Latin America Post-Test Review

When looking at the economic continuum of Latin American economies including Mexico, Brazil, and Cuba explain the reasoning for their placement on the continuum. Be sure to address how the countries answer the questions; what to produce?, how to produce?, for whom to produce?

<-----------------|------------------------|--------------|---------------------->

---------------Cuba------------------ Brazil------ Mexico-------------------

• Cuba is closer to a command economy because the government answers the basic economic questions

• Brazil is closer to the middle because they have a mixture of government control and individual businesses with more government control of industry

• Mexico is located between mixed and market economy. There is still government regulation, but many businesses and industry are privately owned

• All three answer choices are correct.

Mexico, Brazil, and Cuba have chief executives called the president. What are the main differences between citizen participation and leadership in those countries?

• Brazil is a parliamentary democracy while both Cuba and Mexico are presidential democracies. Voting is mandatory in Brazil and Mexico.

• Mexico is a presidential democracy while Cuba and Brazil are parliamentary democracies. Voting is mandatory in Brazil and Cuba.

• Brazil and Mexico are presidential democracies and voting is mandatory. Cuba is an autocracy since they have only one legal political party.

• Although all three countries have presidents, Cuba is not considered a democracy because they have only one legal political party. Brazil is not a democracy because citizens are required to vote. Only Mexico is a democracy.

The number of people living in extreme poverty in Latin America increased in 2017 to the highest level in almost a decade despite an improvement in government social spending policies, a United Nations agency said on Tuesday. The Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC) said the proportion of people in extreme poverty, which is characterized by lack of access to basic human necessities like food and shelter, rose to 10.2 percent of the population in 2017, or 62 million people, from 9.9 percent in 2016. The figure is the highest since 2008 and largely due to an economic deterioration in Brazil, which has only begun to rebound in the last year from its worst recession in decades. Brazil has about 200 million people, making it Latin America’s most populous nation. “We had years of very low economic growth and the impact has been mostly in unemployment,” Alicia Bárcena, executive secretary of ECLAC, told Reuters in Santiago, Chile. Poverty on a more generalized basis declined in Chile, El Salvador and the Dominican Republic from 2012 to 2017, largely due to an increase in work income. But conditions worsened in Brazil, with extreme poverty rising to 5.5 percent of the population in 2017, from 5.1 percent in the previous year, ECLAC said.

According to the passage what is one major problem for Latin American countries?

• drugs

• migration

• poverty

• unemployment

Which country has had the most impact on economic conditions in Latin America?

• Chile

• Brazil

• El Salvador

• The Dominican Republic

As a result of the Columbian Exchange the population of Latin America decreased. How did the European colonizers address the problem of a reduced workforce?

• They brought slaves from Africa to work.

• They brought people from China to work.

• They brought poor Europeans to work.

• They brought native americans from America to work.

The primary languages of Latin America are Spanish and Portuguese because Spain and Portugal colonized most of Latin America. How did those countries influence the major religion in Latin America?

• The primary religion in Latin America is Judaism.

• The primary religion in Latin America is Islam.

• The primary religion in Latin America is Protestant.

• The primary religion in Latin America is Christianity

Use the political cartoon to answer the following questions.

The dinosaur represents the U.S. embargo against Cuba. Why did the U.S. put the embargo in place?

• The U.S. wanted to punish Cuba for the Cuban Missile Crisis.

• The U.S. wanted to punish the Soviet Union for supporting Castro.

• The U.S. wanted to punish Cuba for taking over American property and businesses.

• The U.S. wanted to punish Cuba for allowing Castro to stay in power after the Bay of Pigs invasion.

Read the thought bubbles in the political cartoon. What is the other “dinosaur” the woman is referring to?

• the Cold War

• Fidel Castro

• Donald Trump

• the Cuban Revolution

Read the passage to answer the following questions.

Immigration from Latin America has changed since the 1960s. The number of lower-paying jobs in the United States increased, but American workers did not want these jobs. More legal and illegal immigrants arrived to fill them. Latin American countries were facing big changes, too. Money problems and big changes in the governments of several countries meant there were fewer jobs at home. It also made Latin America less safe. Mexico has always sent the largest numbers of migrants to the United States. After a money crisis and a large earthquake, even larger numbers of Mexicans came to the United States. In the Central American countries south of Mexico, people left to flee government revolutions and violence. At the other end, people looking for high-paying jobs have left South America to come to the United States. There are not enough good jobs for them in their home countries.

According the passage which areas of Latin America do most migrants come from?

• Central America, South America, Brazil

• South America and Central America

• South America, Central America, Mexico

• Central America, South America, the Caribbean

Latin American migration to the United States has become a problem in our country. What are the main reasons people migrate from Latin America to the United States?

• Jobs - higher paying jobs in the U.S., or few jobs in their country, or more jobs in the U.S.

• Safety - escaping government revolutions or violence in their country

• A money crisis and earthquake forced an even larger number of Mexicans to emigrate to the US.

• All three choices are correct