Eduardo Galeano's Open Veins of Latin America looks at the political, economic and social history of Latin America. Mr. Galeano argues that the More Developed Countries played a main role in the "Lesser Developed Country" status Latin America has been accustomed to. Throughout the book he gives examples of how the M.D.C are responsible for the social hierarchy that has formed over generations. This hierarchy sees the peasants, who assemble the population, of this agriculturally abundant land starving while the few acquire riches and control the destiny of the land and its people. Galeano takes you through the history of Latin America from the discovery of this great land by Christopher Columbus to the 1970's. He will argue that the riches of the land have bonded the people of the America's to poverty and suffering.
             The invasion of Latin America first began with Spain and Portugal in the 1500's, than gave way to Britain in the 1800's and finally ended in the hands of the United States in the 20th Century. Its has seen political and economic power concentrated in a few, instituted by the ones that colonized, that do not have the peoples best wishes in mind. Instead, their main goal was to acquire riches for themselves and more importantly for their country. Spain was the first to plague Latin America. They did not colonize to help the indigenous people increase their standard of living; instead they colonized to plunder the land of its natural riches to be exported back to Spain and pushed the native population into an era of oppression. It first started with the extortion of the natural minerals that were so abundant throughout Latin America and the enslavement of its native population. That eventually opened the doors for sugar, cotton, coffee, and other agriculturally grown products to be harvested and exported. The lands of Latin America have served the purposes of other countries ...