Open Veins of Latin America

Galeano writes the final part of Open Veins of Latin America seven years after the publication of the first two parts of the book. In this concluding part, Galeano explains that numerous Latin American countries banned his book, given its critiques of dictatorships that collude with the interests of US and European multinational corporations. He is aware that he has not written “a mute book” (283), and intends to describe how political and economic conditions have worsened since the book’s 1971 publication.

Despite the worsening conditions, he senses the uprising of the Latin American people and the push towards true structural change. Galeano names General Juan Velasco Alvarado of Peru as an example of a leader who tried to push for agrarian reform away from foreign capital. Velasco Alvarado’s passing in 1977 was a mournful time for the poor and working-class people of Peru. At the same time, a handful of women and children led a miners’ strike in Bolivia despite General Hugo Banzer’s government’s brutal opposition to strikers. The strike galvanized thousands of students and workers, forcing the government to accept amnesty for prisoners.

Galeano also mourns the passing of Chile’s former President Salvador Allende in 1973, which gave rise to the rule of Augusto Pinochet. A ruthless dictator, the military insurrection against Allende’s administration was violent and Pinochet’s governance over Chile reflected such brutality. Pinochet’s rise to power did not happen alone as it was the US that provided $290 million of direct aid in 1976 to support the dictatorship. This was not an isolated incident for the US, which had a long history of intervention in Latin American politics for its own financial benefit. Galeano asks:

Do we perhaps understand that the militarization of poor countries’ regimes is one of the consequences of economic and cultural domination by the industrialized countries, where life is ruled by the lust for profits and the power of money? (291).

By 1975, Latin American external debt had grown three times the amount of 1969. Wages continued to be low while unemployment is on the rise. The growing dependency on Western technology continues to foster these inequities. Populations are vastly expanding. An International Labor Organization study reported once that there were 110 million people living in “serious poverty” (300) in Latin America.

To manage social unrest due to rising inequities, Latin American governments exercise political repression with US aid. In Chile, the government kills protesters, while Argentina kidnaps and disappears dissenters. Meanwhile, it has become commonplace to inform on one’s neighbor in Uruguay. In these ways, “State terrorism aims to paralyze the population with fear” (301).

Galeano concludes by sharing that “memory is subversive” (303), and reiterates the aims of his book, which is to remind the Latin American people of the history of colonial exploitation leading to their modern-day political and economic circumstances. He shares that the acts of violence and destruction enacted by the US, Europe, and colluding Latin American governments must meet their eventual end, encouraging readers to participate in “an act of creation” (303) to create true structural change.