LATIN AMERICA TODAY

THE ECONOMY

Export Campesino Latifundia Minifundia Cash crop

Gross domestic product

Service industry

Maquiladora Free trade

zone

ECONOMIC ACTIVITIES Agriculture

› Supplies major chunk of income› Export- sell to other countries what is produced

Ex: Bananas, sugarcane, coffee› Land divided into wealthy and campesinos

Rural farmers and workers› Latifundia

LARGE estates owned by wealthy families and corporations

› Minifundia All other farms

› Cash crops- produced in large quantities to sell abroad

› Problem is overdependence

INDUSTRY Most are developing countries

› EX: Mexico- from farming to oil production

› 2005- manufacturing = 16% and agriculture 4% of Gross Domestic product (GDP) Values of goods and services produced in a country in a year

Moving towards service industry› Provides a service› Ex: tourism

GROWTH Limited in Latin America Andes and Amazon Rainforest restrict

availability of natural resources Foreign investment Political instability Solution

› Stable gov’t› Provide the necessary resources› Active business communities

MAQUILADORAS Manufacturing plants owned by foreign

countries› EX: Mexico› Cuidad Juarez, and Tijuana› 3,200 employ over 1 million workers› Located in free-trade zones

No trade restrictions

TRANSPORTATION and COMMUNICATION

Physical barriers Pan-American Highway

› Northern Mexico to Southern Chile Trans-Andean Highway

› Chile to Argentina Brazil

› Trans-Amazonian Highway Trans-Oceanic Highway

› Peru and Brazil› Link between the Amazon and the Pacific

TRANSPORTATION and COMMUNICATION (cont)

Railway System› Mexico, Panama, Argentina, Brazil

Air Travel› Important to overcoming geographic barriers

Communication› Censored during political unrest› Most cannot afford telephones

2004› Brazil & Mexico among top 15 countries with the

highest rate of computer use Today- internet hub in D.R. to make it more

stable

FOREIGN DEBT 1960s and 1970s

› Latin American countries borrowed $$ from banks to industrialize

1980s› Economic slow-down› Lower demand for Latin American products

› Could not repay loans Problem is finding a solution

TRADE and INTERDEPENDENCE NAFTA› 1992 NAFTA› Reduced trade restrictions› Increased flow of goods, services, and

people› Trade went up by 10-15%

Controversy› U.S. job loss to less paid Mexican

workers› U.S. investment in Mexico, but no

relocation

TRADE and INTERDEPENDENCE (cont)

CAFTA› 2005› U.S. + 6 Central American countries› Goal was to lower trade barriers between U.S.

and Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua, and D.R.

FEAR› U.S. job loss› Exploitation of lower paid workers

THE PAN-AMERICAN HIGHWAY

THE PEOPLE and THEIR ENVIRONMENT

KEY TERMS:› DEFORESTATION

› SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT

› SLASH and BURN FARMING

› REFORESTATION

› SHANTYTOWN

MANGING RESOURCES Deforestation- disappearing of forests for

other uses Solution:

› Sustainable development- use only what natural resources are needed to sustain life

Farms vs. Forests› Clearing of the Amazon Basin to set-up new

farmland› Slash-and-burn farming

All plants are cut down; trees are stripped of their bark; once dried out they burn it so that the soil gets nutrients

BIODIVERSITY Diverse rainforest is at danger of being

lost ½ of all plant and animal species live in

the rainforest 20% of the Amazon Rainforest has already

been cleared Atlantic Forest

› Lesser known› In Brazil› 7% of its original size today

MEDICINE

REFORESTATION Planting for the future

› Laws require that young trees or seeds be planted for the future

› Developing new methods of farming

HUMAN IMPACT Rapid urbanization = environmental issues Workers move to cities

› Hope to find a better life› Sometimes they DON’T › Shantytowns- makeshift communities on the

edge of cities› unsanitary

THE FUTURE Territorial conflict

› Disputed border wars› Ex: 1998 Peru and Ecuador settled a 60 year

border war Natural Disasters

› L.A. vulnerable to hurricanes, earthquakes, and volcanic eruptions

Cool Fact› In 1995 a volcanic eruption left 2/3 of the

island of Monserrat inhabitable