Author: MATTHEW CRITELLI

1 Comment Posted on by MATTHEW CRITELLI Module 4 assignment: Latin America in the media

Women’s Involvement in Drug Cartels

The war on drugs started 50 years ago in Latin America under the Nixon Administration. The United States would start a hard and rough fight against drug cartels to stop drugs flooding into the country. It first started with Mexican Marijuana in the early 1970s but would be most prevalent during Colombia’s cocaine cartels. The major Colombian cartels of Cali and Medellin started taking over as the main threat in the War on Drugs. Pablo Escobar would bring over “45 tons of cocaine to the United States annually by the early 1980s” (Dawson 357). Escobar would be at large until the early 1990s when he died in Medellin in December 1993. After Escobar cartels would spring up in Mexico, and other parts of Latin America, cartels were the next war on drugs. In 1998 the Zetas, was formed from the Mexican elite. This cartel was linked with brutal violence to send messages that they should not be trifled with. Mexican cartels would grow with many groups per region in the early 2000s. Cartels would recruit many of the poor population, both men and women were recruited for violent and nonviolent business for the cartels. Still today there are a lot of cartels not only in Mexico, but across Latin America, trying to make money and show their power to the world. 

Cartels have recruited and targeted many poor men and women who need money in Latin America across the last couple of decades. Men were mainly to use as muscle and women used to smuggle. In the article, Villain or Victim, written by Lauren Borders, Borders explains how women have gotten to jail more in the last couple years with charges of drug trafficking than ever before. It brings up points about how these women can be viewed as victims and villains of the war on drugs. Women can be seen as villains as they are spreading drugs across the globe which can lead to addiction and possibly death. They are also victims as cartels would target women to smuggle drugs for them for money. More money they would get from another job and at a faster rate. Women who are lower class in cities would smuggle drugs to help them get money. Not only this but that women that have children are more likely to be involved with cartels than women who do not have children. “Behind the statistics of the rapidly increasing number of women incarcerated for drug offenses in Latin America are tragic stories of women, often single mothers, who end up selling small amounts of drugs or transporting drugs in order to put food on the table for their children.” (Borders). This is quite sad for these women as they are turning to cartels and drug smuggling in order to make money for their children. Borders also talks about the idea that mothers should not get as much jail time for drug trafficking as legal administrations make these crimes have longer consequences than murder in Latin America. Families have been destroyed since the mother, who tried to support her children, got arrested and sentenced to 7 years in prison for drug smuggling. 

Women, although they didn’t have a violent role, did have a role in the smuggling of drugs from Latin America to another part of the globe. Women often were not seen as a threat to drug authorities and smuggling drugs with women was an easier option for drug cartels.  In Netflix’s show Narcos it was seen pregnant women were recruited to fly from Medellin to New York, Miami and other parts of the United States with small poaches of cocaine and other drugs with them. I do agree with Borders that there needs to be solutions to stop the lower classes from getting involved with drug cartels. There should be more consideration for these women who are caught smuggling who are trying to help feed their family. I think Borders did a great job with this article as it added insight to Americans about the problems women face with their involvement with drug cartels.

Work Cited:  

Dawson, Alexander S. Latin America since Independence a History with Primary Sources. Routledge, Taylor & Francis Group, 2022. 

Borders, Lauren. “Villain or Victim? Understanding the Role of Women in the Latin American Drug Trade.” WOLA, 16 Aug. 2022, https://www.wola.org/analysis/villain-or-victim-understanding-the-role-of-women-in-the-latin-american-drug-trade/. 

Brancato, Chris. “Narcos.” Season Narcos Season 1, episode 1-10, 2015. 

Posted on by MATTHEW CRITELLI Timeline pilot project

Socialism in Cuba

Work Cited:

Dawson, Alexander S. Latin America since Independence a History with Primary Sources. Routledge, Taylor & Francis Group, 2022. 

History.com Editors. “Cuban Revolution.” History.com, A&E Television Networks, 19 Aug. 2021, https://www.history.com/topics/latin-america/cuban-revolution. 

