During the post war Latin America industrialization slowed
down and there was this idea that a revolutionary change was necessary. There was also a growing of nationalism and
the idea of US imperialism, so populist leaders took advantage of this moment
of political conflict to get elected and manipulate the people.
The populist leaders, took advantage of mass politics and
attracted the working class votes by promising to improve the living
conditions, they also avoided any type of class warfare to keep the support from
the middle class which is very interesting. The main concern of the populist
leaders was to be popular among the working class, so they use all types of
political tactics like mass rallies and radio.
There were a lot of problems due to the post war, all the
Latin America countries had deep social inequality, falling internal markets
and also some resentment with the United States and its policies.
In Argentina there was Peronism, was a nationalist that
gained strong support among the working class, he was elected by the majority
and was very popular. He sought to nationalize most of the foreign companies
and also turn a lot of the industrial workforce into union and he also expanded
social services. He was married to Evita Peron that also became very popular as
a beloved icon for Argentine workers. In Brazil Vargas ousted the military in
1945 and in 1950 he won the presidency.
Like I said there was some resentment between Latin America
and the US, especially because the US started the Marshall Plan to help
European countries, and Latin America had hopes to receive some type of aid
from the US.
The Cuban Revolution rose with a Marxist perspective, it
was a great critique of the American imperialism and also the capitalism
policies that were not appropriated to Latin America realities. These
capitalist policies created injustice within the society and the only natural
solution to it was a revolution.
The revolution was commanded mainly by Castro and
Guevara. Che believed that the countries of Latin America needed to get
together to fight imperialism. Castro was a Cuban nationalist revolutionary, he
was from a wealthy family, but he was deeply inspired by the nationalist
student movements from Cuba. Fidel Castro, Raul Castro and Che Guevara led
guerrilla actions to free Cuba from Batista. Cuba became the focal point of US
resistance. Cuba is still a symbol of resistance to US power, and Cuba also
achieved many social improvements like increased literacy, medical care for all
the people and housing. The restrictions are still part of the Cuban people’s
lives, like no freedom of speech or the impossibility to travel outside the
country without the consent of the government.
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