Latin America’s Problems: Result of Violent History?

Latin the Statess ProblemsResult of Violent History?History plays a role in the problems of any nation, and for that matter in the livesof individual people. Does this mean that a estate or person is fated to an inevitablefuture that is colored for the most part by its past? To some(a) degree the answer is yes, but to channelany particular feature of a societys past, that is to say force-out in this instance, and thrust thewhole burden of responsibility upon it whitethorn be irresponsible, in and of itself, in a sincerequest to remedy and ultimately eradicate the problematical issues that need to beresolved. If we do indispensability to attribute the watercourse state of affairs in Latin America to itsviolent narration, we also need to understand the nature and genesis of that violence. many another(prenominal) an(prenominal)countries, including the USA, achieved independence through wars and violence, but wedo not cite our current problems on the American Revolution or the Civil War which wasviolence amongst our own people. The source of violence can be a paint to understandinghow the countries of Latin America and their people have not healed from the nature of theviolence they endured.When wars atomic number 18 fought to expunge a common oppositeness there is a feeling ofcamaraderie and nationalism to have fought and won not only against a common enemy,but against the very(prenominal) annoyance represented by that enemy. This mindset unites people andsolidifies belief systems, ethics, and morals so necessary to the success and continuedsuccess of civilizations and their giving medications. What happens, however, when theviolence is perpetrated by the very foot that is supposed to be the bulwark of good,and when the violence is perpetrated by this institution against the very people that lookto it for their protection?Chasteen says that At the most elementary level, conquest is always aboutexploitation. (p.58). Although we do not alway s speak up of the process of religiousconversion as conquest, perhaps we should receive this on the lookout consideration. Chasteen interpretms to agree with this as he goes on to say that Most Spanish and Portugeuse peoplethat came to the Americas in the early 1500s believed that spreading the true religion, tied(p) by force, was a good thing. (p. 58). The kind of religion that the Catholic performbrought to the Americas in the early 1500s was a perfect example of nonchurch/goernment separation. To sin against Catholic teachings was, in many cases, a criminaloffense. (p.70). The Catholic church did not merely have a religious presence in Latin America.They controlled it. Chasteen summarizes some of what Las Casas had to say about the control ofCatholicism. The undercoat for the death and destruction of so many souls at Christian passwas simple greed (p. 60).To further substantiate the demonstration of evil by the Catholic Church take alook at an pick from Brief account of t he deva military post of the Indies by Las Casas referred toby Chasteen as A brief account of the destruction of the Indies, (p. 61) a translational title fight of the same work After the wars and the killings had ended, when usually theresurvived only some boys, some women, and children, these survivors were distributed among theChristians to be slaves. The repartimiento or distribution was made according to the come out andimportance of the Christian to whom the Indians were allocated, one of them being given thirty,another forty, close up another, one or two hundred, and besides the rank of the Christian there wasalso to be considered in what favor he stood with the tyrant they called Governor.The affectation was that these allocated Indians were to be instructed in the articles of theChristian Faith. As if those Christians who were as a regulate foolish and cruel andgreedy and vicious could be caretakers of souls And the care they took was to load themen to the mines to dig for gold, which is intolerable labor, and to send the women into thefields of the big ranches to till and till the land, work suitable for strong men. Nor to either themen or the women did they give any provender except herbs and legumes, things of little substance.The milk in the breasts of the women with infants dried up and thus in a short time the infantsperished. And since men and women were separated, there could be no marital relations. And themen died in the mines and the women died on the ranches from the same causes, exhaustion andhunger. And thus was depopulated that island which had been densely populated.(http//www.swarthmore.edu/SocSci/bdorsey1/41docs/02-las.html).Although these are blatant examples of destruction, Chasteen also cites a more insidiousexample the Church exercised, such as hegemony defined as the basic principle of friendlycontrol in which a ruling class dominates others ideologically, with a stripped of physical force,by making its dominance seem natural and inevitable. (p. 325). worship offers one of theclearest examples of cultural hegemony. (p.69). Even more dangerous than outrightexploitation, this move into the very fabric of the psyche of a people and carries over end-to-endgenerations. As Chasteen points out, When they accept the principle of their owninferioritythey participate in their own subjugation. (p.69). The subjugation continued through history as Caudillos, easy landowners, were thepartys national leaders (p. 124) in post compound days. In the neo colonial period from 1880-1930, (p. 180), Latin America was heretofore subjugated, but instead by cultures that had broughtProgress from other countries. The late 1800s see dicatorships or oligartchies. (p.192).During the time of the US overtake of Cuba in the early 1900s we see the incendiary racistattitudes prevail, as Teddy Roosevelt coins the term dago for Latins. (p. 201). Right up untilthe present day it appears that Latins have never risen above the s tation that was thrust uponthem by the Church from the beginning.The leger has opened my eyes to many injustices in Latin American history that I wasunaware existed and has provided food for thought as to the reasons Latin Americans seem to bea problematic people. It is indeed, not the injustices in and of themselves, but the so calledChristian perpetrators of such injustices that give the history and the present fate of LatinAmerica such a fatalistic outlook and prognosis.Despite all of this and probably because of thehegemony, it has happened without notice but it is kindle to note that Latin America hasalways been Catholic, but now the majority of the worlds Catholics are Latin American.(p. 320). At the end of the book Chasteen asks what the future leave bring. (p.321). He does notprovide an answer but it makes one wonder if the subjugation can ever really end. want a childabused by a parent over years and years of time, the Church s abuse in the exploitation andformative ye ars of Latin America have left scars that will last an eternity.ReferencesChasteen, J.C. Born in blood and fire. A concise history of Latin AmericaDe Las Casas, B. Brief account of the devastation of the Indies. (1542). Retrieved fromhttp//www.swarthmore.edu/SocSci/bdorsey1/41docs/02-las.html on November 26, 2006.