Posted on by MATTHEW CRITELLI Timeline pilot project

Socialism in Cuba

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Work Cited:

Dawson, Alexander S. Latin America since Independence a History with Primary Sources. Routledge, Taylor & Francis Group, 2022. 

History.com Editors. “Cuban Revolution.” History.com, A&E Television Networks, 19 Aug. 2021, https://www.history.com/topics/latin-america/cuban-revolution. 

Posted on by MATTHEW CRITELLI Module 3 assignment - Latin America in the Cold War

A Conversation between Raul Castro and Nikita Khrushchev

After World War II Latin America experienced many revolts and clashes for power from different political groups. The United States’ goal, at this time, was to intervene and prevent Latin American countries from becoming communist. However, a country only 90 miles off the coast of its borders in Cuba would become a socialist nation. Cuba had been overlooked by the US ever since they won their independence. Tourism from the elite of the United States would occur in Cuba and it was made to be a present day Las Vegas. Outrage would ensue from its citizens and small revolts would go on to occur. One revolt was attempted by Fidel Castro in the early 1950s. Castro’s plan was to try and rob a military base to use their weapons to take over. Castro was defeated with ease and sent away to Mexico. This would lead to more internal fighting and many were displeased with the government and the United States. Castro was known for making speeches to the poor and creating connections with people. (Dawson 208).He would be known as a hero to Cuba as someone who stood for them and against the corrupt government of Cuba and The US. Castro would take charge in 1959 and moved away from the tourism age. Castro would focus on his country and its large peasant population. Castro would  meet with the US leaders and talk about him not wanting to be a socialist but instead he was a nationalist for Cuba. Castro would go on to deceive them, become a socialist nation, and meet with Soviet leaders in Moscow and invite some to Cuba. 

The document above is a conversation between Raul Castro and Premier Nikita Khrushchev in July 1960 in which they discussed Cuba, a nation that achieved socialism without any outside help like they did decades prior. Khrushchev and the USSR saw Cuba as a threat to the United States so close to their borders in which most other socialist nations were across the globe. Khrushchev first praises Cuba for its revolution and switch to socialism. Raul Castro wanted to meet with Khrushchev to talk about the people of the Soviet Union and their life in socialism. Khrushchev wanted to use this opportunity to build a relationship with Cuba and talk about the imminent response this will have from the United States. The United States was definitely going to respond to the shift towards socialism and now connections with the Soviet Union. Khrushchev, knowing this, planned on building a military compound in Cuba which would impose fear on the United States. Khrushchev also planned on supporting Cuba with resources like oil which would help in their fight against the United States. They also planned on setting up trade between the two nations and the USSR believed that they would not blockade Cuba for a long time. Castro also inquired about military support in which Khrushchev promised support but did not want Nuclear bombs to be put into Cuba just yet. He did not want to rush a United States invasion into Cuba as the country was just transformed into a socialist state. 

The United States reaction to Cuba transforming into a Cuban state was very unpleasant in the eyes of Khrushchev. They had a blockade already in place but the Premier believed the United States would not invade as long as Cuba did not provoke them . This would not be the case however, as the United States would eventually invade Cuba less than a year later to this conversation. The United States did already have a small territory in Guantanamo Bay already installed in Cuba. The United States wanted to overthrow Castro and eliminate the threat of socialism on its borders. 

Document Link

https://nsarchive.gwu.edu/document/29119-document-1-memorandum-conversation-between-nikita-khrushchev-and-raul-castro-moscow

Work Cited

    Dawson, Alexander S. Latin America since Independence: A History with Primary Sources. Routledge, Taylor & Francis Group, 2022. 

