Objective 6.5 Latin America and the United States

Mexican-American War

conflict which stemmed from disputes over the annexation of Texas and its admission into the United State....The United States acquired one-half of the Mexican territory.

Spanish-American War

short conflict which began when U.S. supported the Cubans' fight for independence, US acquired Puerto Rico, Guam and the Philippines

Coup d'etat

a revolt, usually by military leaders, against a nation's government

Leftist Party

wanted to redistribute land to the peasants, nationalize industry and improve conditions for the working class, supported by urban workers, landless peasants, students and intellectuals

Rightest Party

favored the traditional social order, wanted to protect the wealth and power of the wealth and power of landlords and industrialists, supported by buisness leaders, large landowners, and military officers

Panama Canal

an example of US intervention in Latin America, US offered to buy the land from Colombia, they then supported a revolt for independence for Panama from Colombia in exchange for building a 10-mile-wide zone which connects the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans

Cold War

A conflict that was between the US and the Soviet Union, in Latin America the US was backing anti- communist forces,even if it meant supporting dictators

United Fruit Company

U.S. corporation, strong political connections, that controlled the banana trade in much of Latin America, controled 40% of land in Guatamala

Guatamala

during the 1950s President Jacobo Arbenz focued on land reform, wanting to give unused land to the poor farmers, the US branded the government as being communist and the CIA orchestrated a successful coup to replace the president with a military dictator, this lead to civil war with thousands of deaths and widespread human rights abuses

Embargo

an official ban on trade or other commercial activity with a particular country.

Bracero Program

Plan that brought laborers from Mexico to work on American farms, began in 1942 to combat a labor shortage due to WWII

Sandinistas

Leftist coalition that overthrew the Nicaraguan dictatorship of Anastasia Somoza in 1979, led by David Ortega and introduced land reform, took over many business and organized social programs

Contras

A Nicaraguan rebel group that got financial support from the CIA in an effort to remove the Sandinistas from power claiming they had communist ties

Nicaragua

Years of a civil war between the Sandinistas and the Contras, which lasted much of the 1980s, causing deaths, destruction, economic hardships, and distrust of further foreign involvement

Ayslum

the protection granted by a nation to someone who has left their native country as a political refugee.

Immigrant

a person who leaves one country to settle permanently in another after being granted permission to do so by the government

Undocumented Immigrants

a non-citizen who has entered the United States without government permission or stayed beyond the termination date of a visa