HIST 115 Coastline Community Human Dignity and Violations of Human Rights Discussion
QUESTION 1 ON MODULE 10: With *specific references to the Articles & the El Salvador Coverup Video*, what shocked you most, or changed your view of the overall impact of outside / US influence in Latin America and the long-term consequences since the Cold War?
(Note: focus most of your answer on the second part of the question)
(Note: be detailed! No simplified “USA screwed everything up!” answers will be accepted)
Overview:
This week, we will focus on how much of the Western Hemisphere and particularly Latin America were torn apart during the Cold War by the USA, China, the Soviets, Cubans, etc. — and how this outside interference exacerbated deadly Civil Wars, Coverups, War Crimes, Proxy Wars, and Genocides — from which *much of Latin America in particular still struggling.*
Focus on the long-term: how might the legacy of US and outside influence create PERMANENT distrust in Latin America for US interests?
*NOTE: Proxy War means when different countries are funding competing factions in a Civil War. They do this SECRETLY to avoid a full-scale global war, but eventually the winner will control the government if their faction wins. The main victim is **the societies themselves.**
Why Should I give a Crap?:
- the brutal Civil Wars of Central America that created permanent refugee crises and even genocide (?) are partly our fault
- because with the rise of the USA as a superpower, we like any country tends to focus on “our victory” after the Cold War and forget our atrocities
- to see how big countries often take advantage of smaller countries like Chess Pieces
- to see why anti-US and Communist movements are so popular in Latin America
Concepts & Issues to Focus on:
- why did USA, the Soviets, China, Cuba, etc. create Proxy Wars in Central America?
- what role might USA’s Operation Condor (funding Latin dictatorships) play in fostering long-term corruption?
- how might our atrocities have created permanent distrust in Latin America for USA and Capitalism?
- why would anti-US, anti-Capitalist Communist movements be so popular in Latin America?
Required Readings/Videos:
(this isn’t as much as it looks; just SKIM them for the basics!)
- required: see my POWER POINT (just the basics!) on the next page
- just skim about Operation Condor, the secret US plan to fund dictatorships in Latin America
- (note: the above newspaper, TeleSUR, is funded by Venezuela – so it is very BIASED, but gives a Latin Socialist perspective)
- skim how Paraguay and Brazil’s military dictatorships were allegedly complicit in a “secret genocide” of Indigenous Natives
- skim a left-slanted argument that Proxy Wars created a permanent immigration crisis to USA (that we are now dealing with as D.A.C.A./DREAMERs)
- watch the entire Video Below on El Salvador’s US-backed military dictatorship and its brutal coverups (for Accessibility, see the Captions) Killed in El Salvador An American Story – CAPTIONED
Below is my Power Point to give you a simplified view of the larger relationship between the US and Latin America at the height of the Cold War, including some of the atrocities and genocides we are accused of helping or covering up.
Remember I am NOT expecting you to know anything about these countries or keep them all straight! Just look for patterns and get the main ideas.
