Beyond a century, however, tradition is of no value. The pre-Hispanic Tarascans and those of a few generations ago are merged into “antepasados” and unless an historically known event is referred to, it is difficult to know to what period a tradition refers.

—Ralph L. Beals, Pedro Carrasco, and Thomas McCorkle, 1944

This article examines the emergence and transformation of the legendary Vasco de Quiroga from the eighteenth to the twentieth centuries. It argues that from the mid-eighteenth century onward Vasco de Quiroga has been transformed into a humanist icon due to the shifting needs of various “historical presents.” Today Vasco de Quiroga is remembered for the utopian communities he dreamed of establishing among the “Indians” of Michoacán, where he served as the first bishop from 1536-1565. However, the traditional image of Vasco de Quiroga as a saintly father figure who understood and was beloved by his Indian charges is best understood as an after-the-fact reconstruction rooted more in colonial discourse, creole perceptions and the formation of modern Mexican nationalism than the sixteenth-century past.

The creation of the new banana enclave on Costa Rica's Pacific coast in the 1920s marks a significant watershed in the social and political history of race relations in the country. The culminating event in what was a lengthy battle over the composition of the workforce on the new plantations was the signing of the 1934 banana contract between the government of Costa Rica and the United Fruit Company. In addition to allowing for the continued growth of the industry in Costa Rica, the agreement took aim at the West Indian immigrant by prohibiting “people of colour” from working for United Fruit on the Pacific coast. Subsequent to the agreement, the state made a conscious effort to force the integration of the West Indian community. The government closed English schools, pushed farmers off their land, and deported West Indians in order to purge the province of Limón of people who were not citizens, but who belonged to a well-established immigrant community. As a result, resident West Indians were forced to re-examine their relationship with the country and they engaged in a protracted struggle to overcome heightened levels of discrimination.

Before the Spanish-Cuban-American War of 1898, Protestantism and Cuban nationalism coexisted relatively comfortably and even naturally, the function of a Protestant movement under Spanish colonialism that, unlike the rest of Latin America, was run not by North American or English missionaries, but by Cuban ministers. After United States intervention in 1898, U.S. interests were imposed on virtually every sector of Cuban society, including organized Protestantism, influencing Cuba's development for at least the next half-century. Preempted by U.S. intervention, Cuban nationalism, in both its ecclesiastical and secular dimensions, endured and intensified with the deepening of Cubans' dependency on the U.S. Politically, Cuban nationalism was expressed in growing protests and demands for a more genuine independence by abrogating the Platt Amendment and otherwise ending U.S. interventionism. Ecclesiastically, Cubans pushed for a greater role in Protestant church affairs, and toward Cubanization of the Church. Protestant missions thus confronted a rising nationalism within and outside the Church. By 1920, eastern Cuba, the cradle of Cuban independence, became the epicenter of this struggle.

“En la NUEVA ARGENTINA, el pueblo gozará ampliamente del CREDITO para su beneficio. Los hombres de campo podrán adquirir con él su parcela, su casa y las maquinarias que requiera su labor.”(2do. Plan Quinquenal al alcance de los niños, para 5to. y 6to. grados, 1953, p. 44)

La Argentina de los años 1940:

“Es necesario que el país conozca francamente los serios extremos a que se aproxima su situatinón económica. […] Grandes excedentes de productos invendibles significan intenso malestar en la campaña, crisis industrial, desocupación y zozobra en las ciudades, postración general en todas las actividades del país, con repercusiones sociales de imprevisible alcance.” Así presenta, en 1940, ante el Senado Nacional su plan de reactivación económica el Ministro de Hacienda Federico Pinedo, en un intento por formular una propuesta que se anticipe a los efectos del fin de la Segunda Guerra Mundial. El proyecto se esfuerza por conciliar industrialización y economía abierta, fomentando el comercio con los Estados Unidos mientras procura crear un mercado de capitales e implementa el subsidio a la producción agraria, a la que sigue considerando como “la gran rueda de la economía” argentina.