Title: Contemporary World Issues - Socialism in Latin America
Headings: Contemporary World Issues
Contemporary World Issues
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Socialism in Latin America
Countries with Leftist Leaders
The Meaning of Socialism
Why Socialist Ideals are Popular in Latin America
The Rise of Socialism in Latin America
How You Can Get Involved
The following is an interview with Evo Morales, President of Bolivia, with Jon Stewart from The Daily Show:
Sources

Content: These new sources of income for the countries have provided funds for social programs like education and welfare that were not previously available. There is a gap between a minority, which earns and owns all, and a majority, that earns nothing and owns only their human labor and lives. Why Socialist Ideals are Popular in Latin America
In recent years, socialist ideals have been on the rise in many Latin American countries. The failure of free-market reforms to improve the condition of the poor and promote growth in the economy has caused many Latin Americans to turn to leaders who promote socialist programs in order to find relief for their suffering. Because of Latin America's extreme levels of inequality, massive amounts of impoverished voters have begun to cast their votes for leaders who promise to bring reform for the poor. Massive amounts of inequality have existed in Latin America since the Spanish landed in the Western Hemisphere. Since the conquer of Latin America and its indigenous inhabitants by the Spanish, a small minority of European decendants have controlled the majority of the wealth by exploiting natural resources of the land and the labor of the oppressed. Poverty in Latin America is so severe that a distinction had to be made from the those living at the poverty level and those living at the starvation level. Many citizens of Latin American countries struggle to meet basic nutritional requirements, which is understandable considering that half of the people living there survive on one U.S. dollar per day. The desire of the poor to improve their situation through more educatoin, better healthcare, and more access to land drove them to the leaders with socialist ideas who would aim to refrom a grossly unbalanced system.