In this essay, I am going to analyze the process of creating a nation in Cuba, Brazil and Mexico respectively. I am going to give a profound examination of Latin American’s struggle to become a nation. Moreover, this paper will compare and contrast critical topics such as the abolition of slavery in Brazil, racial issues and war in Cuba and social revolution in Mexico.
The main similarities between the abolition of slavery in Brazil, racial issues and war in Cuba and social revolution in Mexico are their struggle to gain equal opportunity for all people living in the same land. For instance, in Cuba the independence movement affected the ideas of race and identity. Black and White Cubans fought to get independence from Spain and to end African slavery. During Thirty years of time, Cuban population fought Spanish army in three major wars, such as, the Ten Years' War (1868–1878), the Guerra Chiquita (1879–1880), and the Spanish-Cuban War of 1895. This significant wars led by white and black revolutionary leaders, intellectuals and journalists, guide them to identify Cuban nationhood and nationality. They visualized an independent Cuba as a culturally democratic society. In the captivating book “Insurgent Cuba: Race, Nation, and Revolution” Ada Ferrer makes known that description of race, slavery, and the place of black people in the revolution changed dramatically with the appearance of Cuban patriotism in the late 19th century. The influences of leaders like Jose Marti help to view black insurgents as constructed color-blind nationalists dedicated to the freedom of Cuba and not as slaves and ex-slaves trying to bring down the regime of slavery and require equal rights. “Marti never linked these dangers to black participation itse...
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...asic standard of living. The two most well-known insurgent leaders were Francisco “Pancho Villa” and Emiliano Zapata. “He fought for few years in the shadow of others, but became Mexico’s most famous commander.” (Gonzales, p.126) Pancho Villa was Mexican ground-breaking leader who supported the poor and wanted reorganize the country so it could become a healthier nation for all Mexicans. Mexico effort to become an improved nation is a common objective that many countries struggle to achieve like in Brazil and Cuba.
In conclusion, without any doubt Mexico Brazil and Cuba are countries that went through difficult times to create a well develop nation. These countries were struggling to unite their population under a common set of rules and values. Nations are shaped when a uniqueness of familiar descent, language, ethnicity, morals, history or belief is achieved.
During these times, the Latino community grew stronger and more diverse when different ethnic backgrounds migrated to the United States (predominantly New York City and Florida) such as Dominicans, Colombians, Cubans, and others who followed in those footsteps. The reader learns not only of the radical groups in the United States but the ones outside of it such as the groups in Cuba; Omega 7, Acción Cubana, and the Bloque Revolucionario. These groups were created to override the dictatorship that Castro implemented among the island. Throughout the 1970’s, the vast majority of the population in the United States was made u by the Latino community and soon their numbers made their votes principal towards the Anglo politicians. At the beginning of the Voting Rights Period, the United States saw that the Latino communities were no longer as involved in politics as it saw a decline of organizations. As time has repeated itself, the movements themselves reverted back to their primary goals which was political equality except this time around, it would be mixed together with both cultural pride and ethnic
On July 26, 1953, the war for Cuba’s independence began, and for 6 years many Cubans fought for their freedom. The most famous of these revolutionary icons being Fidel Castro, who led the main resistance against the Cuban government. On January 1, 1959, Fidel Castro and the rest of the Cuban's succeeded. This revolutionary war went on to affect the entire world and Eric Selbin believes it is still affecting it. Throughout Eric Selbin's article, Conjugating the Cuban Revolution, he firmly states that the Cuban revolution is important in the past, present, and future. Selbin, however, is wrong.
Within Aline Helg’s book titled, Our Rightful Share: The Afro-Cuban Struggle for Equality, 1886-1912, she includes many historical events that serve as a foundation for her arguments in order to emphasize the "black struggle for equality" starting in the late 19th century and according to her, still transpiring today. These events are, the formation of the first black independent political party called the, Partido Independiente de Color (146), the United States’ role during intervention and the black struggle to overcome the system of racial hierarchies that had developed in Cuba. Blacks had to fight for equality while simultaneously being, "…accused of racism and antinationalism". (145) According to Helg, this placed an undue burden on the black groups that were organizing to demand their "rightful share" because it made divided the goals of their plight into many different facets, thus yielding a lack of unity necessary for their success. During the United States’ intervention, Cuban nationalism as a whole was threatened which also served to downplay the importance of demands being made by the Partido’s leader, Estenoz. The United States displayed a greater concern on the affirmation of its power as an international police, rather than allying its resources to help the indignant and discriminated Afro-Cubans. All of these circumstances illustrate the extremities of the political and social institutions that the Afro-Cubans attempted to defeat but could not. They also exemplify the perpetuation of the black struggle, and how it affected and continues to affect the lives of Afro-Cubans in present-day Cuba.
