Latin America’s Problems: Result of Violent History?

Latin America’s Problems:Result of Violent History?History plays a role in the problems of any nation, and for that matter in the lives  of individual people.   Does this mean that a country or person is fated to an inevitable  future that is colored mostly by its past?   To some degree the answer is yes, but to take  any particular feature of a society’s past, namely violence in this instance, and thrust the  whole burden of responsibility upon it may be irresponsible, in and of itself, in a sincere  quest to ameliorate and ultimately eradicate the problematic issues that need to be  resolved. If we do want to attribute the current state of affairs in Latin America to its  violent history, we also need to understand the nature and genesis of that violence. Many  countries, including the USA, achieved independence through wars and violence, but we  do not cite our current problems on the American Revolution or the Civil War which was  violence am ongst our own people. The source of violence can be a key to understanding  how the countries of Latin America and their people have not recovered from the nature of the  violence they endured.When wars are fought to expunge a common enemy there is a feeling of  camaraderie and nationalism to have fought and won not only against a common enemy,  but against the very evil represented by that enemy. This mindset unites people and  solidifies belief systems, ethics, and morals so necessary to the success and continued  success of civilizations and their governments. What happens, however, when the  violence is perpetrated by the very institution that is supposed to be the bulwark of good,  and when the violence is perpetrated by this institution against the very people that look  to it for their protection?Chasteen says that â€Å" At the most basic level, conquest is always about  exploitation.† (p.58). Although we do not always think of the process of relig ious  conversion as conquest,   perhaps we should give this careful consideration. Chasteen  seems to agree with this as he goes on to say that â€Å"Most Spanish and Portugeuse people  that came to the Americas in the early 1500s believed that spreading the â€Å"true religion†,  even by force, was a good thing.† (p. 58). The kind of religion that the Catholic Church  brought to the Americas in the early 1500s was a perfect example of non  church/government separation. â€Å"To sin against Catholic teachings was, in many cases, a criminal  offense.† (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. â€Å"The reason for the death and destruction of so many souls at   Christian  hands†¦was simple greed†¦Ã¢â‚¬  (p. 60).  To further substantiate the demonstration of evil by the Catho lic Church take a  look at an excerpt from Brief account of the devastation of the Indies by Las Casas referred to  by Chasteen as   A brief account of the destruction of the Indies, (p. 61) a translational title  difference of the same work:   â€Å" After the wars and the killings had   ended, when usually there  survived only some boys, some women, and children, these survivors were distributed among the  Christians to be slaves. The repartimiento or distribution was made according to the rank and  importance of the Christian to whom the Indians were allocated, one of them being given thirty,  another forty, still another, one or two hundred, and besides the rank of the Christian there was  also to be considered in what favor he stood with the tyrant they called Governor.The  pretext was that these allocated Indians were to be instructed in the articles of the  Christian Faith. As if those Christians who were as a rule foolish and cruel and  greedy an d vicious could be caretakers of souls! And the care they took was to send the  men to the mines to dig for gold, which is intolerable labor, and to send the women into the  fields of the big ranches to hoe and till the land, work suitable for strong men. Nor to either the  men or the women did they give any food 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 while the infants  perished. And since men and women were separated, there could be no marital relations. And the  men died in the mines and the women died on the ranches from the same causes, exhaustion and  hunger. 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 insidious  example the Church exercised, such as hegemony defined as â€Å" the basic principle of social  control in which a ruling class dominates others ideologically, with a minimum of physical force,  by making its dominance seem natural and inevitable.† (p. 325). â€Å"Religion offers one of the  clearest examples of cultural hegemony.† (p.69).   Even more dangerous than outright  exploitation, this creeps into the very fabric of the psyche of a people and carries over throughout  generations. As Chasteen points out, â€Å"When they accept the principle of their own  inferiority†¦they participate in their own subjugation.† (p.69).   The subjugation continued through history as Caudillos, rich landowners, were â€Å"the  party’s national leaders†Ã‚   (p. 124) in post colonial days.   In the neo colonial period from 1880-  1930, (p. 180), Latin America was still subjugated, but instead by cultures that had brought  Ã¢â‚¬Å"Progress† from other countries. The late 1800s saw â€Å"dicatorships or oligartch ies.† (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 â€Å"dago† for Latins. (p. 201). Right up until  the present day   it appears that Latins have never risen above the station that was thrust upon  them by the Church from the beginning.The book has opened my eyes to many injustices in Latin American history that I was  unaware existed and has provided food for thought as to the reasons Latin Americans seem to be  a problematic people. It is indeed, not the injustices in and of themselves, but the so called  Christian perpetrators of such injustices that give the history and the present fate of Latin  America such a fatalistic outlook and prognosis.Despite all of this and probably because of the  hegemony, it has happened without notice but it is interesting to note that †¦Ã¢â‚¬ Latin America has  always been Catholic, but now the majorit y of the world’s Catholics are Latin American.†Ã‚  (p. 320). At the end of the book Chasteen asks what the future will bring. (p.321).   He does not  provide an answer but it makes one wonder if   the subjugation can ever really end. Like a child  abused by a parent over years and years of time,   the Church ‘s abuse in the growing and  formative years 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.