Open Veins of Latin America

Section 1 Summary: “As Lungs Need Air, So the U.S. Economy Needs Latin American Minerals”

The US has a vested interest in Latin America for its mineral resources such as petroleum, aluminum, copper, and zinc. These materials are used to fortify US military weapons, design planes, and fuel jet engines. While the US has tried to extract these materials domestically, these resources are not as plentiful within the country as it is abroad. Galeano declares that this means that the US will always seek natural resources elsewhere for its own advancement. He further states, “The internal stability of the world’s greatest power is closely linked with its investments south of the Río Grande” (152).

Section 2 Summary: “By-Products of the Subsoil: Coups d’état, Revolutions, Spy Dramas, Etc.”

For Galeano, there is a link between US intervention in Latin American politics and access to its countries’ resources. For instance, US mining company Bethlehem Steel was able to continue mining manganese in Brazil for four percent of the income of exporting it during the country’s transition to dictatorship. In Venezuela, the pattern of coup d’états seemed to occur after each oil concession. When Cuba nationalized the Nicaro Nickel Company, the US threatened an embargo on French mental exports if France did not stop buying nickel from Cuba.