Week 7: The Export Boom as Modernity

"Order equals progress" played a major role in shaping the economies of Latin America. Elites and political leaders believed that it was essential to create order within each republic in order to move forward as a country. Sadly, this brought many hardships and to an extreme, it started genocides!

From Dawson's video we learnt that the "Mano dura" (Iron Fist) policies, which were used by policing forces in Mexico, went to extremes to establish order. "Shoot first and ask questions never" was their motto which created the slang "la fuga", which described being shot while running away. They punished anyone who opposed or threatened the order within society and they went as far as killing caudillos, opposing political party leaders, and anyone who stood in the way of achieving a controlled society. I found very interesting that even to this day, the "Mano Dura" policies are used against drug gangs by Central American governments. However, these policies are very controversial. Some say that these extreme policies cause more violence than the alternatives and don't bring a solution. This is because these policies aim at eliminating the leaders within these groups and a gang without a leader causes insecurity and an internal struggle for control. This is why it creates more violence and often does not destroy the group or its activities in the long run.

It was interesting to learn that the boom of Latin America was largely due to the rising economies of North America and Europe. These growing economies were in great need of raw materials and resources and Latin America was rich with these. In turn, these "first world economies" were bringing new technologies and investment into the Americas. This not only helped the region become more modern but it also helped increase productivity and agricultural goods could be more aggressively cultivated. This was largely in part of the railroad systems that were emerging all throughout the republics. The railroads helped to make the world "smaller" and reachable!

Wealth and modernity made urban planners want to change their cities from "colonial backwaters" to the most modern, industrialized metropolises in the world. At the same time, elites wanted to bring more "white" to their countries to help modernity thrive. This led to genocides in certain areas around Latin America to clean their societies from the "bad" ethnicities. In regions where genocide was not an option, the twin strategy was to change, transform, and cure these ethnicities. This would be done by bringing education, better hygiene, and to try and control/train/civilize/contain these people. This occurred when scientific racism was at its highest.