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| a town council at the lowest administrative level in colonial Spanish America; some calidos were centers of resistance to royal authority in the independence struggles |
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| cocoa; a major export product of the colonial period |
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| chief or leader; term applied to a "strong man" or dictator, often a military officer or ex-office; who dominated local politics, sometimes gaining national prominence. The postindependence period was an era of caudillos throughout Spanish America. |
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| regional administrators who collected taxes an tariffs and enforced royal decrees in Spanish America. Corregidores were replaced by intendants in the reforms of the eighteenth century. |
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| Spanish for Creole; in colonial Spanish America, a native-born white person as distinguished from one born in Spain. Usually criollos held a status superior to that of nonwhites, but inferior to that of whites born in Spain. In the eighteenth century, criollos became a focus of resistance to royal authority. |
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| from the Portuguese for "engine"; refers to a type of sugar cane plantation with an on-site mill that dominated the economy of northeastern Brazil during the colonial period. The Spanish word engenio refers to these plantations in the Spanish colonies. |
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| the Portuguese term for a large agricultural estate |
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| large agricultural estate in Spanish America. The hacienda system was sometimes semifeudal in nature, with the owner(which could be a family or an institution, such as a church or convent) controlling tracts of land of various sizes, sometimes substantial, along with entire villages of dependent laborers. The growth of haciendas throughout Spanish America led to the development of a native-born elite. |
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| local governors responsible directly to the monarchy; part of a reformed system of colonial administration imposed by the Bourbon king Charles II in the late eighteenth century as a means of reasserting royal control over the colonies. Most intendants were born in Spain and sent to the Americas, rather than being chosen from among the criollos. |
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| system of economic control imposed on the American colonies by Spain and Portugal; relied on exploiting wealth (including gold and silver) from the colonies and monopolizing trade in an attempt to maintain a continuing trade surplus for the mother countries. Trade among the colonies or with other European countries was discouraged, limiting local economic development. |
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| person of mixed European and indigenous ancestry. Although initially a small percentage of society, by 1825 mestizos constituted over one-quarter of Spanish American society and today form the majority in many of the former Spanish colonies. |
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| person of mixed European and African ancestry. In 1825, mulattos in combination with black descendants of Africans constituted over half of the population of Brazil |
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| white persons born in Spain; from the Spanish word for "peninsula" referring to the Iberian peninsula. The colonial period was characterized by struggles for power and prestige between criollos and peninsulares. |
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| a negotiated agreement between Spain and Portugal in 1494, mediated by Pope Alexander VI, which divided the Americas between Spain and Portugal while guaranteeing a role for the Catholic Church in the new colonies |
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| plateau in the Andes located about 12,000 feet above sea level. Bolivia's capital city, La Paz, is built upon the altiplano. |
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| languages of combined African and European origin spoken widely in the Caribbean, especially by those without much formal education. Creole, with French, is the official language of Haiti. Also used to describe persons of European descent born in Spanish America |
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| perspective on Latin American political and economic history developed by Latin American scholars in the 1970s and 1980s; argues that Latin American countries have not been able to pursue independent development goals because their economies are tied to and dependent on the growth of other nations, particularly the industrialized economies of North America and Western Europe. Some proponents of this view also maintain that economic dependency leads almost inevitably to political authoritarianism. |
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| gross national product (GNP) |
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| the total value of production in any country during the course of one year. GNP per capita is the total production divided by the number of citizens, giving a figure of average income per person that is a very rough estimate of the average standard of living in the country. |
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| theory developed by North American scholars in the late 1950s and early 1960s which proposed that economic growth and industrialization had been delayed in Latin America and the Caribbean, but would eventually occur there as it had in the United States. Proponents of this view also argued that the processes of growth and industrialization would bring about political democracy and greater social equity in the region. |
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| language spoken by most indigenous peoples in the Andes. Quechua and Spanish are the official languages of Peru. |
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| literally, "opening"; refers to the post-1973 period in Brazil, when the military allowed a gradual political opening and began the transition toward democracy |
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| economic and social development program for Latin America promoted and funded by the U.S. government; created by the Kennedy administration as a response to the Cuban Revolution and social unrest elsewhere in Latin America. |
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| Brazil's "economic miracle" |
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| refers to the years 1968-74, when Brazil's economy grew at a rate exceeding 10 percent per year, industry boomed, inflation remained low, and prospects for the future seemed excellent. |
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| bureaucratic-authoritarian regimes |
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| new form of military government that first emerged in Brazil after 1964 and was established in Chile and Uruguay in 1973, and in Argentina in 1976. Although the regimes differed from one another, key shared features are the role of the military as a governing institution and the exclusion from power of all popular sectors. |
