’t compete with govt subsidized US corn industry
    • Millions forced to find new livelihood
  • Approx 35 million Mexicans living in US today

Assignment:

• Watch Cartel Land

Lesson 19: Revolution and Intervention in Nicaragua

Review:

• Mining in Latin America
• Lithium Triangle

Presentation:

• Geography of Mexico, Central America and the Caribbean
  • Study this map of the region.

  • 

  • Countries: Mexico, Guatemala, Belize, El Salvador, Honduras, Nicaragua, Costa Rica, Panama, Cuba, Jamaica, Haiti, Dominican Republic, Puerto Rico.
  • Physical Features: Gulf of Mexico, Yucatan Peninsula, Baja Peninsula, Gulf of California, Panama Canal.

• Diverging American views of Immigrants from Central America
  • NY Times
  • Fox News
• Nicaragua, Honduras and the Iran-Contra Affair
  • My primary source: Stephen Kinzer
  • Iran-Contra Primer (History Channel)
  • Contras based in Honduras, linked to Cocaine trade
  • Not only Nicaragua, Honduras and/or Iran-Contra; one of many similar incidents
• Nicaragua (54:40-1:02:15)
  • Occupied by US Marine Corp 1927-1933
  • Somoza family rule 1936-1979
  • Sandinista Revolution
  • Reagan administration supports Contras
  • Iran-Contra Scandal
  • Sandinista-Contra conflict killed 50,000+
  • I visited Nicaragua in 2016
    • Stayed in Grenada
    • Saw the inside of a volcano
    • Day trip to León, capital of the Sandinista revolution
      • Museo Historico de la Revolucion
      • Original campus of Universidad Nacional Autónoma de Nicaragua, UNAN
      • Cathedral of the Assumption Mary, just outside
  • Nicaragua Today – a new revolution?
    • Protests Against Ortega (HBO/Vice News)
    • Inside the Nicaraguan Town Resisting President Daniel Ortega (NY Times)
    • Daniel Ortega (President of Nicaragua)
    • Rosario Murillo (Vice President of Nicaragua)

• Harvest of Empire documentary Official Trailer

Assignment:

• Watch Harvest of Empire

 

Lesson 18: Mining in South America and the Lithium Triangle

Review:

• Ecuador

Presentation:

• Mining is a major part of Latin America’s economy

  • 

  • Copper Mining in Chile
    • Codelco – largest producer of Copper in the world
    • 2010 Copper Mine Accident and Rescue: Buried Alive
  • World Silver Production
    • #1 Mexico, #3 Peru, #5 Chile, #7 Bolivia
    • Mining in Cerro Rico (Bolivia): Devil’s Miner
• Lithium Triangle
  • Lithium
    • Metal used in batteries
      • Consumer electronics
      • Electric vehicles
      • Lithium – the future of transportation energy?
  • Chile, Argentina, Bolivia
    

    

  • International investment in the Lithium Triangle (18 min)
  • How can Latin America benefit from the Lithium “boom”?
    • Nationalize or Privatize
    • Foreign Investment
    • Value-add industry

Assignment:

• Watch Buried Alive
•  Reading
  • The White Gold Rush (Economist)
  • Mining in South America (NY Times)
  • Mining in Latin America (Economist)
  • Finding balance between economic development and environmental protection (World Bank)

Lesson 17: Economic Development and Social Justice in Ecuador

Review:

• Hydropower on the Amazon
• Noah’s Latin America Map Quiz

Presentation:

• Latin Americas Reliance on Natural Resources
  • Economist Article
• Economic development vs Environmental degradation
  • How do Latin American countries solve this challenge?
  • Yasuni ITT initiative

• Case of Ecuador
  • Profile
  • Population
  • Visit to Ecuador
    • Why Ecuador
    • Day 1 in Quito
    • Adios Quito
    • View from Ecuador
    • Chilcapamba
  • Former President of Ecuador, Rafael Correa
    • Charlie Rose interview
    • Role of Government
    • US Foreign Policy in Latin America

Assignment:

• Watch Crude
• Read this article about the failure of the Yasuni ITT initiative