Neocolonialism In Latin America

The neocolonial period from 1790-1890 was a turning point in latin American history; Latin America experienced rapid changes in industrialization, transportation, and technological aspects that benefited the few and privileged yet came to the expense of a diverse and culturally vibrant native population. New neocolonial principles rooted in the philosophy of progress created a latin society that condoned the exploitation of many native populations. Due to a combination of European influence and latin American political corruption, many native populations suffered politically, economically, and culturally.

The political aspect of neocolonialism in Latin America was extremely damaging to the majority of the Latin American population, because

Reason being, the Latin American elites sold out their own people, which led to a separation in social class. The people who were kicked out of their lands were turned into workers on the plantations. The owners of the sugar refineries were a prime example of this, they utterly dominated the rural economy and forced the native population to work for them for low wages. “Their wages were low, and they earned them only part of the year” (198). This was a negative impact to the native people due to the fact that their wages weren't enough to even get by, not only was it not enough, they didn't receive income for the whole year which meant they would go without money for a large sum of time. Because of this, many went starving and some even died because of the conditions at which they were living and even by starvation, which would introduce, “the dead time”, named after Cuban cane cutters who were in the midst of this half year of unemployment. Due to lowering of wages and unemployment, “the dead time” was introduced. It was a time at which many rural workers were struggling to make ends meet, not being able to support their families and it even lead some to starvation and later

One significant component of culture that was affected during this time period was a change in the way of the peasant's life before western influences gained control in Latin America the native people owned land that was shared amongst others, which were farmed on to make a living for themselves. Once the concept of progress came, Latin American elites forced these landowners off of their land and into a wave of work that paid in small wages. By being evicted from their land there were landless country people who had grown their own food and supplied their other needs as subsistence farmers for a long period of time. Due to the massive overtake of land, the poverty and struggle were something that the rural people have never experienced before. Poverty forced women and children into the field gangs to make ends meet in order to survive. “To make ends meet, women and children who had formerly stayed close to home, cooking and mending and tending the family’s chickens and garden, now had to join the field gangs who worked under the watchful eye of an overseer” (197). In result, the culture of the people of the rural area changed. They weren't living the same lives as before, they were forced into working harder for less pay. They weren't used to working for someone else but themselves. Therefore, working under