58 pages • 1 hour read
Juan GonzalezHarvest of Empire: A History of Latinos in America
Nonfiction | Book | Adult | Published in 2000A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
Part 3, Chapters 13-14Chapter Summaries & Analyses
Part 3: “Harvest (La Cosecha)”
Chapter 13 Summary: “Free Trade: The Final Conquest of Latin America”
US transnational firms began to shift manufacturing to lower-income countries in the second half of the 20th century under the banner of “free trade.” On the surface, knocking down obstacles to free trade seems a boon for all countries involved. Removing tariffs on goods allows more world commerce and, thus, an increase in wealth for all. However, questions soon arose as to who actually benefitted and what the true cost of free trade was.
The clamor for “free trade” hides the fact that, historically, countries have recognized the need for tariffs to protect domestic industries, at least when those industries are developing. In the US, “Congress pursued protectionist policies throughout the post-Civil War period” (253). Contemporarily, however, much rhetoric revolves around the benefits of free trade and pays little attention to how the United States and many other countries relied on protectionist tariffs to allow the home economy to grow and develop. Instead, “neoliberal” groups in the 1980s and 1990s ridiculed the “‘bad old days’ of the 1970s when Third World governments resorted to high tariffs to protect their own fledgling industries, a strategy called import substitution” (253). They touted the benefits of removing tariffs, saying that this would result in a benefit to all businesses, both in the US and in Latin American countries. Also, with better profits and wages, there would be less incentive to immigrate to the US.
The reality, however, was that by setting up free-trade zones in Latin American countries, these countries never had the chance to allow their own economies to grow and develop. Instead, countless business owners and farmers lost their livelihoods when the market was flooded with cheap American goods.
Free-trade zones outside the United States began as experiments during the 1800s when opportunists like William Walker saw the chance to buy land in Latin American countries for massive transportation projects. Free-trade zones functioned as sovereign nations within the host country, acting with impunity because they did not have to follow local (or American) labor or environmental laws. In the 1900s, companies shifted from transportation projects to extracting raw materials, such as bananas, sugar, coffee, and oil. After World War II, companies began closing and reopening abroad. This offshore production was the heart of the free-trade model and happened in four stages, starting first in Panama and Puerto Rico, then Mexico, then the Caribbean, and then culminating with NAFTA. Gonzalez writes that “the phenomenal profits being made by the multinational corporations and their middlemen producers have not trickled down to the average Central American worker” (264).
NAFTA, which took effect on January 1, 1994, “created a new common market whose aim was to remove all tariff barriers between Mexico, Canada, and the United States by 2010” (265). However, as with all of these free-trade attempts, rather than all businesses growing and prospering as a result of increased trade, only the very elite businesses have been able to flourish. As for the second goal of stemming the tide of immigration, NAFTA has had the opposite effect, as the devastation in the wake of these economic deals has sent people fleeing their countries.
Chapter 14 Summary: “Puerto Rico, U.S.A.: Possessed and Unwanted”
Unlike citizens of other Latin American countries, Puerto Ricans are American citizens. They can travel freely back and forth between the island and the mainland. Though they have US citizenship, historically they have not enjoyed self-determination, as they are the United States’ oldest colony. Chapter 14, which was added to the 2011 edition, focuses on contemporary issues that Puerto Ricans face.
Gonzalez writes that “[n]early 45 percent of Puerto Rican households have an annual income below the poverty level” (278). He explains that US companies took advantage of the tax exemptions for setting up business in Puerto Rico, allowing companies to make huge profits while paying less and less to Puerto Rican citizens. This has distorted the economy and forced many Puerto Rican citizens either to become dependent on welfare or to migrate to the mainland. Although Congress ended tax exemptions, pharmaceutical companies figured out a way to continue to exploit tax loopholes that made setting up shop in Puerto Rico extremely profitable: “Puerto Rico, in short, has become the primary offshore tax haven for the American drug industry” (283). Yet despite all this, “for every ten dollars Puerto Rican factory workers produce in income for their companies, they receive just one dollar in pay” (284).
Gonzalez identifies several ways Puerto Rico’s colonial status is creating unnecessary hardship: having to use US shipping, following US trade agreements, using English for the US District Court in San Juan, receiving reduced federal entitlement programs, and housing US military bases on the island. In addition, Gonzalez discusses the psychological damage that results from the erasure of Puerto Rican culture in schools.
In addition, Gonzalez points out how migration to the mainland, while alleviating tension on the island, often led to:
Puerto Ricans [finding] themselves shut out of the growing areas of white-collar financial, professional, and government jobs. This was due not so much to their own volition as it was to language barriers, lack of education, and racial discrimination (291).
As a result, many Puerto Ricans moved back and forth between the mainland and the island, unable to build networks and communities that fostered and supported growth.
However, things are changing. Civic awareness increased after the death of David Sanes Rodríguez, who was killed during a US Navy exercise when a bomb missed its target. This sparked a four-year protest movement against the US Navy. In addition, several studies began to discover the high incidence of cancer and other ailments in residents who lived close to the US naval bombing range in Vieques, Puerto Rico. The navy admitted to dropping weapons including napalm and Agent Orange. More and more activists and celebrities began invading the restricted area, demanding that the navy leave: “All told, federal agents arrested more than 1,400 people in Vieques between May 2000 and September 2001” (294). The protests ultimately led to President Bush announcing that the navy would end all exercises at the range within two years.
Puerto Rico is unique in its status as a colony of the United States. Its citizens enjoy American citizenship, yet those who live on the island do not control their own affairs. The debate over the future of Puerto Rico—whether it should be a commonwealth, an “enhanced commonwealth,” a state, or a sovereign nation—is an issue that divides not only Congress but also Puerto Rican citizens. Three referendums have not decided the issue.
Part 3, Chapters 13-14 Analysis
These chapters were added to the 2011 revised edition of the text, bringing the “Harvest” section closer to the current moment. At heart, they ask whether the United States has acknowledged the roots, branches, and harvest of the past—and whether there is a new harvest being planted.
One indication that the US has yet to reckon with its exploitation of Latin America is its failure to share equally The Immense Wealth of Multicultural America. Rather, Gonzales argues that the much-hyped slogan of “free trade” has become another way for US corporations to dominate and devastate Latin American economies. As before, only the elite US and multinational businesses win with this model. NAFTA, the North American Free Trade Agreement, made one market from Canada, the United States, and Mexico, tying a struggling economy (Mexico) to two powerful economies. In addition to being a disaster for Mexico, NAFTA also hurt many struggling workers and companies in the United States and Canada, which has exacerbated xenophobia.
The final chapter brings the book back to the author’s home country of Puerto Rico. By reflecting on its status as one of the last remaining colonies of the United States, Gonzales brings the story full circle. Harvest of Empire began with the gradual accumulation and collision of colonies as they spread across the continent in the 1500s and 1600s, resulting in the devastation of the Indigenous American population, which had built towering civilizations before European arrival. The book ends with the final remnants of that empire.
Nevertheless, Gonzalez has hope that the United States will finally be able to plant a new harvest—one that does not depend on subjugating a group of people it finds inferior in order to amass wealth. In Chapter 13, he notes that Mexico and other countries are standing up to the United States. They are electing leaders who no longer want to give in to US policy, especially the policy of free trade. In addition, he hopes for a shift within the US itself—that rather than responding to each other’s differences by stigmatizing and scapegoating, perpetuating The Us/Them Dichotomy, Americans can celebrate their differences, discovering what they have to gain from listening to each other’s stories.