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| capital-intensive technologies |
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| technologies that substitute expensive machinery for human labor, eliminating jobs; typically these technologies in Latin America relied on imported parts and equipment |
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| President José Sarney's economic plan, announced in early 1986, which introduced a new currency and strict wage and price controls to fight runaway inflation in Brazil |
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| literally, "Direct elections, now"; popular call for direct presidential elections in Brazil heard at strikes and rallies toward the end of the military's rule |
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| literally, ?new state"; an authoritarian state model created by Getúlio Vargas from 1937 to 1945; period of direct government intervention and management of the economy, including control over labor unions. |
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| effort made by many Latin American countries to expand their economic growth through production of nontraditional exports. |
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| shantytowns surrounding major Brazilian cities, usually lacking in basic services such as water, sewers, and electricity |
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| literally, "greatness"; term used frequently during the 1970s to express Brazil's potential to become a great power |
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| International Monetary Fund (IMF) |
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| ): international financial institution that provides emergency economic assistance to countries facing balance of payments problems, with particular conditions attached (see "structural adjustment policies," below) |
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| person from São Paulo; many Paulistas felt that São Paulo's economic development would enable Brazil to rise to world prominence in the twentieth century |
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| refers to the large dollar deposits held in U.S. and European bank accounts of oil exporting countries. The rapid growth of these cash deposits after the 1973 oil price increase led to an increase in international lending by private banks |
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| huge development schemes launched by Brazil's military government in the 1970s, financed primarily by foreign loans. While some led to major improvements in infrastructure and energy (for example, the Itaipú Dam), the projects are generally seen as symbols of waste and corruption, and misplaced notions of grandeza |
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| structural adjustment policies |
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| economic stabilization measures required by the IMF and World Bank as a condition of extending new loans; typically involve the sale of state enterprises, elimination of government subsidies, free exchange of the national currency, promotion of exports, reducing the barriers to foreign investment, and emphasizing free market economic policies |
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| literally "neighborhoods"; the Asamblea de Barrios (Assembly of Neighborhoods) in Mexico City is an organization of the city's poor residents pressing for better services from city government |
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| Mexican manual laborers who were allowed to work in temporary agricultural and industrial jobs in the United States under a legal agreement between the U.S. and Mexican governments dating back to World War II. |
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| literally, country person. Throughout Latin America, a campesino isa poor rural farmer or farm laborer; a peasant |
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| usually refers to poor communities, frequently lacking in basic municipal services, which have grown around the outskirts of major cities, including Mexico City, Tijuana, Ciudad Juárez, and others. Squatter communities of Mexicans and Mexican-Americans in poor areas on the U.S. side of the border have also become known as colonias. In Mexico City, however, even wealthy residential neighborhoods are called colonias. |
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| system of close friendships and relationships; from the Spanish compadre, for "godfather," or, more generally, a friend or close companion. Compadrazgo systems facilitate relocation, migration, and employment throughout the Americas |
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| slang term for someone who engages in the profitable and dangerous business of crossing illegal immigrants into the United States |
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| government action to lower the value of a country's currency relative to the Internationally recognized "hard" currencies such as the U.S. dollar, German mark, and Japanese yen. Devaluing a currency makes imported goods more expensive and exported goods cheaper, but usually causes great hardship within the country due to higher costs and inflation. In 1976 the Mexican government was forced to abandon its policy of a fixed rate of exchange between the Mexican peso and the U.S. dollar, devaluing the peso in two successive instances by a total of 100 percent |
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| groups of peasant families who are communal owners of land distributed by the Mexican government in various waves of agrarian reform since the Mexican Revolution (1910-17). The small farmers who work the land are called ejidatarios |
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| refers to economic activities that are not regulated and are often not taxed. Includes domestic workers, small businesses, home workers such as seamstresses, street vegetable vendors, and trash pickers. Much of the work is characterized by unstable and unsafe working conditions and no access to legal rights, social security, or union benefits. The informal economy is an important source of employment in Mexico and throughout the Americas |
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| large farms or estates, frequently thousands of acres in size. Many of Mexico's latifundios were divided and parceled out to peasants during President Lázaro Cárdenas's agrarian reform program in the 1930s and in subsequent redistributions by other Mexican presidents. |
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| assembly plant usually located along the United States-Mexico border, often a subsidiary of a multinational corporation, where parts are imported from the United States, assembled, and re-exported. The maquiladora industry was created in a joint U.S.-Mexican agreement that established a duty-free zone along the Mexican side of the border to take advantage of the plentiful supply of cheap labor and easier regulatory environment. Although maquiladoras have been criticized for worker exploitation and disregard for environmental standards, they have also created thousands of jobs and drawn a new wave of migration from the center and south of Mexico to the border area |
