OVOLA (three)

1.)    "Che Guevara said that underdevelopment was a dwarf with an enormous head and bloated stomach: its spindly legs and stubby arms do not fit with the rest of the body." (page 78). Galeano speaks about underdevelopment of Brazil due to the rubber trade in pages 87-91, the underdevelopment of Venezuela due to the caco trade in pages 91-94, the underdevelopment of El Salvador, Guatemala, Costa Rica, Haiti, and Columbia due to the coffee trade in pages 97-99. Pick one of those sections and write an analogy like Che did that will describe how that industry affected the population. For example the coffee trade in Guatemala was like... Support your analogy with three examples from the text.

The coffee trade in Brazil was like an ocean of sharks because it caused the local peoples there so many problems but did nothing to the men with ships. 1. Brazil got about half of its export income from coffee. This means that the economy was very dependent on this crop. 2. Coffee brought inflation to Brazil. 3. Many areas with rich, fertile land were used to grow coffee. The production of coffee did not help the people of Brazil or Latin America, it helped the already rich in Europe.    

2.)    This chapter really focuses on how a country's dependence on a single crop deforms the economy. How does producing only one crop really distort trade relationships?

When all of the land in one area is used to grow only one crop, then this makes that country dependent on the imports from other countries. So a country might produce and export a certain amount of product, but then they have to turn right back around and buy basic necessities to live. Also with one crop you have the gamble that the year’s production might not be good or that the rest of the world could flood the market with the same good thereby lowering the price of that good.  

3.)    On page 104 there is an extremely provocative quote for a brutal official of the Columbian war described in the preceding pages. When confronted after the war Galeano quotes him saying that he did not feel individually guilty for the atrocities he committed since the horror of the violence was merely the horror of the system. Respond.

I believe that people do a lot of terrible things for all different reasons. For this specific example I feel as if war gets the best of people. When you are constantly around fighting and killing is would be easy to get caught up in the excuse that you did this because of the war. I have never believed that violence was ever the answer, but you can get pretty warped from the experiences you have to do and witness.  Anger controls action and I am not in any means justifying his actions, however, I can say that I can understand and although it is not the best way to release hostility this type of reaction is common and unfortunately normal.