Author: CHARLIE KIM

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Research project 4: Latin America in the media

El Salvador: Rise of Authoritarianism?

El Salvador today is one of the world’s safest places, ahead of countries such as Canada in rank. Before this however, El Salvador was the murder capital of the world being overrun with gang violence and activities. Citizens weren’t able to walk freely let alone do anything without gangs interfering with their daily lives, so how is it now changed to the safest place in the world? It is thanks to one man, El Salvador’s current president Nayib Bukele and his current reformation of the country. President Bukele in 2022 announced a state of emergency in the country urging a massive wide crackdown on gangs and has effectively worked to this day. With the massive crackdown on gang activity and violence, the government was able to jail 81,000 people which significantly lowered the amount of crime and violence within the country. This reform helped citizens be able to walk freely again on the streets without having to worry about whether a gang member might come to them. This action rapidly popularized President Bukele role in office and received massive amount of support from the people as it made them feel more safe and secure.

While President Bukele’s policy of cracking down at gang acitivity was universally praised there were a few compromises that came. One of these was the authoritive-like government that came when President Bukele launched the campaign. During the State of Emergency in El Salvador, President Bukele was able to suspend civil liberties of the people and were able to arrest anyone without warrants making anyone who looked suspicious get arrested. This mass arrest affected everyone from adults to even minors who were little over 12. Not only this but, he also reappointed all of the judges and court to loyalist who all sided with him which help him get approval with support. These actions are very reminiscent of a authoritarian goverment, as with the state of emergency that the country in the President can enforce strict regulations at the expense of the people’s rights.

This act of authoritarianism can be relate back to Cuba in the 1960s when Fidel Castro was in charge after revolution in 1958. We can draw similar comparison to the rise of both powers as Fidel and Bukele drew massive support to a cause that the people loved in which Fidel wanted to free the people from Batista control and Bukele wanting to free the country from gang activities. Both had favorable outcomes as they did exactly what they promise and establish a sense of safety and nationalism in both their countries. What follows after in each event are similar as both leaders use authoritarian control in order to run the country. Castro using his power to survey and monitor his people and arrest them without warrant if they don’t follow whatever his regime wants is similar to that of Bukele’s policy if where anyone can be arrested without warrant if related to suspicion of gang activity. While Bukele’s policy might show similar patterns of Castro’s Cuba, it is not fully authoritarian and still runs on democracy through elections. It is important to see however, the similarities between the two states and how authoritarism evolve over time into the modern age.

Works Cited

“How Nayib Bukele’s ‘Iron Fist’ Has Transformed El Salvador.” TIME, Vera Bergengruen, Aug 29 2024, https://time.com/7015598/nayib-bukeles-iron-fist-el-salvador/

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Research project 3: Latin America in the Cold War

First Sight of Crisis

Link to National Security Archive: https://nsarchive.gwu.edu/document/29165-oct-16-first-cia-memo-soviet-missiles-cuba-1962

On October 16, 1962 reports have came in detailing recent photographic evidence of Soviet missiles being detected on the island of Cuba from the CIA to the White House. Over on these reports details exact sites of the missile location and trailer information detailing that these are ballistic missles, either SS-3s or SS-4s that have range capabilities that could reach Washington D.C. (CIA, 1962, p.140-141). This was the start of the Cuban Missle Crisis and tension rose greatly for the Unites States as the threat of both nuclear and communism was near it’s doorstep. This can all be traced back to when the Cuban revolution happened back in 1953 all the way to 1959. Led by Fidel Castro, he led the revolution in Cuba and forced Fulgencio Batista out of power to end his dictatorship in the island. While Cuba was free of Batista rule, Castro was in power and turn Cuba into a communist state led by the authoritarian government of Castro. With the development of communism in Cuba, the US feared that the spread of communism would enter the United States. This “Red Scare” would develop even more throughout the “Cold War” and would intiate the failed invasion by the US called the Bay of Pigs Invasion. This attempt by the CIA and their group of Cuban exiles would try to overthrow Castro’s regime and get rid of communism in Cuba. However, this invasion would lead into a complete disaster and would cause the opposite effect the US would hope for. Rather than weakening Castro’s reign the failure of this invasion would only solidify his power in Cuba and cause him to be popular among his people. This would also lead into relations between Cuba and the USSR to increase which would then lead into what we see in these documents the Cuban Missile Crisis. As we read into the document, reports from the CIA state that the missiles being delievered into Cuba was their way of detering any US intervention to weaken or overthrow Castro’s regime just like they try to during the Bay of Pigs invasion (CIA, 1962, p.141-142). This act made by the Soviets and Cuba was a growing sign of communism being spread towards the West and the detering relationship the US had with their Latin American neighbor Cuba.

