Open Veins Of Latinamerica

OPEN VEINS OF LATIN AMERICA

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also by EDUARDO GALEANO Days and Nights of Love and War Memory of Fire: Volume I, Genesis Volume II, Faces and Masks Volume III, Century of the Wind The Book of Embraces

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Eduardo Galeano

OPEN VEINS
of

LATIN AMERICA
FIVE CENTURIES OF THE PILLAGE 0F A CONTINENT Translated by Cedric Belfrage

25TH ANNIVERSARY EDITION
FOREWARD by Isabel AllendeLATIN AMERICA BUREAU London

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Copyright © 1973,1997 by Monthly Review Press All Rights Reserved Originally published as Las venas abiertas de America Latina by Siglo XXI Editores, Mexico, copyright © 1971 by Siglo XXI Editores Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publishing Data Galeano, Eduardo H., 1940[Venas abiertas de America Latina, English] Open veins of Latin America : five centuriesor the pillage of a continent / Eduardo Galeano ; translated by Cedric Belfrage. — 25th anniversary ed. / foreword by Isabel Allende. p. cm. Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 0-85345-991-6 (pbk.:alk.paper).— ISBN 0-85345-990-8 (cloth) 1. Latin America— Economic conditions. 1. Title. HC125.G25313 1997 330.98— dc21 Monthly Review Press 122 West 27th Street New York, NY 10001Manufactured in the United States of America 97-44750 CIP

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“We have maintained a silence closely resembling stupidity”.
--From the Revolutionary Proclamation of the Junta Tuitiva, La Paz, July 16, 1809

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Contents
FOREWORD BY ISABEL ALLENDE ..........................................................IX FROM IN DEFENSE OF THE WORD ........................................................XIVACKNOWLEDGEMENT… … ..........................................................................X INTRODUCTION: 120 MILLION CHILDRENIN THE EYE OF THE HURRICANE .....................................................… ...........1 PART I: MANKIND'S POVERTY AS A CONSEQUENCE OF THE WEALTH OF THE LAND 1. LUST FOR GOLD, LUST FOR SILVER … … … … … … … … … … … … … 2 2. KING SUGAR AND OTHER AGRICULTURALMONARCHS … … … ..59 3. THE INVISIBLE SOURCES OF POWER … … … … … … ..… .… … … … .134 PART II: DEVELOPMENT IS A VOYAGE WITH MORE SHIPWRECKS THAN NAVIGATORS 4. TALES OF PREMATURE DEATH … … … … … … … … … … … .… … … .173 5. THE CONTEMPORARY STRUCTURE OF PLUNDER… … ...… … … ..205 PART III: SEVEN YEARS AFTER ...........................… … … … ...................263 REFERENCES … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … …...… … … … … … … 287

INDEX… … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … .307

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Foreword Isabel Allende
Many years ago, when I was young and still believed that the world could be shaped according to our best intentions and hopes, someone gave me a book with a yellow cover that I devoured in two days with such emotion that I had to read it again a couple more times to absorb allits meaning: Open Veins of Latin America, by Eduardo Galeano. In the early 1970s, Chile was a small island in the tempestuous sea in which history had plunged Latin America, the continent that appears on the map in the form of an ailing heart. We were in the midst of the Socialist government of Salvador Allende, the first Marxist ever to become president in a democratic election, a man who had adream of equality and liberty and the passion to make that dream come true. That book with the yellow covers, however, proved that there were no safe islands in our region, we all shared 500 years of exploitation and colonization, we were all linked by a common fate, we all belonged to the same race of the oppressed. If I had been able to read between the lines, I could have concluded that SalvadorAllende's government was doomed from the beginning. It was the time of the Cold War, and the United States would not allow a leftist experiment to succeed in what Henry Kissinger called "its backyard." The Cuban Revolution was enough; no other socialist project would be tolerated, even if it was the result of a democratic election. On September 11, 1973, a military coup

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ended a century...