Actualités Amerique Latine

1. Press Review
LATIN AMERICA
Amandine CASTELLON
Caroline De MASSINI
Promotion 2017, univers E
Nikki Papadopoulou
May 22, 2014
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2. Table of Contents
Introduction .......................................................... Error! Bookmark not defined.3
A difficult political environment……………………...…………………………………4
High natural risks .............................................. Error! Bookmark not defined.6
A place full of resources ...................................... Error! Bookmark not defined.7
An important place given to religion ...................... Error! Bookmark not defined.8
The futur of Latin America……………….…………………………………………………...9
Bibliography…………………………………………………………………………………….10
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3. Introduction
Latin America is a sub region of the
Americans wich include 19 countries (Argentina,
Bolivia, Bresil, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Cuba,
Equateur, Guate mala, honduras, mexico,
Nicaragua, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, Republica
Dominicana, Salvador, Uruguay, y Venezuela). In
those countries, spanish is the official language,
except for Bresil wich is portuguese. The population
was estimated at more than 604 million in 2013.
In fact, Latin America is an important part of
the world and has been develop over the past years.
After some military dictatorship, almost all
countries became democratic. This part of the world
full of natural resources is linked with the world
through different organisations as MERCOSUR,
N.A.F.T.A, UNASUR.
However, there are still a lot of inequalities in
Latin America. It’s possible to notice a lack of
infrastructure, social and spatial inequalities. People
are affected by unemployment, poverty and a
difficult access to education. This area has heavy environmental and climate risk too, wich
represent a big problem.
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4. A difficult political
environment…
As we all know, Latin America is a
place where a lot of political problems took and
still take place. Despite the fact that nowadays,
all countries in Latin America are democratic,
conflicts remain between different countries.
We all heard about Venezuela, where a lot of problems persist. In February,
demonstrations took place in Caracas and violence erupted during these antigovernment
protests. Many students from Venezuela demonstrate about the crisis that happening in the
country. They have no liberty expression and they are restricted of basic necessities.
Leopoldo López, a famous politician against the Maduro’s government, has helped promote
the protests against Mr. Maduro’s 10-month-old government. But after, a group of a few
hundred youths threw rocks at the police, broke windows in government buildings and set
some police vehicles on fire. Two protesters and a
government supporter were shot to death.
A lot of people try to denounce this violence and
want to inform the world of what is happening in their
country. This is the case of many Beauty Queens who had
post publications on twitter “#PrayForVenezuela” after
the death of a Venezuelan Beauty Queen who has been
shot in head during a protest.
« How long are we going to
live like this ? How long do
we have to tolerate this
pressure, with them killing
us ? »
- One of the many relatives
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5. … with a lot of progress
Nevertheless, we can notice that Latin America is trying to growth. For instance,
Brazil become the 8th most powerful country in the world, a big part of Latin America which
is more and more opened to the world.
Many countries of Latin America are linked with other parts of the world. That’s the
case for Mexico which is a part of N.A.F.T.A, an agreement between north American
countries. In February, The president of USA Barack Obama met the president of Canada
and Mexico. They discussed about different agreements like trade or immigration. USA and
Canada want to make more exchanges with Mexico because it is a country which has a lot
of resources. Even if there are few results on immigration and trade, they tried to discuss
about that and to find solutions to make exchanges easier and better for the economy.
In Uruguay, the president José Mujica
introduced a new rule about Marijuana, which
shows the beginning of the development of the
country. He regulated the drug market in Uruguay.
This thing makes developed the country in a good
way that the economy of the drug is now a benefit
for the country.
Moreover, Obama said that he was impressed with
the progress in Uruguay thanks to Mujica, the
president of the country. Indeed, Obama thinks that
Mujica is a leader on human rights in the continent
of Latin America. And in the cultural plan, Mujica
wants to do something better for the student and the people who live in his country. He also
wants to make Uruguay a bilingual country.
José Mujica with Barack Obama before their meeting
in the Oval Office May 12, 2014.
To summarize, Latin America is increasing more and more despite all the
economical, political and social problems that we can’t deny. All countries don’t have the
same way of development and the same inequalities but they try to be competitive to be
included in the world economy.
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6. High Natural Risks
Latin America is one of the
world area most touched by natural
disaster. Earthquakes, landslides,
volcanic eruptions or hurricanes are
common in these countries. Natural
disasters have destructive and deadly
effects on the entire region. It is a big
problem for this continent. Indeed in
2010 there was a terrible earthquake in
Chile. We can remember the fact that
thirty-three minors were blocked in a
mine.
Others events occurred, that is show the
fragility of the territory. Infrastructures are fragile and not build for this kind of events.
A chilean building that did not survive to the earthquake.
Recently there were others natural disaster which happened in this continent. Two
weeks ago, a huge wildfire took place in Valparaiso. Valparaiso is a city which is declared
Cultural Heritage of Humanity by UNESCO since 2003. This wildfire destroyed 2,000
homes and killed twelve people.
All of these disasters imply a lot of
money to repair the damages caused by
them, a lot of time and also a lot of help.
To summarize, natural disasters
represent a huge problem in Latin
America in its development.
Fire at Valparaiso led to the evacuation
of 10,000 people
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7. A place full of resources
Latin America is a continent with a la of resources as raw material, water,
investment or tourism for instance.
