The last few weeks in this course have demonstrated the extremities of violent activity and oppression in Latin America. As I discussed in last weeks topic and illustrated by Rita in the video, the power of the vote is extremely important, especially in a region such as Latin America where politics are unpredictable. (I doubt […]
Posted in Blogs, Week 12 | Tagged with Dirty War, murder, Power
As the course draws to a close, it has become evident that the Latin American reality, despite a lot of beauty, is one that has consistently been categorized by violence, repression and inequality. The last few weeks have felt particularly depressing, probably because we are looking at the not so distant past. Yet, although this […]
Posted in Blogs, Week 12 | Tagged with Argentina, Dirty War, menem, Mothers of the Plaza de Mayo, TRC
As the course draws to a close, it has become evident that the Latin American reality, despite a lot of beauty, is one that has consistently been categorized by violence, repression and inequality. The last few weeks have felt particularly depressing, probably because we are looking at the not so distant past. Yet, although this […]
Posted in Blogs, Week 12 | Tagged with Argentina, Dirty War, menem, Mothers of the Plaza de Mayo, TRC
Today when we bring up the idea of Latin America, it is almost always associated to immigrates and drugs. The drug war is not a stereotype of Latin America, but after watching the lecture videos I realised that it is in fact a part of life, it has happened, it happens even today, and may even continue to happen in future. The military, businesses and people are all trying to extract as much money as they can- and thus causing corruption. Coming from a highly corrupt country Kenya, I know that changing the foundation of this and trying to put an end to drug cartels is extremely difficult and will probably take a while for such measures to be implemented.
The War on Drugs is my favourite video so far! It showed us how drugs are brought into countries and the extent through which people will go through just to bring in these drug- like hiding it in coffee bags, or having people swallow and eat packets of cocaine. Infamous people like Pablo Escobar had been depicted in the video for being the most powerful man in Latin America when he had been trafficking cocaine. It was really shocking to see how powerful this man really was.
The Madres de la Plaza de Mayo really spoke to me and evoked so much sympathy. It had been disheartening to read about this group of mothers that lost their children.
The Mothers of the Plaza de Mayo is an association of Argentine mothers whose children “disappeared” during the dictatorship. This era represents families being torn apart and several human rights atrocities that had been carried out by the corrupt military. They had their children “taken” from them with no explanations.
During this “Dirty War” in Argentina from 1976 to 1983, the military government did more than just kidnap children but they went to extents of torturing people and anyone that they saw as submissive in the military they would expel them. It was truly sad to read about this- and I can only imagine how many families had to suffer as they watched their loved ones being taken from them one by one and not receiving clarifications as to what happened to them. It seemed like everyday life was a struggle in Latin America and just being able to survive seemed like a mission on it’s own.
My question for this week was: Do you think the drug cartels was beneficial in some way for Latin America?
Posted in Blogs | Tagged with 1983, Argentina, Dirty War, drug cartel, drugs, Pablo Escobar, plaza de mayo, torture 1976
Today when we bring up the idea of Latin America, it is almost always associated to immigrates and drugs. The drug war is not a stereotype of Latin America, but after watching the lecture videos I realised that it is in fact a part of life, it has happened, it happens even today, and may even continue to happen in future. The military, businesses and people are all trying to extract as much money as they can- and thus causing corruption. Coming from a highly corrupt country Kenya, I know that changing the foundation of this and trying to put an end to drug cartels is extremely difficult and will probably take a while for such measures to be implemented.
The War on Drugs is my favourite video so far! It showed us how drugs are brought into countries and the extent through which people will go through just to bring in these drug- like hiding it in coffee bags, or having people swallow and eat packets of cocaine. Infamous people like Pablo Escobar had been depicted in the video for being the most powerful man in Latin America when he had been trafficking cocaine. It was really shocking to see how powerful this man really was.
The Madres de la Plaza de Mayo really spoke to me and evoked so much sympathy. It had been disheartening to read about this group of mothers that lost their children.
The Mothers of the Plaza de Mayo is an association of Argentine mothers whose children “disappeared” during the dictatorship. This era represents families being torn apart and several human rights atrocities that had been carried out by the corrupt military. They had their children “taken” from them with no explanations.
During this “Dirty War” in Argentina from 1976 to 1983, the military government did more than just kidnap children but they went to extents of torturing people and anyone that they saw as submissive in the military they would expel them. It was truly sad to read about this- and I can only imagine how many families had to suffer as they watched their loved ones being taken from them one by one and not receiving clarifications as to what happened to them. It seemed like everyday life was a struggle in Latin America and just being able to survive seemed like a mission on it’s own.
My question for this week was: Do you think the drug cartels was beneficial in some way for Latin America?
Posted in Blogs | Tagged with 1983, Argentina, Dirty War, drug cartel, drugs, Pablo Escobar, plaza de mayo, torture 1976
This week we are back to yet another crisis in Latin America, this time, in Peru. I was surprised at first to hear about the presence of Guerrillas in Peru since for some reason I always thought they were specific to Columbia (maybe it’s because Netflix movies and documentaries on Guerrillas were usually in Columbia). … Continue reading Week 11
Posted in Blogs | Tagged with Civil War, communism, Dirty War, guerrillas, latin america, Peru, Shining Path, Terror, violence, wars
