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Informed On Latin America? |
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In the US, mainstream media coverage of Latin America is woeful at best. The few news articles we receive feature the same pair: Castro and Chavez. In other words, we get sporadic, incomplete treatment of elements the status quo sees as dangerous. Editorials on the region are most often unabashedly critical and, again, centered around the same crew.
That’s not to say these criticisms are always unwarranted, but rarely if ever is the whole picture painted. We need better coverage of our neighbors to the South, and in hopes of proving that point, here’s a pop quiz (answers at the bottom of the post). All questions are basic, and should require no more than a topical knowledge of the region.
1. Name five South American heads of state.
2. Who is Mexico’s neighbor to the South?
3. What is Mercosur?
4. What is Colombia’s second largest rebel group?
5. What Mexican political party was called “the perfect dictatorship,” and held power in Mexico for 70 years until Vicente Fox’s victory in 2000?
6. Who is the current president of Mexico?
7. Which Central American president faced opposition from a US funded group the contras during the 1980’s, and returned to office in the election of 2006?
8. The Galapagos Islands are part of what South American nation?
9. To what indigenous ethnic group does Bolivian President Evo Morales belong?
10. Which Latin American President was granted a constitutional amendment that allowed him to exceed the previous constitutional term limit?
_______________________________________________________________
Answers:
1. Any 5 of the following: Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner (Argentina), Evo Morales (Bolivia), Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva (Brazil), Michelle Bachelet (Chile), Alvaro Uribe (Colombia), Rafael Correa (Ecuador), Nicolas Sarkozy (French Guiana), Bharrat Jagdeo (Guyana), Nicanor Duarte Frutos (Paraguay), Alan Garcia (Peru), Ronald Venetiaan (Surinam), Tabare Vasquez (Uruguay), Hugo Chavez (Venezuela),
2. Guatemala (Belize is also an acceptable answer)
3. Mercosur (Mercado Comun del Sur) is a regional trade agreement (similar to NAFTA) between Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay, Uruguay, and Venezuela. Bolivia, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador and Peru are associate members, without full voting rights or complete access to markets.
4. The ELN (Ejercito de Liberacion Nacional — National Liberation Army)
5. The Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI in Spanish)
6. Felipe Calderon
7. Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega
8. Ecuador
9. The Aymara
10. Colombian President Alvaro Uribe, who in 2006 was elected to a second term despite the Colombian constitution’s stipulation against consecutive reelection.
So, how’d you do?
I was right with Ecuadaor and I went with Belize. So 1 1/2 out of ten. Not good.
give yourself the full point for belize. So, 20%. could be better but blame it on the media. when’s the last time you saw anything about belize in the news? probably never. and it’s only one country away.
I clocked in at 20% myself. Pretty shabby.
Perhaps Americans really don’t even want to know what goes on in South America. We have an appetite for chaos in the Middle East, Africa, and South Asia, and financial matters in Asia and Europe, but maybe South America doesn’t boil down to a comfortable narrative in quite the same way. Maybe we just don’t know what to make of it.
Yeah, 20% here too. Not so good…
That’s a nice analysis alex. there is no comfortable narrative. it’s a shame, however, that there isn’t a mainstream media outlet that would take the time to explore the political dynamic of the region right now. There’s so little experimentation in world politics, but Latin America represents exactly that: countries are experimenting with programs and initiatives that aim to help the poor. Of course there has been populism in the past in Latin America, and little came of it, but what we’re seeing today is not a carbon copy of the those attempts.
While the efforts of Castro, Chavez, Correas and Morales are far from perfect, they offer glimpses of what could be prove to be more humanitarian, more, dare I say, moral forms of government. the gospel of neoliberalism that’s been imposed down there is not solving their problems, and anyone who notes that is dismissed by the mainstream.
At the very least the region offer a more appetizing alternative to our free market capitalism than the examples in, say, the Middle East, Africa, or Southeast Asia. Perhaps that’s why the media is so reluctant to tell the story — what certain countries in south america are moving towards may represent the most viable alternative to the status quo.