Oil reserves are really presents in Latin America and are coveted. Venezuela has the
largest oil reserves in the world with almost 80 billions of barrels of oil. But it is not the only
country which has oil reserves, Ecuador has too for instance.
All these resources are very coveted, and causing
problems. In Yasuni Park, there is a great oil reserve
which caused problems with some environment
groups. They want to destroy the site to recover the
oil. But this is a beautiful site of Ecuador and there is
one population who leave in there. There are activists
who fight for the right of this population and to not
destroy this beautiful park. They try to obtain a
referendum with the help of signatures in petitions.
But oil reserves are not
the only source of profit. Latin
America hosts a lot of tourism
per year. There are more than 150
tourists sites in Latin America. It is a
continent that attracts more and
more tourists by all the famous
An Amazon Indian woman holds a
poster that reads in Spanish: 'Down with
oil. Up with life' during a protest against
the extraction of oil from the Yasuni
national park.
landscapes and places that we can find there. New amazing hotels are
builted to make the country attractive like plane hotel, an hotel in a
desert of salt, or Costa Verde Hotel whish is a real body of an old
Boeing 727. All of these are made to attract people because tourisms are very important for
the development of the country. However, some tourists are very disrespectful in Latin
America. That is the case of some tourists who get naked in the Machu Picchu and who
taking pictures. Unfortunately, this kind of thing happens more and more often. Latin
America has to be aware of that to give a good image of the continent and to still be
attractive. That’s the case with the World Cup which is going to attract a lot of people.
Despite some problem of slow construction, all the stadiums are almost ready to host 4
millions of people. Brazil spend 9 billions of euros to this events which promises to be huge !
Costa Verde Hotel in Costa Rica
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8. An important place given to religion
In Latin America, religion is very important. In 2010, more than 30% of Catholics
live in Latin America. In this part of the world, religion is very important and takes a big
place in people’s lives.
Latin people are very strict and traditions are very important.
Since 2013, the new pope comes from Argentina, an influent country of Latin America.
Latin people tend to be very strict and close-minded,
and are very implicated regarding
religion. The new pope, The Pope Francis, is
really open minded, and since his election, he’s
really appreciated. He is involved in what he is
doing and doesn’t hesitate to show what he is
thinking about questions of actuality as gay
marriage or abortion.
He has recently said that cannot judge
lesbian or gay people. “Who am I to judge?” He
believes that everyone has the right to have a
religion in spite of his orientation sexual.
Moreover the first lesbian’s child was baptized in
a Church in Argentina (Cordoba).
« Who am I to judge ? »
- Pope Francis
The pope gives a new image of the religion. Thanks to him, people have a different
point of view regarding religion, which is more modern. The pope is more present and more
accessible to everyone.
Moreover, that is the first time that a pope made the cover of “Rollings Stones”,
which shows that the pope Francis is not considering like the other popes. He is “cooler”
and he changes a lot of acts of the Vatican. He is considered like a real star.
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9. The future of Latin America
Latin America is in a good way to growth. Nowadays, we can not deny the
importance of these countries. There political system became stable, they are linked with
important countries, they have a lot of resources, they exchange with the whole world and
their living conditions have improved.
We think that thanks to new rule or to new agreement with others countries, Latin
America is going to be an important and a powerful continent in the next few years. We
won’t act without them. Even if it’s going to take time, almost all countries in Latin
America will wipe off their inequalities to become international countries.
However, they have to be careful and to solve all of them problems which are very
important like human right, or political fights for instance. They also have to stay strong in
front of crisis that are happening right now in the world to not be destabilized by them.
.
To finish with, we wanted to
thank you for these lessons
which give us the
opportunity to learn many
things about the whole
world, and to improve our
way of thinking about
actuality.
Thank you again,
Amandine and Caroline
Amandine and Caroline who are reading news.
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10. Bibliography
« Venezuelan Opposition Chief Surrenders, but Not Without a Rally » February 18, 2014.
The New York Times
« In Mexico Meeting, a Show of Friendship With Few Results on Immigration and Trade »
February 19, 2014. The New York Times
« Venezuelan beauty queen killed in protest » February 19, 2014. The Washington Post
« Pope Francis : Church could support civil unions » March 5, 2014. CNN.com
« Peru to tourists :’stop getting naked at Machu Picchu !’ » March 20, 2014. CNN.com
« Brazil World Cup city ‘may drop out’ », 24 march 2014, BBC News
« Powerful earthquake strikes off Chile, triggers tsunami » April 2, 2014. CNN.com
« Lesbians’baby baptized by Catholic Church in Argentina », April 7, 2014. CNN.com
« 10 quirkiest hotels in Latin America », April 11, 2014. CNN.com
« 12 dead in Chile wildfire ; 2,000 homes consumed » April 14, CNN.com
« Yasuni campaigners claim oil drilling petition results are being manipulated » April 30,
2014. The Guardian
« New rules in Uruguay create a legal marijuana market », May 6, 2014, CNN.com
« 6.0-magnitude earthquake shakes southern Mexico », May 10 ; 2014. CCN.com
« Obama impressed with progress in Mujica’s Urugay », May 12, 2014. BBC. Com
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