Atlas of Hispanic-American History

political instability had been a fact of life

since independence, but the changing

social conditions made the situation even

more chaotic, as coups and revolts led to

blindingly rapid changes in constitutions

and presidents.

Military rule was instituted in

Ecuador in 1972, Uruguay in 1973,

Argentina in 1976, and Peru in 1962,

1968, and 1975. Leftist insurgencies

rocked such countries as Bolivia and

Colombia. In Chile in 1973, President

Salvador Allende, the country’s elected

leader, was overthrown and killed in a

right-wing coup by General Augusto

Pinochet, reportedly with covert help

from the United States, which feared

Allende’s left-wing views. In many

countries, such as Chile and Argentina,

murder, torture, and terror became com-

mon tactics for suppressing dissent.

Under these conditions, the United

States seemed like a beacon of tranquilli-

ty and opportunity. From 1951 to 1960,

about 92,000 South Americans immigrat-

ed legally to the United States. From

1961 to 1970, the number nearly tripled,

to 258,000. It rose again in the 1970s (to

296,000) and 1980s (to 462,000). During

this same period, many other South

Americans moved to the United States

illegally, though the precise number is

not known.

By far the largest group of South

Americans came from Colombia. There

the era after World War II was marked by

perpetual political crisis, as Liberal and

Conservative factions battled for power.

Liberal Party leader Jorge Eliécer Gaitán

was assassinated in Bogotá in 1948, set-

ting off a civil war between Liberals and

Conservatives known as La Violencia

(1948–1958) that killed about 200,000

people. In the 1950s Colombia suffered

two coups, in 1953 and 1957. In the

1960s the country was besieged by guer-

rilla and paramilitary activity from left

and right. Under such stress, nearly

150,000 Colombians fled their country

for the United States in the 1960s and

1970s alone. Smaller but still substantial

numbers came from Ecuador, Peru,

Argentina, Chile, and Venezuela.

South Americans have settled princi-

pally in the cities of the East Coast as well

as in San Francisco, Los Angeles, and

Miami. As of 1990 the largest concentra-

tions of people of South American descent

were in New York, New Jersey, Florida,

and California, with smaller populations

in Texas, Massachusetts, Connecticut,

Pennsylvania, Maryland, Virginia, and

Washington, D.C. The largest communi-

ty of South Americans in New York City

today lives in Jackson Heights, a neigh-

borhood in the borough of Queens. The

neighborhood is well stocked with

Hispanic restaurants, newsstands, travel

agencies, and grocery stores.

Immigration from

Central America

Immigration to the United States from

Central America increased from the

1940s to the 1970s, but not to the same

degree as from other parts of Hispanic

America. In the 1950s, 45,000 people

immigrated to the United States from

Central America—a small number by the

standards of Mexico or Puerto Rico, but

relatively large considering that until

1950 only 71,000 Central Americans had

ever done so. Panama, Honduras,

Guatemala, El Salvador, and Nicaragua

combined sent nearly 75,000 immigrants

to the United States from 1961 to 1970—

a growing number, but still fewer than

came from the Dominican Republic

alone in the same period. The numbers

began to increase in the 1970s (to a com-

bined total of 113,000), but truly phe-

nomenal growth would not occur until

the 1980s (to 425,000).

Behind the growing numbers lay a

history of worsening civil and economic

chaos. In the 1950s Panama and

Honduras were the largest source of the

region’s immigrants, generally middle-

class, skilled people in search of econom-

ic opportunity. But as a result of civil wars

and other conflicts in Guatemala, El

Salvador, and Nicaragua, by the 1970s,

hordes of refugees fleeing violence and

dire poverty were arriving from those

countries, in a wave that grew dramatical-

ly larger in the 1980s.

Historically, the region had strong

links to the United States. Beginning in

the 1840s, American companies invested

millions of dollars in agriculture and min-

ing, forming alliances with wealthy

families in the region. The United States

supported various right-wing strongmen

as dictators to maintain order, such as

Anastasio Somoza (1896–1956), who

ruled Nicaragua from 1936 until his

188 ATLAS OF HISPANIC-AMERICAN HISTORY