It is a still a young continent in terms of its governance, and its had a pretty fresh slate after the string of dictatorships it suffered through in recent decades. Right now it’s all formative, but something good could come of it if certain South American leaders keep pushing their agendas, but also take a healthy dose of moderation when appropriate.
I’m depressed about my lack of South American knowledge and in an effort to cure myself of my depression I’m eating nothing but emapanadas and black beans for 14 months. I’m also renaming my dog Le Virgen de Guadalupe.
Seriously though:
At the very least the region offer a more appetizing alternative to our free market capitalism than the examples in, say, the Middle East, Africa, or Southeast Asia. Perhaps that’s why the media is so reluctant to tell the story %u2014 what certain countries in south america are moving towards may represent the most viable alternative to the status quo.
Bingo!
More like, capitalists don’t want yet another continent to have a successful experiment with soft socialism (see Europe). If these demon spawn socialists start sprouting up everywhere and actually making their citizens happy, the masses might get restless.
10 for 10.
On question #10, acceptable answers also include Hugo Chavez, Carlos Menem, Alberto Fujimori and Fernando Henrique Cardoso as recent presidents who amended the constitution to extend their term limits. Evo Morales in Bolivia is currently attempting to do so, but that has not yet passed.
Nice work Boz, but I’m guessing your correct answers were not owed to the mainstream media. Is that a safe assumption?
I spend a lot of time reading about Latin America in both English and Spanish. The information is out there, but you have to look for it.
8 out 10! Are you proud of your little sis?
I agree that the established media’s coverage is anything but adequate and one can only have an accurate view of what is going on in SA if they do it on their own initiative (but is that not true of most information coming from the established media?). I might even argue that living up in the northern hemisphere makes it difficult to cast our eyes downward to south. I feel like only recently in history has the media been concerned with accurate portrayals of the peoples living to in the southern hemisphere around the world.
I was engaged in an interesting conversation today in one of my classes. The class was interrupted by the sounds of students chanting “No blood for oil” during a demonstration and a student inquired as to what they were protesting. My immediate response was that maybe it was the indigenous people being exploited for oil in South America. A fellow student turned to me and said “Or maybe Iraq.” I think sometimes its hard to pick all the battles in the world but it is true that the coverage of SA is grossly undermined.
60%, or 70% if it’s true that Chavez counts for #10. Mostly from reading the Economist semi-regularly.
I got 7 presidents, but with Lula and Garcia I was guessing and not sure they were still current, and Evo Morales’s name I couldn’t remember until you gave it up in question #9.
Chavez counts for question 10 because of his 1999 constitutional reforms, which allowed him to be reelected once. His most recent proposal for indefinite reelection failed, but he has said he would bring it up again.
Se Cultural Literacy
I got 40%, but that isn’t very good either. I am more aware of the political currents than the names of the leaders. I suppose that isn’t smart. Know thy friend/enemy — whichever it is. I don’t agree that Latin America is engaged in healthy experiments to help the poor. They are actually engaged in political agendas loosely disguised as help for the poor. These socialist politicians are copying models which have already been demonstrated as failures; see USSR and eastern Europe for the evidence. Media in the US need to cover these countries more thoroughly. The real fruit of every socialist endeavor in the world has been rich autocrats who mouth concern and oppress the poor more than ever. Countries like the UK and Canada are only just beginning to realize that truth. Free people engaged in free enterprise on the capitalist model are the most prosperous people on earth, and those are the people who actually help the poor. If socialism were actually such a good idea, China would have dismantled Hong Kong the day it took possession. Instead, while continuing to oppress its own people, the political leadership of China harvests the prosperity of Hong Kong for its own agenda.
I’m amazed that I got 8/10… the one on the second biggest rebel group in Colombia was a tough one, and the one on Evo’s tribal affiliation was something I’d never even considered.
If you really want to exploit our (USA) ignorance, you should post a quiz on the geography of the Middle East or Africa - it’s probably laughable.