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50 Years Ago in South America

During the Second World War, most of South America was neutral. Some states, such as Argentina, were openly pro-Germany, but feared American and British invasion. Brazil joined the war as an ally of the United States, equipping a 25,000-man expeditionary force which saw combat in the Italian campaign of 1944-45.

The population of Latin America expanded from 132 million in 1945 to 189 million in 1955, 233 million in 1965, and more than 300 million by 1975.

In 1946, Juan Peron (1895-1974), established a fascist style dictatorship in Argentina. He was ousted by a military revolt in 1955.

With the end of the war, pressure forced the Brazilian dictator Vargas to resign and hold democratic elections. Vargas lost, but in 1951, was elected president. However, during a political crisis in 1954, Vargas killed himself. The next elected president was Kubitschek (1956-61), who founded the new capital city of Brasilia. However, economic problems of the early 1960s, saw the overthrow of President Goulart by the army in 1964, and re-establishment of a military dictatorship in Brazil.

Pablo Neruda became one of Chile's most important writers. He won critical acclaim throughout his career, using South America as the backdrop for most of his poems.

He also was a force in the political arena as a Chilean diplomat and through his deep commitment to Communism. He spent much of his life in exile during the military dictatorship that ruled Chile in the 1970s and 80s.

Gabriela Mistral (1889-1957), another native of Chile, won the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1945, the first person in Latin America to gain the honour. The Nobel

Academy cited Gabriela Mistral "for her lyric poetry which, inspired by powerful emotions, has made her name a symbol of the idealistic aspirations of the entire Latin American world." Mistral, as well, served as a diplomat and was a guiding force in education in Chile and Mexico. Many of her poems deal with children and teaching.

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