Open Veins of Latin America

The publication of Open Veins in 1971 arrived amid a fast process of militarization that had deep consequences in Latin America between the 1960s and 1970s.[1] This period in Latin America’s history continues to influence the political, social, and economic transformations the region has experienced in the last five decades.[1]

Such a process of militarization manifested in the shape of military coups, which were commonplace in the region during the 1960s. Although some Latin American countries, such as Argentina and Brazil, previously had complex histories of military dictatorships, this time period was characterized by regional integration and an expansive character of repression.[1] Latin American dictatorships were aligned under the anti-Soviet, anti-communist National Security doctrine promoted by the United States during the Cold War.[1]

The integration of Latin America’s military dictatorships occurred through international programs, such as Operation Condor, that sought to eradicate from the region all influences from the left, communism, and revolutionary utopianism.[1] This integration led to widespread violence and repression, and a massive effort to “destroy, torture, and make disappear” the ideological left from Latin American politics.[1][9]

Open Veins of Latin America has a foreword written by Chilean writer Isabel Allende, followed by a preface by Galeano titled “In Defense of the Word” and a series of acknowledgments. The book has an introduction titled “120 Million Children in the Eye of the Hurricane,” and it is then divided into three parts: “Part I: Mankind’s poverty as a consequence of the wealth of the land;” “Part II: Development is a voyage with more shipwrecks than navigators;” and “Part III: Seven Years After.”

Each of the first two parts has subcategories. Part I is divided into “Lust for Gold, Lust for Silver,” “King Sugar and Other Agricultural Monarchs,” and “The Invisible Sources of Power.” Part II is divided into “Tales of Premature Death” and “The Contemporary Structure of Plunder.” Lastly, Part III is considered to be the conclusion of the book, and it was written seven years later and annexed to future editions.

In the book, Galeano discusses topics such as the exploitation of natural resources, poverty in Latin America, and the “exportation” of wealth to Europe. He argues that the transfer of such wealth solidified capitalism and, consequently, the development of Europe and the United States.

The book also discusses the progress indigenous communities had achieved by the time the colonizers arrived and seeks to explain why the West, which Galeano refers to as the “North,” is developed whereas the Global South remains underdeveloped. Galeano also criticizes the corruption of the “creole oligarchy,” which refers to the political system in which the distribution of power is concentrated among a few people, often belonging to privileged families from the colonial period. Galeano claims that Latin America’s oligarchy is controlled by foreign powers and has contributed to perpetuating the exploitation of the region.

Open Veins begins with the time of European settlement of the Americas. Galeano narrates how the men of Spanish Conquistador Hernán Cortés destroyed the city of Tenochtitlan, capital of the Mexica Empire, and how Spanish Conquistador Francisco Pizarro, after receiving a ransom equivalent to two rooms filled with gold and silver to free Inca emperor Atahualpa, still decided to kill him. Galeano also discusses how the sugar cane brought by the Spaniards destroyed the ecological landscape of considerable areas of Brazil and the Caribbean. As a whole, Part I of the book focuses on Latin America’s natural resources and how their exploitation generated wealth for the Europeans while exacerbating poverty for Latin Americans. In this section Galeano also emphasizes the suffering European settlement meant for indigenous communities, who were dispossessed of their land, enslaved, and killed.

In Part II, Galeano explains the origin of Colombia’s lengthy armed conflict, driven by the wealth generated by land exploitation and coffee production, and how the ambitions of the American United Fruit Company ignited the Guatemalan Civil War. He also explains the history of violence in Mexico, beginning with the US’s occupation of half its territory in 1848. Throughout this part, Galeano continues to narrate tragic historical events encouraged by the United States and corporations that have led to war, poverty, and suffering. Galeano also explains how foreign companies had as an objective the weakening of Latin American states in order to get access to their resources. He criticizes capitalism and its institutions, including the International Monetary Fund (IMF).

Lastly, in Part III, written 7 years later, Galeano summarizes the events that had taken place since the publication of the book. He argues that the events discussed in the second part of the book continue to happen and that the US continues to dominate the region. He concludes by stating that Latin America’s situation has continued to worsen.

Galeano discusses colonialism in terms of the negative consequences it had in Latin America. He argues that colonialism gave entry to violent capitalism, which, in turn, brought discrimination, exploitation of natural resources, and oppression.

Colonialism transforming into imperialistic exploitation is an important theme of the book: “It is Latin America, the region of open veins. From the discovery to the present day, everything has always been transmuted into European capital or, later, North American capital, and as such it has accumulated and accumulates in the distant centers of power.”

The dependency theory is at the core of Open Veins, which argues that the underdeveloped status of the Global South is not a natural state but rather the result of the economic exploitation of such a region by the developed countries in the North.[10]

Dependency theory opposes modernization theory, which proposes that differentiation, specialized institutions, and certain societal values are necessary for countries to develop. This theory assumes that the pattern of modernization that developed countries took was the correct one, encouraging developing countries to follow in the footsteps of the North.[10][11] While the Modernization theory considers solely internal factors affecting society, the Dependency theory takes into account both internal factors and the role such a society plays in the global context.[11]

Open Veins discusses dependency theory by arguing that Latin America, since colonial times, has been looted by Europe and then by the United States, which explains why Latin America remains underdeveloped. Galeano argued that Latin America was not an example of underdevelopment due to lack of modernization but rather a victim of Europe’s and the US’s exploitation.[11][10] “We lost; others won. But it happens that those who won, won because we lost,” Galeano stated.

Latin America has a long history of expressing its culture of resistance through various means; for instance, during colonization, oral tradition allowed indigenous communities to share their dissent. Since the nineteenth century, this attitude of resistance found its expression through writers who were vocal opponents of imperialist forms of power.[4]

In the twentieth century, this notion was coupled with an increased Pan-American sentiment and led to detailed literature analyzing Latin America’s resistance culture. A common theme among this body of work was the idea of a fragmented Latin American society as a consequence of oppression and violence. Open Veins exemplifies Latin America’s resistance literature of the twentieth century.[4]