Open Veins of Latin America

How does the book’s organization around various Latin American exports (e.g. gold, silver, tin, petroleum, sugar, coffee) impact the discussion of Latin American political and economic history?

As a journalist and writer of Latin American political and economic history, how does Galeano’s tone and style of writing fit or go against conventional academic or journalistic writing about Latin America?

For Galeano, “Open Veins seeks to portray the past as something always convoked by the present, a living memory of our own day” (284). To what extent is this political interpretation of memory resonant throughout the book? What is the role of memory in Galeano’s historical account of Latin America?

Galeano discusses at length how the enslavement of native and black people created the means through which European countries were able to mine, produce, and manage Latin American exports to their economic favor. What does this discussion of slavery in the early colonial period of Latin America imply for the rise of US power over the region? How do present-day labor conditions speak to this history of enslavement?

Scholars often herald Open Veins of Latin America as a comprehensive discussion of the birth and evolution of capitalism. For Galeano, when was capitalism born? What major forces shaped how it looks today for Latin America?

Throughout Open Veins of Latin America, Galeano marks the transitions in power between European countries and the US over Latin America. What are the major transitions in power? Why is it essential to discuss these transitions?

Galeano refers to the subimperialism of Latin America, which is the subjugation of smaller countries by larger and more affluent ones in the region. Why is this discussion of subimperialism important to illustrate the impacts of European and US colonization of Latin America? How are these global colonial efforts related to the power struggle among countries in Latin America?

While Galeano’s discussion of Latin American authoritarian regimes describes a culture of repression, what instances of rebellion by the most marginalized classes does he offer? What interpretations of Latin America’s political and economic history do these descriptions of resistance activities offer to the critical reader?