For four hundred years Spain ruled over an immense and profitable global empire that included islands in the Caribbean, Americas, Puerto Rico, and Cuba. After the Napoleonic Wars (1808-1815) many of Spain’s colonies followed the US’s lead, fighting and winning their independence. These revolts, coupled with other nations chipping away at Spain’s interests, dwindled Spain’s former Empire. By 1860, only Cuba and Puerto Rico were what remained of Spain’s former Empire. Following the lead of other former Spanish colonies, Cuban fighters started their campaign for independence, known as the Ten year war (1868-1878). This war developed into a Cuban insurgency which fought a guerilla war against the Spanish occupation.2
In the latter half of the nineteenth century, tensions in Cuba were rapidly rising. The Cuban Ten Year’s War from 1868 to 1878 had sparked a fire for independence from Spain with the natives. In 1892, José Julián Martí y Pérez formed El Partido Revolucionario Cubano, or the Cuban Revolutionary party. The Cuban independence movement known as Ejército Libertador de Cuba began in February of 1895 with the motto, “Independencio o Muerte” (Independence or Death). Multiple minor battles between Cuba and Spain took place that year. (Library of Congress)
Long before our involvement, the Cubans had been leading revolts and revolutions against Spain. The Spanish empire considered Cuba to be its jewel, not only for its beauty but also for its economics. Cuba’s main source of income was from its expansive sugar plantations that greatly contributed to its wealth (more so to the Spanish Empires wealth). Ironically, even due to the high regard to Cuba, it was neglected and oppressed, as the Spanish Empire began its decline in the middle of the nineteenth century. The Empire was falling due to it slowly loosing its control over its territories, closer to the US then to Spain, because of a lack of industrializing. The Spanish would claim ownership, but never contribute back to their land. This opened the door for what is known as the 10-year war and the struggle for Cuban Independence. The United States never got directly involved, but it sympathized greatly with the Cuban’s cause, for ...
Many places in Cuba simply refused to serve Afro-Cubans. On the other hand they now received wages for their hard work and certainly did enjoy some independence. Remarkably the Afro-Cubans maintained their pride. Even though they needed to accomplish more than whites in order to be rewarded, the Afro-Cubans did not sit still. Many leaders arose from the African descendants who shared their voices with the rest of Cuba. They created newspapers, La Igualdad, that joined the Liberation forces to ascend themselves, etc. The white Cuban society had a different view of these advancements; society feared that they would rebel like the Haitians, their solution was to repress more and more. Not physically, but as time went by there were less places for Afro-Cubans to inter-mix with the white society. Cubans launched the war for independence on February 24th of 1895. Each region rebelled independently: Matanzas, Camaguey, Oriente all rebelled by the end of 1895.
In 1961, Fidel Castro, Cuba’s dictator, introduced the Marxist-Leninist ideology to the Cuban people, “by grafting it onto the images, symbols, values, and concepts of Cuban nationalism” (Medin 53). This ideology was promoted through what Medin describes as a world where there are no "in-betweens," but instead only "good and evil", and any straying from that perceived norm was seen as counter-revolutionary and must be removed so they wouldn’t corrupt the process of developing a “homogenous revolutionary social consciousness” (Morales-Diaz 1). “The notion of ‘counter-revolutionaries’ and the connection to capitalist nations epitomizes the revolutionary government's contempt for anyone who is not on the side of the communist revolution" (Medin 40). In that way, Castro was creating enemies of any Cubans who weren’t up to his standards. According to Arenas, this new idea of unifying Cuba came at the expense of the persecution of a large segment of the population an...
