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One possible explanation is in the popular book Las Venas abiertas de América Latina (Open Veins of Latin America) by Eduardo Galeano.

Ah, very sad to hear that. I wrote my BA thesis about his use of metaphors in "Open Veins of Latin America". A very interesting read, and looking back, I quite enjoyed working with it.

disregarding the last point, which I think is rather disrespectful, you have a good point. The open veins of latin america is a good read for those who are interested

The Shock Doctrine: The Rise of Disaster Capitalism, by Naomi Klein (2007)

Open Veins of Latin America: Five Centuries of the Pillage of a Continent, Eudardo Galeano (1971)

Open Veins of Latin America by Eduardo Galeano
http://library.uniteddiversity.coop/More_Books_and_Reports/O...

Well, regarding South America there is a generation that grew up reading "Open Veins of Latin America: Five Centuries of the Pillage of a Continent" (even the author Eduardo Galeano has criticized his own work).

Blaming all the region problems on the "imperialists" and stuff like that is a line of thought still very alive and kicking around here - it is way easier to blame some imaginary entity than taking responsibility for your present situation. It is very inline with the current "outrage porn" culture.

[1] https://www.amazon.com/Open-Veins-Latin-America-Centuries/dp...

Yours is a phenomenal analogy, I thought, but as the comment opening this thread insinuated, you are naive.

> increasing economic disparity hurts underrepresented groups too

Close, but increasing economic disparity hurts underrepresented groups _most_. And, as it's been said, what we have made is only generously defined as progress--and most vehemently by those who seek to halt what little progress we've made as "sufficient".

> If you stick a knife in my back nine inches and pull it out six inches, there's no progress. If you pull it all the way out that's not progress.

This Malcolm X quote does a great job highlighting how the cessation of a particular oppression is hardly progress. Since slavery, Jim Crow, segregation, and Red-Lining, there has been little in the way of reparations to make African American communities whole--not to mention the millions of Mesoamericans(1) similarly exploited in the history of American Imperialism(2), and still to this day(3)!

So, thanks again for that completely brilliantly painted analogy. I hope you find these texts offer some compelling augmentations to your understanding.

1) Eduardo Galeano's "The Open Veins of Latin America"

2) Roxanne Dunbar-Ortiz' "An Indigenous Peoples' History of the United States"

3) CrimethInc's "No Wall They Can Build"

I know I should not respond to ad hominem, but here we go.

When I was young I used to blame "the right" for every real or imaginary problem in the world. I dreamed of revolution. When you are 20, if you are not socialist you don't have a heart, but if you are still socialist at 30 you don't have a brain.

I have a book for you (seriously): "Guide to the Perfect Latin American Idiot". This book cured me from "Open Veins of Latin America" and all the leftist crap around here.

Rabid? Sure I'm pissed off with myself for being so naive (even voted for Lula in his first term, just to see the most corrupt government since the end of the military dictatorship) - but not nearly as rabid as the left wing criminal organizations like the MST:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WCegy3HMVEw
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WyQKO7B85C0

(watch from 0:22s) when they destroyed 7,000 orange trees and got along with it. They damaged heavy machinery, burned down computers, looted employees houses and stole fuel. And got along with it.

These terrorists are funded using my tax payer money by my own schizophrenic government. Everybody that dares to scream "the king is nude" is labeled as a rabid right wing zealot.

Sorry, you're correct. I was inaccurate with my claim. The antipathy towards the US is much stronger in Central America and the Andean regions (Bolivia, Peru, Ecuador, etc)

As for being childish, the US has done a whole lot to earn that enmity. I'd recommend reading Open veins of Latin America, by Eduardo Galeano. It's a difficult read, due in no small part to the author's support of the Cuban Revolution and Castro's government. It helps, however, to recognize that the book was written in 1971, long before it became apparent that the Cuban experiment with Communism had some serious humanitarian costs, despite its successes. At the time, Cuba was the only real counterpoint to American economic imperialism in Latin America, so it's easy to see why he would offer such strong support for that regime.

Despite that, the book is meticulously researched and cited, and many of the events it details are frankly despicable. It's also by no means an attack on the US, as it covers 500 years of history since the Spanish invasion of the continent. It really is a good read.

TIL! The word "Quebracho" is commonly used in slang in Argentina (it is also the name of a political group), but it never occurred to me (!) the connection with "Quebrar Hacha" (break-axe).

As with other natural resources of Latin America, it was subject to exploitation from developed countries [2], causing harm to Native American people and the ecosystem.

In the book "The open veins of Latin America", Galeano explains the interesting fact that the current poorest areas of Latin America are the ones that used to be richer in natural resources, including "the devastated quebracho forests of northern Argentina and Paraguay".

1: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quebracho_(group)

2: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quebracho_tree#Quebracho_explo...

3: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Open_Veins_of_Latin_America

I'd also recommend you to read Eduardo Galeano, his book "Open veins of Latin America", although written in the 70's, is an eye opener to understand why the region is in its current state.
I agree that corruption here in Argentina is everywhere. But not all the money has gone to the elites. Most of that money that was stolen to people went to North American companies.

Of course. Though I wonder if this pattern will change when it comes to the kinds of implants talked about in the article.

As an aside, I'm reading a book (Open Veins of Latin America) and it starts out with the history and how the Spaniards barely needed to do anything to wipe out the Amerindians since there was such a wide gap in weapon technology (plus bacteria) between them.

An implant which literally makes you a better human might be kept highly priced, like a Ferrari, which doesn't come down in price after a few years.

If anyone wants to see this mostly played out in a tv show, Almost Human (episode 10) introduces the notion of "chromes" who are genetically enhanced humans. Inherently better than regular humans, the show has them preferring their own company rather than mixing with regular folk. I'm hoping they'll expand on the concept in further episodes.

Open Veins of Latin America by Eduardo Galeano (the one Chavez gave to Obama in 2009), from 1971.

"In the book Galeano analyzes the history of Latin America as a whole, from the time period of the European settlement of the New World to contemporary Latin America, describing the effects of European and later United States economic exploitation and political dominance over the region."

The main takeaway (I'm not finished yet), as stated early on, seems to be that for a country/region to lose out economically/developmentally, another country/region has to win. It made me think about cause and effect historically, but also in general.

Somewhat relatedly, at least in terms of cause and effect, and with a historical basis in exploitation, is a question I read that was posed by philosopher Peter Singer, also in 1971, based on a paper he wrote called Famine, Affluence, and Morality. In it, an analogy is made where a drowning child in a pond (in the US) needs saving but at the cost of ruining your new shoes. At the same time, an equally in-need child (in Africa) is starving to death and he/she could be saved by foregoing the purchase of the new shoes. Most people would help the drowning child but not the starving one.

You can see Mr. Singer discuss it here (2 min)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eCgmPRxUYDY

Singer on this question and others (9 min)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gVViICWs4dM

A university professor exploring it in more detail (14 min)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pyzv2UWzaos