Posted on by MATTHEW CRITELLI Module 2 assignment - Visual sources of late 19th-century or early 20th-century Latin America

Small town by railroad tracks

https://digitallibrary.tulane.edu/islandora/object/tulane%3A11638

With the threat of imperialism still looming in the world during the late 19th century, Liberals in Latin Americas wanted to prove to the world that their nation was progressing. Liberals had created new projects in Latin America to improve the economy of the nation. Latin American nations had become exporters with their raw materials such as coffee beans, sugar and rubber. Liberals had brought a free market economics to their port cities being able to trade with nations across the world. Countries from Europe, the US and other nations throughout the world wanted these materials from Latin America. With it Latin America had gotten strong around their ports, other big cities and mines. It also started to import more goods and start to build up industries. Liberals focused on these areas with new laws and other proposals mainly benefiting people who lived in the areas. New technology is starting to come up in the nations such as the railroad line we see in the photo above. However, the new modern states of Latin America did not benefit everyone who lived there.

This image shows how liberal projects did not always positively affect the people of their nation. In the left side of the image we see a railroad. The railroad shows that Latin America is building infrastructure across the country. This helps boost a country to move items or materials throughout the nation quicker and easier. Latin American nations were mainly exporters at this time with raw materials to European nations and other parts of the world. This liberal project allowed success for many who dealt with trade in Latin America and definitely helped make them successful financially. On the right side of the image we do see a small, underdeveloped town in the rural parts of Latin America. The liberals did not make a big contributions to these parts of their nations. The people were very poor from the rural regions and most worked for the government. These people had to pay taxes to the government and when they could not pay they had to pay off their debt by working for the government. Sending materials and goods to ports so the government and other merchants can sell them and make a fortune. People began to feel disconnected from the government, since many were not allowed to vote and were not guaranteed protection. These same people had a positive relationship  with the caudillos. Liberals had made a big impact on Latin America’s economy, but it did fall short on the cultural aspects of its nation.

With Latin America’s fast growing economy it helped modernize and progress into the trading global markets. This did however, cause setbacks on the cultural aspect of their respective nations. Many in the countryside and rural parts of the nation felt disconnected with the liberals and felt cut out of politics. Many politicians focused on issues within cities and how to improve its global reputation than preserving its indigenous groups and economic mobility to those in the rural parts of the nation. 

Work Cited:

Dawson, Alexander S. Latin America since Independence: A History with Primary Sources. Routledge, Taylor & Francis Group, 2022. 

Posted on by MATTHEW CRITELLI Module 1 assignment - Late Colonial and early Independence Latin American sources

The Mode of exterminating the Black Army, as practiced by the French Army

JCB Archive of Early American Images Record Accession number: 06847, “The Mode of exterminating the black army, as practiced by the French Army”

The visual above shows a French soldier seemingly threatening a Haitian soldier in the war for Independence. The French soldier looks like he is ready to kill the soldier by throwing him overboard.We also see multiple other dead Haitians in the photo overboard who have been killed by the French. The French and Haitians fought violently, which was the cause of many years of hatred and rage from both sides. By the look of the boats in the background there were heavy casualties in this photo and this represents the brutality each side had. In the text below it says “The mode of exterminating the black army, as practiced by the French”. The overall goal of the French army was not only to destroy the revolt but also, reinstall their dominance in Saint Domingue but to kill and conquer over the Haitians rebels. France wanted to dominant Saint Domingue and bring back slavery so they can gain lucrative profit from its plantations. 

There were many reasons why the fighting was ferocious in Saint Domingue. Decades of hate between the slaves and French had brought rage upon the slaves. Saint Domingue was a key financial resource in the French Empire. The French’s most valuable financial asset in its empire was Saint Domingue. It was so precious that after France was defeated in the seven years war, they gave up Canada in order to keep it. France focused on keeping up with Britain, Spain and Portugal’s influence in the new world. With the threat of the other nations slaves were brought in by the thousands to Saint Domingue, to the point where most of the population in the country was slaves. The slaves however did not have any revolts until the declaration of rights of man in 1789. This document  persuaded slaves to begin revolts against their owners and fight for their freedom. This was the first few signs of Independence. The slaves’ aggression started in 179, and it was in the Northern part of the colony.There they killed over 4,000 white men and burned over 180 slave plantations. They also brutally killed these men too, by hangings, stabs and other forms of executions. The revolt would come to halt in 1793 but start back up again in 1803. During that time slaves were free for a little and a war was fought against Britain and Spain. When the revolution started back up again in 1803 it seemed more personal between the French and Haitians. The Haitians were angered that French tried to reinstall slavery and dominant the colony and the French whom where now more focused on Saint Domingue tried to get payback for the brutal executions the Haitians had on the French. 