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| North American Free Trade Agreement |
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| the agreement proposed by U.S. president George Bush and Mexican president Carlos Salinas de Gortari in 1990 which would link the economies of the United States, Canada, and Mexico by lifting all trade barriers and allowing the free movement of capital, goods, and agricultural products within these three countries |
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| garbage pickers; people who make their livings, and sometimes their homes, in Mexico City's public garbage sites |
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| Spanish acronym for Mexico's Partido Revolucionario Institucional, or Institutional Revolutionary Party. The PRI replaced earlier versions of an official revolutionary party; its establishment after World War II was intended to signal pragmatism and a long-term institutional commitment to the goals of the Mexican revolution. The PRI has historically owned significant state enterprises; organized professional, labor, and peasant sectors; and controlled the presidency and legislature. Its dominant position in Mexican politics and society has only recently been challenged |
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| money migrants send back to families and friends in their place of origin. Remittances have been a significant source of income, particularly of foreign exchange, in many Latin American and Caribbean countries. |
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| arid, high plateau in the Andes where indigenous populations flourished before the conquest, and where haciendas and resistance communities were established during the colonial period; still home to large numbers of indigenous people |
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| Haitian priest elected to the presidency in 1990 in a landslide victory. Aristide's commitment to Haiti's poor majority raised fears among the military and the elite, who removed him from office in a coup nine months after he took office |
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| one of the major indigenous languages in South America and the name of a major indigenous group in the Andean countries. |
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| workers' camps, typically with substandard living conditions, set up as temporary housing for sugar cane cutters in the Dominican Republic. |
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| social reformer elected president of the Dominican Republic in 1962, removed in a coup in 1963. The resulting conflict between Bosch's supporters and opponents was cited by U.S. president Johnson as the justification for sending 22,000 U.S. Marines to the D.R. in April 1965. |
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| Poet, native of Martinique, considered one of the founders and foremost exponents of Negritude. He served as Mayor of Fortde-France, President of the Provincial Council, and delegate to the National Assembly in Paris |
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| freeze-dried potatoes for long-term storage, developed centuries ago by Andean peoples, prepared by compressing the potatoes with bare feet at altitudes above the frostline |
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| term for the hacienda owner's sexual rights to the women on his estate. The landowners' rape of indigenous women, which they justified by the derecho de pernada ,was partly responsible for the growth of the mestizo population in countries with large indigenous populations. Carried out against the wishes of local populations, the derecho de pernada epitomizes the brutal nature of colonial domination of indigenous groups by elites of European descent |
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| Francois Duvalier ("Papa Doc") |
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| Haitian dictator from 1957 to 1971 whose dynasty continued until 1986 through his son, Jean-Claude ("Baby Doc"). The Duvaliers used the terror of their personal paramilitary force, the Tonton Macoutes, along with noirisme (celebration of Haiti's African heritage) and Haitian popular religion, vodún (or voodoo), to intimidate and dominate the general population |
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| official policy promoted by Dominican Republic dictator Rafael Trujillo (1930-61) emphasizing the country's cultural connection with Spain |
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| literally, "peeled ones." Aymara term for persons who resist or deny their indigenous identity. Usually applied to Aymara who have changed their names, given up ethnic for Western dress, or otherwise attempted to become "Westernized," leaving behind markers of their Aymara identity in the process |
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| term used in Guatemala to refer to nonindigenous, Spanish-speaking nationals. Indigenous Mayas can pass as ladinos if they shed Maya ethnic markers, such as traditional dress or use of indigenous language. Today, a Maya rights movement is helping to give educated young people the option of being simultaneously indigenous, urban, and professional |
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| Similar to noirisme, this term refers to the ideology common throughout the Frenchspeaking Caribbean which asserts the common African rootedness and history of Caribbean peoples |
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| Aymara name for the omnipresent Mother Earth deity |
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| a regional dialect that differs from the parent language in vocabulary, grammar, and pronunciation; used most often to refer to various versions of French Creole spoken in the Caribbean |
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| term for workers forced to stay at the haciendas in Bolivia under the debt peonage system, who often were required to provide personal services as well as field labor to the landowners |
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| full, layered skirts traditionally worn by Bolivian indigenous women; originally a style of clothing imposed by the Spanish to differentiate the peasant population that over time became a distinctive marker of indigenous identity. The pollera today is a source of pride to many Aymara and Quechua women, who mark their family's economic position by the fullness and opulence of the skirts |
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| literally, "bogey men." Powerful, violent paramilitary force created by Haitian dictator François Duvalier; source of great fear among the general population for their well-known brutality |
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| dictator in the Dominican Republic from 1930 to 1961 who used his power base in the country's national guard to maintain power. As with the Duvaliers, Trujillo's regime was identified with corruption and brutality |
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| also known as voodoo, Haitian religion with African roots in combination with Christian beliefs and practices. |
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