Today I bring to your forefront of thought, the island of Hispaniola. This island is the namesake for the two countries who run the land, the Dominican Republic and Haiti. Both nations hail from a joint introduction into the world market and post-European colonization, but as time progressed, each one had a different outlook to the world stage. The present day Dominican Republic and Haiti are worlds apart on an island which keeps them together. Their culture is separated by the colonial residuals that lay imbedded into their communities. They are on different sides of the spectrum of structural growth due to the resulting outcomes from decades of political ruling and policy making. On one side we have the second independent state of the Americas,
Until the early 1800’s, Spain created an empire that lasted around three hundred years and was considered “the most powerful country in Europe” (Mini Q). During the late 18th century, the Spanish colonies had an uncompromising social structure to which people were placed in different classes based on their heritage. The Creoles, people born in the colonies but of pure Spanish blood, lead the fight in the struggle for independence because of the economic and social conditions as well as the attempt to gain political power.
This source is instrumental for a college student to understand that many events occurred in response to the breakdown of associations between the United States and Spain over the effort by the concluding to end an uprising in its island society of Cuba. The author, David Turpie states that once the war provisions began in late April, that President William McKinley called on each state to provide the needed troops based on its population and that numerous Southern states, predominantly in the Deep South, struggled tremendously to recruit helpers (volunteers) to fill their state proportion. In addition to this, Turpie on the truth of the matter that most middle-class and upper-class white men in the South did not trust that their manhood rested on their capability to fight in a war against Spain for Cuba’s freedom; and that their manhood and honor was found in only protecting their homes and family and not to fight in the war. His work is detailed and approachable for the reader(s) to learn and comprehend that yes, the South was still recovering from the devastation of the Civil War, but perhaps the major motive for the volunteer recruitment gaps in several southern states was that African-Americans were denied the opportunity volunteer from.
Doroteo Arango Arambula, better known as Pancho Villa was an intelligent man that had the chance to defeat the oppressive corrupt Mexican government. Pancho Villa was born into a lower-class family that worked in the fields. He later became a revolutionary figure that went from being poor into a well-known revolutionary hero for many of the Mexican people. Pancho Villa was able to outsmart troops to help peasants and fight for the equality in Mexico. In his earlier life he committed many crimes that he could not make up for, but when it came to his revolutionary war commander skills he was unstoppable. Pancho Villa became a very important factor in the Mexican revolution due to his involvement in it. He was one of the first revolutionaries
...er the revolution, the mentality of the people of San Domingo was foreover changed. Slavery would never be accepted again by the inhabitants. "Any regime which tolerated such practices was doomed, for the revolution had created a new race of men" (242). This new race of men were aware of their self-importance. "There was no need to be ashamed of being a black. The revolution had awakened them, had given them the possibility of achievement, confidence and pride. That psychological weakness, that feeling of inferiority with which the imperialists poison colonial peoples everywhere, these were gone" (244).
Reflecting back on the statement historian Jaime E. Rodriguez gave on the impact that independence had on the people of Latin America. “The emancipation of [Latin America] did not merely consist of separation from the mother country, as in the case of the United States. It also destroyed a vast and responsive social, political, and economic system that functioned well despite many imperfections.” I believe that the eagerness to get rid of slaves
Why do nations fail? This is a topic of popular debate with many economists and a question many scholars have struggled to find an answer to. Global poverty is an issue that economists Daron Acemoglu and James A. Robinson investigate and provide an alternative insight for in their book: ‘Why Nations Fail’. Acemoglu and Robinson investigate inequalities that exist across countries and why nations are an epitome of success and others, failure. They come up with an alternative explanation for why standards of living differ across countries, and why a gap exists between the rich and poor. The book introduces an example of two cities that are separated by a border: Nogales, Arizona and Nogales, Sonora. On the American side of the border, the income of the average household is $30,000, the population is relatively healthy, and the citizens live prosperously (Acemoglu & Robinson, 2012). On the opposite side of the border in Mexico, majority of the population do not own a high school degree, poor health conditions exist, poor infrastructure and unfortunately, high infant mortality rates (Acemoglu & Robinson 2012). How can situations on opposite borders be so different? The basis for Acemoglu and Robison’ s thesis for this phenomenon is that of institutions. They propose that that there is a strong correlation between economic and political institutions. That is, inclusive political institutions support inclusive economic institutions, and extractive political institutions support extractive economic institutions (Acemoglu & Robinson, 2012). Democratic institutions generally allow opportunities for the majority, leading to positive economic growth. Political institutions that look after a narrow elite is reinforced with stag...