The visual just shows how brutal it got, men were thrown overboard and killed in terrible ways. This revolt would go down as being very gruesome and deadly. The Haitians would go on and win the revolution in 1804. 

Work Cited:

“The Mode of Exterminating the Black Army, as Practised by the French.” Edited by J. Barlow, The Mode of Exterminating the Black Army, as Practised by the French. – JCB Archive of Early American Images, 1805, https://jcb.lunaimaging.com/luna/servlet/detail/JCB~1~1~577~230089:The-Mode-of-exterminating-the-Black?sort=image_date%2Csubject_groups&qvq=q%3A06847%3Bsort%3Aimage_date%2Csubject_groups%3Blc%3AJCB~1~1&mi=2&trs=9#. 

Posted on by MATTHEW CRITELLI Uncategorized
JCS Archive of Early American Images, Accession Number:06847, “The Mode of Exterminating the Black Army, as practiced by the French Army”

The visual above shows a French soldier seemingly threatening a Haitian soldier in the war for Independence. The French soldier looks like he is ready to kill the soldier by throwing him overboard.We also see multiple other dead Haitians in the photo overboard who have been killed by the French. The French and Haitians fought violently, which was the cause of many years of hatred and rage from both sides. By the look of the boats in the background there were heavy casualties in this photo and this represents the brutality each side had. In the text below it says “The mode of exterminating the black army, as practiced by the French”. The overall goal of the French army was not only to destroy the revolt but also, reinstall their dominance in Saint Domingue but to kill and conquer over the Haitians rebels. France wanted to dominant Saint Domingue and bring back slavery so they can gain lucrative profit from its plantations. 

There were many reasons why the fighting was ferocious in Saint Domingue. Decades of hate between the slaves and French had brought rage upon the slaves. Saint Domingue was a key financial resource in the French Empire. The French’s most valuable financial asset in its empire was Saint Domingue. It was so precious that after France was defeated in the seven years war, they gave up Canada in order to keep it. France focused on keeping up with Britain, Spain and Portugal’s influence in the new world. With the threat of the other nations slaves were brought in by the thousands to Saint Domingue, to the point where most of the population in the country was slaves. The slaves however did not have any revolts until the declaration of rights of man in 1789. This document  persuaded slaves to begin revolts against their owners and fight for their freedom. This was the first few signs of Independence. The slaves’ aggression started in 179, and it was in the Northern part of the colony.There they killed over 4,000 white men and burned over 180 slave plantations. They also brutally killed these men too, by hangings, stabs and other forms of executions. The revolt would come to halt in 1793 but start back up again in 1803. During that time slaves were free for a little and a war was fought against Britain and Spain. When the revolution started back up again in 1803 it seemed more personal between the French and Haitians. The Haitians were angered that French tried to reinstall slavery and dominant the colony and the French whom where now more focused on Saint Domingue tried to get payback for the brutal executions the Haitians had on the French. 

The visual just shows how brutal it got, men were thrown overboard and killed in terrible ways. This revolt would go down as being very gruesome and deadly. The Haitians would go on and win the revolution in 1804. 

Work Cited:

“The Mode of Exterminating the Black Army, as Practised by the French.” Edited by J. Barlow, The Mode of Exterminating the Black Army, as Practised by the French. – JCB Archive of Early American Images, 1805, https://jcb.lunaimaging.com/luna/servlet/detail/JCB~1~1~577~230089:The-Mode-of-exterminating-the-Black?sort=image_date%2Csubject_groups&qvq=q%3A06847%3Bsort%3Aimage_date%2Csubject_groups%3Blc%3AJCB~1~1&mi=2&trs=9#.