Open Veins of Latin America Notes

Open Veins of Latin America Notes
Intro
 Latin America exists to serve others’ needs, perpetual losers in the division of labor
 No longer can call themselves Americans, Latin America is a second-class “sub-America”
 Industrialization + Rise in Birth Rate = Surplus of People/Workers
Part 1: Mankind’s Poverty as a Consequence of the Wealth of the Land

Chapter 1: Lust for Gold, Lust for Silver
 Discusses the continual abuse of ingenious persons at the hands of conquistadors
questing for gold/silver
 Potosi- Hidden hill of silver, Incan chief heard from God that he was holding the riches
for “those afar,” Spanish come to claim the silver, Potosi grows to one of the largest
cities in the world during the 1600’s. Lended to the Spanish phrase from Don Quixote-
“Valer un Potosi” meaning to be of great value. Produced over 50% of all silver mined
during the late 1500s
 95% of all silver mined by Spain was owed to other European powers, therefore Europe
had a vested interest in the continued exploitation of Latin America
 Silver surplus being sent to unproductive channels: the rich getting richer; as well as
being used to trade for foreign goods which saturated the Spanish market at the
expense of lower/middle class cottage industries
 That influx of imperialistic money/resources spurred enterprise in Europe while
preventing any accumulation of enterprise in Latin America
 Capital spent in Latin America just went to infrastructure and luxuries, didn’t lay the
foundation or build upon industrial development
 Common theme: Resources are discovered, Europeans/Americans move in, exploit
native or slave labor to gain those resources, the gains are either exported (which
contribute to the growth of European/American powers) or spent on unnecessary
luxuries, the resources are depleted, the Europeans move on, the town declines while
the native population is decimated.
Chapter 2: King Sugar and Other Agricultural Monarchs

 The demand for sugar (can be substituted for rubber/cacao/coffee/cotton/fruit/etc.)
was equal to that of gold/silver, and with the creation of plantations, Latin America saw
an intersection of mercantilism/feudalism/slavery into one socioeconomic unit
 The greater the demand for the product the greater the misery for Latin American
peoples
 Sugarcane fields devastated the ecosystems and exhausted the soil, once one is
depleted move on, example: Haitian revolutions caused sugar production to move to
Cuba
 Cuban economy tied directly to sugar prices, unbalanced trade, dependence on single
markets
 Castro recruited most of the revolutionaries directly from sugar plantations
 Venezuela- cacao/oil; Brazil-Sugar (declined with the creation of the Malay sugar
market)
 The author almost expresses the western powers as deadly sins: Their gluttonous need
for chocolate, their greed, etc.
 Going for more of a commentary of capitalism than imperialism, capitalists exploiting
Latin America to benefit themselves (could be the oligarchy or foreign powers) at the
expense of the common person
 Romances Communist Cuba, education reform, etc. (ignores the human rights element)
 Personal thought: The author is outlining the dangers in being an agrian society without
knowing it. When your economy is tied to one single (or a couple) agricultural products
then long-term economic profits will be zero due to being in a perfectly competitive
market. Fluctuations in price in the short-term are either hurting the workers (if prices
drop) or benefiting the elite (if prices rise).
 The author clearly romanticizes socialist revolutionaries (Castro, Guevara, Zapata)
 Latifundio=Plantation; Minifundio=Smaller Plantation
 The author argues that the economic insignificance of the original 13 colonies allowed
those colonies to properly flourish without outside interference, people were able to
move there, own land, and freely work for themselves. This helped diversify their
economy, increasing exports, and then increasing capital to develop industry.
o Side note: To carry on with the author’s point, independence came when those
freedoms were tested and restricted by Great Britain. The author also
downplays the removal of indigenous persons.
Chapter 3: The Invisible Sources of Power

 Details American involvement with natural resources in Latin America
 The fragility of foreign investment in one resource: Chile dominated nitrate exports
supported by Britain, but once a new method of producing nitrate made their
operations obsolete, the economy tanked and Britain abandoned
operations/investment; Copper replaces nitrates and the USA replaces the British, the
process repeats itself
 Description of capitalist Venezuela pre-Chavez is striking. Author has a clear disdain.
Page 185- “Covered with skyscrapers… (a) supersonic, deafening, air-conditioned
nightmare” “fever to buy, consume, obtain, spend, use, get hold of everything”. Argues
that most of the oil never returns to Venezuela along with low education rates and
poverty (which he does not provide a statistic)
 Page 189- “The industrializing thrust that has taken shape and strength during the past
two decades shows visible symptoms of exhaustion, of an impotence that is all too
familiar in Latin America: the internal market, limited by the poverty of the masses
cannot sustain the development of manufactures beyond certain limits.”
Part 2: Development is a Voyage with More Shipwrecks than Navigators

Chapter 4: Tales of Premature Death
 Industrialization from within Latin America could not survive competition from abroad
which could offer products at lower prices, thus not sustaining long-term economic
development
 Resistance to western economic control is futile, either they out-compete you or
blockade you
 Paraguay resisted foreign influence and nationalized industry/farming, war of the triple
alliance financed by Britain, Paraguay is looted and transformed into mirroring the rest
of Latin America
 The IMF and World Bank deny underdeveloped countries the opportunity to advance
their national industries, making them further dependent on foreign interests
Chapter 5: The Contemporary Structure of Plunder

 Post WW2, LA has seen a shift from European investment in agriculture to USA
investment in oil and manufacturing, taking over the industrialization process
 If pre ww2 strategy in LA was like a leech, post ww2 strategy is a cancer
 IMF withholds funds from LA to prevent nationalist industries from rising, and then
using economic struggles to gain footholds in LA and exert control over industries that
solely benefit the USA. The IMF is an extension of Wall Street.
 National interests are replaced with corporate interests
 The USA invests in LA, but doesn’t reinvest the profits
 The USA imposes free trade doctrine on LA which keeps wages/prices low, while
protecting its own interests with tariffs
 Leaders of innovation in LA often relocate to the USA/Europe for higher salaries
 Industrialization dependent on the USA just localizes wealth amongst the wealthy and
foreign powers, furthering inequality, reducing economic growth, and keeping wages
low
Seven Years After

 Things got worse. More control by multinational corporations. Rise of Pinochet regime
and other right-wing dictatorships supported by the USA
 Debts continue to rise as more money continues to be lent
 “The vicious circle is perfect: foreign debt and investment oblige us to multiply exports
that they themselves (foreign nations) devour. The task can’t be accomplished with
gentlemanly matters. To fulfill their function as hostages of foreign prosperity, Latin
American workers must be held prisoner, either inside or outside the bars of the jails.”
 The people continue to be exploited; in the past it was physically, now it’s economically

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Open Veins of Latin America Notes

Part 1: Mankind’s Poverty as a Consequence of the Wealth of the Land

Chapter 2: King Sugar and Other Agricultural Monarchs

Chapter 3: The Invisible Sources of Power

Part 2: Development is a Voyage with More Shipwrecks than Navigators

Chapter 5: The Contemporary Structure of Plunder

Seven Years After

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