Dear ladies and gentlemen of the OAS, welcome.
Latin America, a region rich in natural resources, and cradle of great civilisations, like the Incas, the Mayans and the Olmecs. Civilisations so great that even now we study them with both amazement and veneration. One would think that successors of such cultures would be as powerful, in all senses, as their ancestors were. And they are, but their full potential is dormant. There is still one thing that prevents such a region from fully developing, from waking up. An issue as old as these civilisations themselves: corruption.
Corruption is a disease, an evil that is so familiar to Latin America, that one can only wonder how do we survive it or stand it on a daily basis. An evil that has to be ripped off from our societies if we want
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Guatemala set the example in this matter by creating the CICIG, which stands for International Commission Against Impunity in Guatemala. Said Commission was created in 2006 with the help of the UN, and ratified in 2007, to support the Public Prosecutor's Office (MP), the National Civil Police (PNC) and other State institutions in the investigation of crimes committed by members of illegal security forces and clandestine security structures, and help dismantle them (CICIG, 2015). The most recent case that this Commission looked into was a tariff fraud involving both the president and the vice-president of the country. The CICIG collected evidence that implied them, leading to the imprisonment of the now former vice-president and the demission, and later incarceration, of the president, and the call for new elections. The outcome of this case shows us that there is a way to escape of the claws of corruption, and that a decentralized organ can help a country achieve the transparency it needs when it comes to public
Bruce Haidrey Mrs. Anderson Period 6 CCOT in Latin America 1550-1850 Overtime, Latin America has developed greatly. However to develop, Latin America could not keep everything the same. To be able to grow into a very powerful region that they were hoping to become, many changes were made physically. Although Latin America greatly developed politically, socially, and culturally, ultimately they developed most in their economic aspects of their region.
What are the explanations offered for the relative “underdevelopment” of Latin America? Which explanation seems to be the most sufficient? There are two main theories that explain the underdevelopment of Latin America. The modernization theory and the dependency theory. According to the modernization theory, any society may achieve a better future by following the earlier example of Western Europe. Modernization theory accounts for gradual change rather than radical improvement to be more effective.
The events that took place in the Andean world under the leadership of Jose Gabriel Tupac Amaru sowed the seeds of unrest in South America as it distorted the status quo that marked colonial relation in
As the Europeans and African began to comingle with natives, new races (mulattos for example) arose that led to new social divisions. One’s class was a status, one that was hard to maneuver from. Racism and discrimination often resulted from these divisions. This mixed population in Latin America was relatively unique, as most places globally, such as the Qing dynasty in China, did the exact opposite and strictly forbid any sort of relations between different peoples (the Qing forced native Chinese to cut or braid their hair in certain patterns to tell them apart from Qing subjects). The arrival of the Europeans in Latin America resulted in many drastic changes between 1500-1750, not the least of which was a new social
Prior to the Latin American countries gaining independence, the Creole elites expressed great displeasure with the crown and readily equated themselves with the American colonists before gaining independence from Britain. With this ideology, many Creole’s became enfranchised with Anglo-European culture and enlightenment, convinced that this culture would solve their perceived problems. The Latin American Creole’s believed in both Charles Darwin and Spencer, to show that the fittest survive through evolution and that those concepts apply to the society they lived in. Spencer reinforced the belief that science, industry and progress were interlinked, and with the evolution of society their nations would bloom.
Therefore, Latin America never really escaped the control of Europe or North America and remained reliant on to them through technology and as a result became less
In the Rio Grande Valley, public corruption runs rampant. The border city of Mission is a hot spot for drug traffickers and has become an area of concern for the High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area Program, also known as HIDTA, since the 1990s. Every day drug runners, private drug dealers, and the continuous flow of illegal immigrants create an atmosphere of temptation for law enforcement agents. Unfortunately, the small town of Mission has witnessed federal, state, and local law enforcement officers drift toward the dark side, letting temptation cast a shadow over their morals and beliefs.
If the fire of revolution will succeed in burning down the injustice it faces, it must first be started by a spark. While Latin America was still controlled by Trujillo, a fire was heating, but who was responsible for the flames? The spark was ignited by several people, but perhaps those who most fed the flames were the Mirabal sisters. Each sister moved past their fear to stand up for what was right and encouraged others to do the same. If it had not been for them, perhaps Latin America would never have been freed.
Mexico’s drug cartels are the worst they have been in years, and all the problems stem from a lack of proper decision making from the government at every level . Since Colombia was taken away from the drug scene, Mexico’s cartels have made up for the slack and then some. Subsequently, cartels in Mexico also began to flourish at a time when Mexico was in the process of instituting a new form of government. Not only is Mexico trying to work out the kinks of their new democracy, but the cartels are pushing more drugs than ever before; Mexico needs to address this problem. To make matters worse, a number of Mexican officials are corrupt, unaccountable, or distrusted by the people.
A quote which describes this best is one by Uruguayan journalist Eduardo Galeano “Latin America is the region of open veins. Everything, from the discovery until our times, has always been transmuted into European— or later United States— capital, and as such has accumulated in distant centers of power. Everything: the soil, its fruits and its mineral-rich depths, the people and their capacity to work and to consume, natural resources and human resources” (Galeano,
Corruption in Mexico Do you know what corruption means? Corruption is a dishonest or illegal behavior especially by powerful people (such as government officials or police officers). Do you know about corruption in Mexico? Corruption in Mexico is obviously nothing new, but there have been many cases that are unbelievable, but true.
During the 1877 through 1920 the government's role wasn't really expanding, instead people were getting furious that the government weren't really doing anything to improve life so they started going on strikes, making unions, and bringing people of different cause together to try to force the government into being useful. However, this only led to political corruption, people saying they would do something to help the people and people would believe and put their trust into this "person" to only be blackmailed in the end. These "people" were called political bosses and they had their little organization or political machines and people would do them favors to gain jobs or etc. This growing "government" was a mixed bag for the American people,
Through the texts of Sabine Hyland and Jane Mangan one is able to see and understand the culture of Colonial Latin America. Hyland gives the account of Incan Religion before Christianity became part of the Andean culture. Mangan, on the other hand, gives an insight as far as how the economics were run in the town of Potosi and how women and indigenous populations impacted the economy. Both are completely different aspects of Colonial Latin American life, but are both extremely important in the understanding of how the communities worked.
Many Latin American countries struggled to gain independence and resist European culture to form their own. Some academics, specifically the Uruguayan Jose Enrique Rodo, argued that only Northern European culture should be rejected and that their Latin culture was superior; while this differs from Martí’s view of building a strong national pride that embraces multiple races and cultures, it does align with the poem in that it emphasizes a pride in a culture that is different than the “master.”
Many of the more unrealistic parts of the essay can be seen as less of the ideological musings of one man and his hope for a united future and more the reflection of a colonial and racially charged violent past, disunity of Latin America and failure of Simon Bolivar's dreams, and the corrupt rule of the