Latin America, 1946–1991

After the Second World War industrialisation and urban growth continued in Latin America, but social inequality remained; in the Cold War the region became an arena of US–Soviet rivalry. In Cuba on 1 January 1959 rebels led by Fidel Castro took power, land reform and nationalisation of industry were carried out, relations with the USA became tense (the Bay of Pigs invasion of 1961, a US embargo from the early 1960s) and Cuba drew closer to the USSR; the Cuban Missile Crisis occurred in 1962. In Chile in 1970 the Popular Unity bloc led by Salvador Allende came to power through elections and began nationalising industry and copper mines; on 11 September 1973 a military coup led by General Augusto Pinochet overthrew Allende’s government, and military rule lasted until 1990; during it thousands of people were persecuted, killed or disappeared, and market-oriented economic reforms were introduced. In Mexico the government, relying on the state sector and domestic industry, achieved fast growth in the 1940s–1960s, while the debt crisis of the 1980s raised unemployment and foreign debt. Argentina had the era of Juan Perón (1946–1955, 1973–1974) and military rule in 1976–1983; democracy was restored after the Falklands war of 1982. In the 1980s in many Latin American countries (Argentina, Brazil, Uruguay, Chile and others) military regimes were replaced by civilian governments; because of heavy foreign debt this period is also called the “lost decade”.