Deck 11: Counterrevolution in Latin America, 1960-1980

Question 1

For US policymakers, the key factor in evaluating Latin American leftist leaders and movements was their foreign policy toward the Soviet Union, not their domestic policies toward land reform or nationalizing foreign property.

Answer 1

False

Question 2

The most influential model for Bolivian and Venezuelan revolutionary reformers in the 1940s and 1950s was

A) Peronist Argentina.
B) Getúlio Vargas' Estado Novo in Brazil.
C) The Soviet Union.
D) Post-revolutionary Mexico.

Answer 2

D

Question 3

Key components of the MNR coalition in Bolivia in the 1950s included all of the following EXCEPT

A) Organized mine workers.
B) Indigenous campesinos.
C) The Bolivian armed forces.
D) Middle-class reformers and intellectuals.

Answer 3

C

Question 4

Which of the following statements about Venezuelan economic policy in the 1960s and 1970s is FALSE?

A) The policy of "sowing the petroleum" used oil revenues to raise agricultural productivity, making Venezuela self-sufficient in most basic foods.
B) The government managed to nationalize the oil industry while remaining on good terms with the foreign oil companies and the US government.
C) Organized labor and the urban middle class prospered, but the rural poor were relatively neglected.
D) The oil-revenue boom of the 1970s created problems of debt, bureaucratic bloat, and corruption that discredited the political class.

Question 5

Juan José Arévalo's "spiritual socialism" included all of the following EXCEPT

A) Extending basic public health, social security, and rural education programs.
B) Broadening the membership of both urban and rural labor unions.
C) Lifting restrictions on political organizing and free speech and extending voting rights to women.
D) Bringing Communist advisors into the cabinet.

Question 6

In the 1940s Cuba was a democracy with one of the largest middle classes in Latin America.

Question 7

Which of the following statements is FALSE?

A) The Cuban Revolution greatly expanded access to education and health care for all Cubans, free of charge, achieving literacy and life-expectancy rates exceeding those in the United States.
B) While maintaining the support of the poor and working classes, Castro's government gradually alienated many of its initial middle-class supporters.
C) Fidel Castro was a committed Communist at the time he came to power in early 1959.
D) Castro's government created a police state with local networks of informants and a nationwide system of prison camps for political dissidents and social "scum" including homosexuals and religious people.

Question 8

Which of the following statements is FALSE?

A) Cuba was simultaneously a de facto Soviet ally and a leading member of the Non-Aligned Movement in the Third World.
B) After a few years, the Cuban Revolution's poor record on human rights and economic growth dissipated most of its support on the Latin American Left.
C) Cuba sent tens of thousands of troops to fight in anti colonial and civil wars in southern Africa, where Cuban intervention proved decisive.
D) Cuba sent doctors and medical assistance to countries throughout Latin America and Africa, and subsidized the studies of students who came to the island for education and revolutionary training.

Question 9

After Perón's ouster in 1955

A) Most of the Argentine Left rejected Peronism for orthodox Marxism.
B) Perón himself spent over 17 years in exile before returning to the country and soon to the presidency.
C) Perón continued to exercise control and ideological discipline of his movement without holding office.
D) The Argentine military imposed order on Argentine politics and ensured a smooth transition back to democracy.

Question 10

The 1973 massacre at Ezeiza airport outside Buenos Aires was carried out by forces loyal to

A) José López Rega, Juan Perón's former personal secretary.
B) The Montoneros.
C) The anti-Peronist senior officers of the Argentine military.
D) The Tupamaros.

Question 11

Che Guevara was able to rally the campesinos and miners of rural Bolivia to the revolutionary cause, but he was betrayed by a subordinate and without his leadership, the insurgency collapsed.

Question 12

Which of the following statements about Chile's Socialist and Communist parties is FALSE?

A) They had served in the coalition government of the Popular Front era (1938-52).
B) They were not the most radical members of Allende's Unidad Popular (UP) coalition.
C) They both supported Salvador Allende in the 1970 presidential election.
D) They were divided over whether electoral politics or armed revolution was the best way forward for Chilean Marxism.

Question 13

Which of the following statements about Chile's economy under Salvador Allende's administration is FALSE?

A) The price controls imposed on food products to tame inflation ended up alienating farmers and retailers and led to shortages of basic goods.
B) Allende's land-reform measures were more aggressive than the previous Christian Democrat-led government, but not rapid or radical enough for many landless campesinos and for the MIR.
C) The nationalization of the foreign-owned copper companies was a particularly unpopular measure both within the coalition and for the centrist opposition.
D) The expansion of government health and education and social-welfare spending led to large budget deficits.

Question 14

While General Velasco alienated landowning elites and the business class, he successfully cultivated the support of the urban poor and organized labor as a means of staying in power.

Question 15

Carlos Fuentes' The Death of Artemio Cruz and Mario Vargas Llosa's Conversation in the Cathedral used individual stories to criticize the cynicism and corruption of the political elites in their respective countries.