Historically, the Middle and South American countries have been of interest to the United States primarily as sources of raw materials and foodstuffs. Until recently, most large U. S. investments went into the development of these products and of the transportation facilities necessary to move in machinery and supplies, and get out raw materials. The development of sugar plantations and mills in Cuba, railways and mines in northern Mexico, oil wells in Venezuela, copper mines in Chile and Peru illustrate the process. And, of course, this investment and the exports arising out of the investment, gave a great stimulus to sales of U. S. goods.

The period from the 1870's to the mid-1920's was the classic period of economic development in Latin America and witnessed a tremendous inflow of people and investment capital. Movements of immigrants, capita], and goods constituted an indissoluble trinity. Much of our literature on Latin America reflects a nostalgia for this golden era.

“To our sister republics south of our border, we offer a special pledge — to convert our good words into good deeds — in a new alliance for progress to assist free men and free government in casting off the chains of poverty.” Con estas palabras en su discurso inaugural el joven Presidente de los Estados Unidos de América se comprometió a unir el Hemisferio en una alianza para el progreso.

The year 1959 was a crucial one for Venezuela. Politically, it marked the end of an era of military dictatorship. Economically, with the appearance of a world surplus of oil, it marked the termination of a period of prosperity unique in type and unparalleled in degree. This turning point in the destiny of the nation would seem to be a fitting time for an appraisal of Venezuela's recent growth record.

Such an appraisal reveals the fact that during the past twenty years Venezuela's remarkable economic gains were brought about by a unique combination of growth factors. Some of these Venezuela possessed in common with other Latin-American countries. But others, in particular those of a spatial and temporal character, have been singularly its own.

For more than a decade, enormous attention has been given by academic economists, researchers, and policy makers to the problem of economic growth of the less-developed countries. The aspirations of leaders and the people of these countries for accelerated economic progress which has been characterized by the apt phrases the “revolution of rising expectations,” and the “New Awakening,” have played a major role in this new orientation in economic thought and action. Another interesting fact is that governments have emerged as consciously active “agents of change” carrying a heavy responsibüity for the success or failure of development programs.

Los años posteriores a la segunda guerra mundial han sido testigos de un creciente interés por el estado de los países subdesarrollados del mundo. Estos países — históricamente sujetos a condiciones extremas de pobreza y estancamiento — comenzaron a esforzarse con inusitada energía por mejorar su situación dentro de la realidad económica prevalente. Al mismo tiempo, los países desarrollados — especialmente Estados Unidos — acusaron una mayor preocupación por el bienestar de los pueblos de las regiones poco avanzadas, provocada en gran parte por las profundas implicaciones planteadas por la “revolución de crecientes esperanzas” dentro de la situación global del panorama internacional.

The United States Government, over the past several years, has endeavored to utilize its abundance of agricultural commodities for the promotion of economic development in certain foreign locales. The disposal of surplus food and fiber products purportedly serves the dual purpose of alleviation of domestic over-production and assistance to underdeveloped countries engaged in a struggle for economic advancement. The two programs which attempt an integration of surplus disposal with foreign economic assistance are Section 402 of the Mutual Security Act and the Agricultural Trade Development and Assistance Act (PL 480).

There is a newly-respectable school of economics which claims that a little inflation is a good thing and necessary to sustain a high rate of economic growth. It has not even been deterred by the experience of the recession of 1958, by which time normal market forces had been tampered with to such an extent that the United States was treated to the novel and startling spectacle of continued inflation in the midst of a downturn in the productive sectors of the economy. These same economists view inflation not only as a good thing in the developed, industrialized nations, but as practically a necessity in the underdeveloped countries. They thus give aid and comfort to those elements in the underdeveloped areas which are attempting to find an easy solution to the problem of industrial growth, a problem which took the advanced countries many decades and much work and social upheaval to solve.

Margarita Island, Venezuela, located at the southeastern corner of the Caribbean, has been exporting people to mainland Venezuela for over 450 years (Fig. 1). However, over the years the reasons for the migration and the character of the migrants have changed. Within a few years of the island's discovery in 1498, some of the aboriginal inhabitants, the Guayquerí Indians, moved to the mainland. Perhaps this was the result of a falling out with the Spaniards. Others became loyal allies of the Spaniards and accompanied them as auxiliary troops in the Spanish invasions of the mainland. About 1550, some Guayquerí began to move from Margarita into areas along the Paria-Cumaná coast which, as the result of Spanish invasions and slave raids, had lost much of their native Indian population. Eventually, the Guayquerí remaining on the island were almost entirely absorbed into the mestizo population of Margarita. The islanders — Margariteños now — continued migrating to the mainland.

“A new Latin America is rapidly emerging” — this has been the message of many Hispanic-American social scientists. The traditional order, under which a landed aristocracy, a praetorian military caste, and a Catholic church hierarchy monopolized power, wealth, prestige, and influence, is crumbling. Society is in a state of upheaval; politics is being revolutionized; the economy is undergoing a fundamental transformation; new institutional forms are reshaping the environment.

The extent and intensity of change among the various Latin-American countries has been uneven. At one extreme is Mexico whose “new look” strikes nearly all contemporary observers. Meanwhile, neighboring Nicaragua still lives in the nineteenth century. Despite their distinct identities, however, all the Latin-American states have felt the impact of fundamental shifts in the recent world environment.

The Argentine military emerged as a major political force with its overthrow of the Irigoyen government in September, 1930. It remains an active political force to this day. The role the military has played during this period has varied in terms of the specific objectives sought, the methods used, and the intensity of its action, but at no time did it cease to be a political force, at no time have the governing authorities whether military or civilian been able to discount its desires or demands. The purpose of this paper is to analyze the nature of the role the military played between 1930 and 1958 and to attempt an assessment of its more recent activities. As used in this paper, the term “military” will refer to the officers, active and retired, of the three armed services. The oneyear conscripts who have comprised the bulk of the enlisted men in the army and a substantial part of those of the navy and air force have never been initiators of political action.