Citations:

CIA. (1962). CIA Memorandum. “Probable Soviet MRBM Sites in Cuba.” 16 October, 1962

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Research project 2: Images of Latin America in the late 1800s and early 1900s

Indian Servants

Charlie Kim

Tulane University Howard-Tilton Memorial Library of Early Images of Latin America Collection, Source: Box 1, Disk 1, SEAA Mexican Lantern Slide Collection 66, #MX01-0034 , “Indian servants in Mexico City”

This image displays a portrait of “indigenous” women grouped up for a photo in New Mexico. As the title suggest, these “indigenous” women are servants within this residency at the time of 1850 – 1900. During this time however, changes were being made within the Ecuadorian borders with it’s President Jose Maria Urvina advocating for “indigenous” people in Ecuador. In “Popular Liberalism and Indian Servitude: The Making and Unmaking of Ecuador’s Anti-Landlord State, 1845-1868”, Urvina explains that the indigenas were being exploited for work and that their resources were being used up by fuedal lords who controlled the area. He denounces these actions commited to the native people by these landlords and assures the natives that they will recieve “community rights” against these landlords.1 With the help of his sucessor Francisco Robles, he invest heavily into the Urvinista political project to help bring change into Ecuador’s policies and values.

We see Urvina’s politcal reforms in action as in 1851, as he lessen the voting requirements needed to vote while also expanding who can participate which greatly helped people be more involved with the government.2 Following this change, the abolition of slavery in 1854 helped boost political capital in Ecuador and shown that the state is capable of mediating between classes in society helping it transform. With these political reforms being placed in Ecuador, it help Ecuadorans across and benefitted the place as a whole. With these reforms laid out the next to step would be the emancipation of the Ecuador’s indigenous people, helping them improve their conditions in society. In 1854, Ley de Indigenas was adopted and helped Indian community by reforming the old contribucion de indigenas which gave the indigenous people more freedom and control in society. These new reforms were a sucess and in 1857 was crowned as a achievement in Urvinista pro-Indian initiative.3 With these new reforms in place it indigenous people were potentially able to improve their social status in society and have more expectations of themselves when it came to economic and corporate rights.

Works Cited
-Popular Liberalism and Indian Servitude: The Making and Unmaking Of Ecuador’s Anti-landlord State,1845-1868

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Research project 1: Visualizing Latin American independence

Sugar Cane Mill

JCB Archive of Early American Images, Accession number 07532, Trapetum commune.

Sugar Cane Mill

Here in this early drawing we see the design of a Sugar Cane Mill in action during the late 1700s. It displays the mechanism in its full detail and highlights certains parts and action to help indicate viewers of what is what. The Sugar Cane Mill was a vital part of operations during this time as sugar was a rapidly successful endeavor making vast amount of profit for such a small product. With the success of sugar hitting the markets in Europe the demand for the product grew rampant and soon enough sugar plantations were made all across the Carribeans in order to seize this opportunity. Behind the production of sugar was the men and women who worked all day to meet the demands of production. Most of these men and women were enslaved Africans that were traded and sold in what we call the Trans-Atlantic Slave trade. Producing the sugar came at a cost as making the sugar and refining it was hard labor and ultimately prove dreadful for the workers. As mentioned in class it was apparently cheaper to just buy another slave rather than trying to help them so many enslaved workers were being worked to death and being replaced the day after. The average life span when working on the fields were around 3-5 years so it gives us a good understanding on how hard the process was in order to make sugar.

Without slaves, sugar production wouldn’t be what it would be known today. The rise of demands for sugar increased the work load for plantation owners and to compensate that they bought many slaves to the island to meet with the demands. The slave population grew massively in these islands from numbers such as a growth of 3000 slaves to 47000 in 1690-1720 or from 80000 to 172000 in 1720-1750 (Fick, pg.55). These rise in numbers of the slave population grew in order to meet the high demands of sugar production in the market. There were so many slaves in fact, that the island population were more slaves than free whites. Such change in the population drew in concerns for the owners of the plantation on the island which would lead into colonial authorities to make changes and adjustment to keep the slave population in check and put the free whites in power (Fick, pg.56).

While sugar was one of the many products coming out of the Carribeans , the picture gives us a insight on how the enslaved operated in the plantations during this time and see the conditions they were in.

Citations

1. Fick, Carolyn. “The French Revolution in Saint Domingue” A Turbulent Time: The French Revolution and the Greater Caribbean, edited by David Barry Gaspar and David Partick Geuggs, 55-56. Indiana University Press, 1997.