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Latin
American - Caribbean Story of the Week Study
in Argentina Spring 2009 Latin
American Studies Centers *To view PDF
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Program in Latin American and Caribbean Studies The Program offers a major and minor in Latin American and Caribbean Studies (LACS). This multidisciplinary program features special emphasis on language study in Spanish or Brazilian Portuguese and study abroad. LACS faculty at the College teach the history, languages, anthropology, sociology, politics, art history and literature of this region. The LACS program has established exchange agreements with some of the areas's most renowned universities and research institutions in Latin America. These agreements facilitate dynamic intellectual interchange with leading academics and scholars in Latin America and promote joint research, conferences, and publications. They also provide our students with exciting opportunities to live and study in a Latin American or Caribbean country. Major
in Latin American and Caribbean Studies Undergraduates
can obtain a major in Latin American and Caribbean Studies by
completing 30
hours in
Minor in Latin American and Caribbean Studies Undergraduates can obtain a minor in Latin Aamerican & Caribbean Studies by completing 18 hours in LACS area courses with not more than 9 hours in any one discipline (excluding LACS). The program works closely with the department of Hispanic Studies and students are encouraged to fulfill their language requirement in Spanish or Brazilian Portuguese. Students are encouraged to spend one summer or semester in a study abroad program in Latin America or the Caribbean.
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| Militia
groups armed with clubs and shields took to the streets last
week to impose a strike which paralyzed much of the eastern lowlands
and deepened a political crisis. Youths opposed to Morales, Bolivia's
first indigenous leader, beat up senior police commanders in front of
television cameras, underlining the brazen challenge to central
government authority. Five eastern provinces, where the people are paler and richer than in the indigenous western highlands, have vowed to resist the President's attempt to 'refound' Bolivia as a socialist state which champions the long-neglected Indian majority. Protesters have halted beef supplies to the west, blockaded highways and made moves to create a new police force to assert their push for autonomy from the capital, La Paz. Morales, flush with victory in a recall vote which renewed his mandate, has ordered the police to be on alert and hinted he would soon call a referendum on a new constitution to entrench his reforms, a red rag to the opposition. Some of his supporters threatened violent retaliation against what they termed 'oligarchs' and 'fascists'. Peasants blocked roads leading to the city of Sucre to isolate the opposition stronghold. Analysts said that South America's poorest and most turbulent country was edging closer to being a failed state. Security concerns have rendered almost half the country a no-go zone for the President. No one knows whether Bolivia will retreat from the abyss, as it has managed in previous crises. 'This division is not new, but it is more radical than before. As well as the east-west division, we have an increasing city-countryside division,' said Carlos Toranzo, a political analyst at the Latin American Institute of Social Research. Radicals on both sides had seized the agenda in the hope of crushing the other, he said. 'This constant violence will not cease. We are hearing confrontational language from the President and the (opposition). It seems they are all pushing for more violence.' The landlocked nation has been turned upside down since Morales, a former coca farmer and llama herder, swept to office in 2006 on the promise of empowering the indigenous majority and reversing 500 years of colonial injustice. A member of the so-called 'pink tide' of left-wing leaders spearheaded by Venezuela's President Hugo Chávez, Morales has extended state control over the economy, including lucrative natural gas reserves, and thumbed his nose at the United States. His popularity was reaffirmed when he won 67 per cent support in a recall referendum earlier this month, a thunderous endorsement from the impoverished western indigenous highlands, including La Paz and its satellite city, El Alto. The margin of victory emboldened supporters to demand a referendum on a new constitution to cement what they term a 'cultural revolution'. 'There are two Bolivias now,' said Damian Caguara, a pro-Morales member of a popular assembly. 'The Bolivia of the traditional, conservative, right- wing governments and the peasant one, the poor one, the indigenous one that has been in a state of submission for years. The latter is the one that is now running the political scene and this is provoking a harsh reaction from the bosses that cannot stand their servants, the Indians, to be ruling. For them, this is simply humiliating.' The eastern lowlands however, which have the richest gas reserves and farmland and a freewheeling capitalist spirit, see Morales as a power-hungry autocrat with ruinous economic policies. They are especially enraged by an attempt to redistribute land and to funnel gas revenues away from the provinces and into a state pension fund for those aged over 60, seen as a populist ruse to weaken the provinces. 'If there is inflation, it is because the elderly poor are now having money to eat chicken,' one man grumbled on television. The recall referendum, which applied to provincial governors as well as the President, bounced two opposition leaders from office, but the governors in Santa Cruz, Beni, Pando and Tarija, flying an autonomy banner, emerged stronger. A rare meeting to try to bridge the gap between the two sides flopped. The Santa Cruz governor, Rubén Costas, called Morales an 'assassin' and gave the green light to ramp up the province's rebellion. Youths waving green and white Santa Cruz flags have added insignias to the shields they use to fight riot police. Many belong to the Unión Juvenil Cruceñista, a pseudo-militia. To date, the rebels have not dared seize the gas fields, which would seriously escalate the conflict. But Carlos Pablo Klinsky, an outspoken opposition leader in Santa Cruz, said events could turn bloody if Morales pushed for a referendum on the constitution. 'People here are very angry and it would not surprise me if soon they started seizing state institutions. If the President keeps pushing his reforms, violence will get harsh, very harsh.' The rich and the poor Bolivia is South America's poorest country, with 60 per cent of the nine million population living below the poverty line and 38 per cent in extreme poverty. A survey by the Catholic Church found that 50,000 families own almost 90 per cent of the country's productive land. Indigenous Bolivians earn less than half the money of their non-indigenous counterparts and receive 40 per cent less schooling. The four eastern lowland provinces produce 82 per cent of Bolivia's natural gas. Their population is the least indigenous, ranging from 16 per cent in Pando to 38 per cent in Santa Cruz, compared with 66-84 per cent in the other states. The eastern states have a per capita income about 40 per cent higher than the other five states. The reassertion of state control over natural gas resources has brought in an extra $1.5bn of revenue to the treasury. By Guardian Unlimited © Copyright Guardian Newspapers 2008 Published: 8/24/2008 |
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QUITO, Aug 23 (Reuters) - Thousands marched on Saturday to
back Ecuadorean President Rafael Correa who polls show is
inching closer to winning a Sept. 28 vote to pass a new
constitution that would expand the leftist's authority. Correa, a former economy minister who took office last year, is widely popular for his spending on the poor and his pledges to fight powerful elites he blames for the political instability that toppled his last three predecessors. |
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The new constitution would bolster Correa's sway over the oil-producing country's economy and political institutions such as Congress and the top courts. "We will crush the old country ruled by elites and mafia groups," Correa told cheering supporters waving the lime-green flags of his political party in the hilly capital, Quito. "We are not going to return to the past ... we will win this decisive battle." Three polls this week showed support for the new constitution is nearing the more than 50 percent majority Correa's needs to pass the document. Correa, a U.S.-trained economist, said a feeble opposition planned to resort to violence during the referendum campaign as a way to destabilize his government. Tens of thousands of supporters from poncho-clad Indians to coastal peasants in wide-rim hats sang and danced at the afternoon event. (Reporting by Alonso Soto; Editing by Peter Cooney) |
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