Photo by Ali Meizels ’23
Professors Mosby, Huezo and Pitetta spoke on the “What’s Happening in Latin America” panel, which was co-hosted by multiple departments.
BY SOPHIE SOLOWAY ’23
The Spanish, Latina/o and Latin American studies department hosted an interdepartmental panel titled, “What’s Happening in Latin America” on Thursday, Feb. 20. The panel aimed to address the events that have taken place in the region over the past few months. Professor Justin Crumbaugh moderated as Professors Adrianna Pitetta, Dorothy Mosby, Lowell Gudmunson, Stephanie Huezo and William Girard spoke on their individual areas of study in relation to the ongoing protests, governmental transitions and U.S. immigration policies that have shaped current events in Latin America.
The talk came out of a brainstorm during a departmental meeting, according to Professor Stephanie Huezo.
“Crombough held a meeting to talk about the future of Latin American Studies,” Huezo said. “During our conversation, we talked about the various events that were happening in Latin America. We decided that it would be great if we shared this discussion with the broader Mount Holyoke community.”
Topics ranged from rising Pentecostal movements in Bolivia and Brazil to the disproportionate impacts of environmental change on Honduras and other Caribbean nations, to the role of U.S. interventionism in creating migratory crises. Students from across disciplines gathered to hear these insights on decades of Latin American struggle for liberation and economic empowerment.
“I went because I’m taking a Spanish language class and it’s important for me to know what’s going on in the countries [and] cultures of the language I’m studying,” Meg Bonilla ’23 said. “Part of my family is from Honduras and it’s really crucial to me to be educated on the state, especially regarding their government officials and policies and the tumultuousness that has plagued their government … I honestly went in thinking I was just going to listen but I wound up taking pages of notes.”
Several Latin American nations have experienced protests within recent months. Chile — the “first laboratory of neoliberal policy,” according to Pintetta — witnessed immense national solidarity movements sparked by the increased price of public transportation and centered around the country’s drastic wealth disparity.
Similarly, protests in Ecuador successfully forced the government to reinstate oil subsidies that reduce energy costs for the country’s poorest citizens. These actions were successful in spite of the criminalization of protests instated due to racist rhetoric that targeted the movement’s indigenous leadership.
In addition to the movements in Chile and Ecuador, protests have recently emerged in the Dominican Republic, where “technical difficulties” interrupted the country’s elections on Feb. 16. The next day, hundreds gathered for a peaceful protest outside of the nation’s Central Electoral Board (JCE), according to The Guardian. As thousands continued to join these protests in the following days — despite state-sponsored tear gas bombs and police violence — calls continued for increased electoral transparency.
“The Dominican community, both in [the] DR and in the diaspora, have accused JCE and the Dominican Liberation Party (PLD) of electoral fraud,” Huezo said. “PLD has had local and national power over the country for 18 years, and some Dominican citizens have argued that [the] DR’s government is headed toward a dictatorship.”
Thursday’s panelists highlighted the role that U.S. intervention plays in shaping political and economic conditions in various countries across Latin America. Gudmunson, a Latin American historian, often highlighted the historical context of neoliberalism and the end of the “pink wave” — the widespread leftist movements that replaced Latin American neoliberal leaderships in the early 2000s. Huezo focused her talk on modern-day United States immigration policy and its impact on the region.
Huezo pointed to two recent policy changes — the “Better Protection Program” and the “Safe Third Country Agreement” — which, in an attempt to limit the influx of immigrants from Latin America, have forced new immigration patterns into the region’s already complex migratory dynamics.
The former, more often called the “Remain in Mexico” program, forces those seeking asylum to await their U.S. trials in Mexico with little support or protections granted to them. The latter policy allows U.S. officials to send asylum seekers to other countries, such as El Salvador, Guatemala or Honduras, where they may never have even visited previously. After arrival, the asylum seekers are vulnerable to violence which may be similar to that which they fled from in the first place.
“I was honestly so appalled learning about a lot of the immigration injustices,” Bonilla said. “I feel like there’s always something important to be learned on this topic, and I learned so much — especially about the forces trying to stop refugees and asylum-seekers from entering the U.S. and the work to push people on Temporary Protected Status out of the country.”
“Talks like these are so important ... because most knowledge of political science is pretty Americanized and very Euro [or] American-centric,” Bonilla said. “It’s talks like these that ... moved me to do more research, because I was no longer intimidated by my lack of basic knowledge.”