Regionalism

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Regionalism

Regionalism can be defined as a sense of place that distinguishes it from other areas within a country. Typically, residents of the region often feel they are not getting their fair share of government revenues, power, or respect. Regionalism is a problem in virtually all countries of Latin America, and is based on perceived climatic, geographical, and ethnic differences, as well as historical factors. In particular, the division of Spanish and Portuguese colonies into separate nation-states followed logics that lumped together disparate regions that had little in common.

Examples abound. The residents of Brazil's northeast, which is located in the tropics and contains more descendants from Africa, felt disconnected from the more temperate center-south of Rio de Janeiro and São Paulo. Indeed, in Pernambuco and in four other provinces an independence movement emerged in 1824 as the Confederation of the Equator, but it was crushed by the central government. Likewise, during the Revolução Farroupilha (1836–1845), centered in Brazil's far south, leaders demanded independence, but in the end lost to imperial troops. Because these movements were unsuccessful, they are now termed regional revolts.

Regionalism led to the breakup of many Spanish American states. In 1823 Central America declared independence after the first Mexican Empire broke up. The Central American Federation itself disintegrated in 1838, and as a result, the countries of Guatemala, El Salvador, Honduras, Nicaragua, and Costa Rica emerged. Guatemala held off further disintegration in the late 1830s by annexing the state of Los Altos (in present-day western Guatemala), though Los Altos revolted several times in the 1840s. Similarly, Gran Colombia, founded by Simón Bolívar in 1819, separated into the republics of Ecuador, Venezuela, and New Granada (today's Colombia) in 1830. A regional revolt in Texas led to the establishment of a new country in 1836 and annexation into the United States in 1845. The Dominican Republic separated itself from Haiti in 1844. The last successful regional revolt that led to the establishment of a new country was the separation of Panama from Colombia in 1903 under U.S. auspices.

Regional sentiments existed and continue to exist in many other countries as well. In Bolivia, the population of the eastern lowland Santa Cruz department saw themselves as different from the highlanders of La Paz and Sucre. The cruceños were virtually ignored during the nineteenth century. In 1876 the cruceño Andrés Ibañez revolted and tried to force the government to accept a federalist regime that gave more autonomy to Santa Cruz. Bolivian troops suffocated the movement, and Ibañez was executed in 1876. Massive migration from the highlands to Santa Cruz has transformed the ethnic composition of the city, but even today Santa Cruz, which provides about 30 percent of Bolivia's GNP, continues to press for greater autonomy from the central government.

Likewise, in Venezuela the city of Maracaibo (the capital of Zulia state) was long isolated from the rest of the country because it was located on the other side of Lake Maracaibo; indeed, it had much easier communication with adjacent Colombia. Regional sentiment was strong because the Zulianos felt that they contributed an inordinate amount to the country's wealth without receiving their fair share of tax revenue. In the nineteenth century this was because of Maracaibo's role as earner of customs duties for coffee exports, and in the twentieth century because of their petroleum fields.

In many countries, negative stereotypes of inhabitants of certain regions persist. People from the Brazilian northeast often feel discriminated against by those in the south because of their darker skin color. In Peru, people from the capital city of Lima look down on the heavily indigenous people from the southern Andean highlands. In Argentina, citizens of Buenos Aires feel superior to the often poor migrants from the northern interior, insulting them as cabecitas negras ("little black heads").

The strong sense of regionalism in many countries of Latin America attests to the tenuousness of nation-states and the artificiality of many boundaries. Regionalism has both negative and positive consequences. In the postcolonial period it led to revolts and the division of states into smaller units. However, regional pride can also be a positive force, providing incentives for regions to compete, and leading to greater development.