The Open Veins of Latin America, Part Two

The forced exportation of coffee, bananas, petroleum, and minerals

     During the twentieth century, in the aftermath of the emergence of monopoly capitalism, and facilitated by the development of imperialist policies and neocolonial structures, Latin America continued to play a peripheral role in the world-economy, supplying cheap raw materials to the core on a base of low-waged labor.   Natural resources flowed from the region, as though it were destined to have open veins, as expressed by the imagery of Eduardo Galeano, in his classic work, Open Veins of Latin America, originally published in 1971.

      Coffee, as I noted in my previous post, was first developed as a significant export in the nineteenth century.  Coffee production in the region continued to expand during the twentieth century.  By the 1950s, Latin America produced four-fifths of the coffee that was consumed in the world.  Brazil, El Salvador, Colombia, Guatemala, Costa Rica, and Haiti were the principal producers.  The plantation workers were salaried, but their wages were at th…