Wow took me a while:
A military government is a government that enforces the law and choices made by the government by the military. After WWII many Latin American countries suffered economically; this allowed different types of rule to take over countries while their citizens were weak and easily influenced. Many Latin American citizens were unsure about whether it was a better choice to have a communist or capitalist government. Military governments that took over were affected greatly by people with opposing political ideologies. In the process of trying to handle economic and political problems in the country; propaganda, suppression, and violence were used to conform society.
Propaganda was mostly used to keep people looking up to the government. From posters describing success to posters looking down upon cruel forms of government; propaganda influenced many people and often deluded them about what was really going on in the world. Many citizens that were against their government protested on the streets. In order for the government to not allow protesting to get out of hand, violence was used against protestors to inflict fear and pain upon the protestors. Many news press companies and individuals who continued to publish on controversial terms regarding the government were suppressed and squashed by the government. Unfortunately, this allowed the people in power of the government to elongate their stay in power and increase their influence on their citizens.
“propaganda, suppression, and violence were used to conform society” - this is correct. Your answer would be stronger if you had given specific examples from Latin America.
During the 1800s many indigenous Native American people protested against their oppressive government. Native Americans were looked down upon by Americans and considered subhumans. Many Native Americans protested in forms of kidnapping and other appalling acts which probably weren’t the most intelligent choices to make to protest. I believe the government had good reason to take action against people kidnapping and assaulting others, but I don’t believe targeting the race for what certain people did is right either.
I certainly believe all humans have equal rights. Considering the circumstances in which such a large sum of Indians were slaughtered; I would consider the acts of Guatemalan military forces and Americans killing these people were one of the worst crimes against humanity ever reported in history. During industrial expansions in Guatemala in the 1980s, many indigenous tribes of people didn’t accept the offers by the government to evict them from their land. Many of these native people had families and “trees” that used to give them fruits, and moving out of their territories would require trees and other immunities to be regrown. The indigenous people who did not give up their land left no choice for the government to catch up with other industrial movements going on around the world but to forcefully, brutally evict, and even kill the native people who stood for their land.
These circumstances were very similar to the ones that resulted in the deaths of many Native Americans in the 1800s. The Native Americans were dark-skinned, unarmed, and not deemed intelligent by “civilized” American people. Considering American propaganda looking down upon Native Americans and societal views about dark-skinned people, it was much easier to evict these people and put their resourceful land to industrial use. Similar to the Guatemalan indigenous tribes, many American indigenous people resisted the government's request for their eviction. This resulted in acts of violence to inflict fear on resisting Indians for them to evict their areas. Unfortunately, the government enforced massacres in certain areas of the United States to evict and eliminate the Indian reserves.
Although many reserves still remain both in Guatemala and the United States, Native Americans and Guatemalan indigenous people are still scarred from what happened in early years. Many Natives still have a lingering hatred that dwells on the government led massacres that affected their ancestry. Considering all the violence that took place against these Native Americans, I’m glad that they have managed their own reserves inside the United States with different laws that allow their cultures to continue without interruption.
You have answered all the parts of the question and point out how wrong both governments were in trying to control and eradicate the indigenous people in the US and Guatemala.
Thank you :):):)
