In 1982, however, the military sealed its fate when it invaded the Falkland Islands (known as the Malvinas by the Argentines), overwhelming the small contingent of British Royal Marines on the islands and declaring the resident British subjects to now be Argentine subjects. While the takeover briefly united the Argentine people in a wave of patriotism, it also united the British in an outpouring of angry patriotism. In the end the Argentine troops were no match for the better trained and more experienced British troops and the Argentine public was shocked when the Argentine units surrendered to the smaller British expeditionary force. Confidence in the generals as political leaders disappeared with the military defeat; the air force and navy withdrew from the ruling junta and the remaining army officers promised elections in the next year (Skidmore, 1984, pp. 109- 112).In the early 1990s, most countries in Latin America were moving towards embracing open capitalism. Even Central American countries were privatizing state enterprises in an effort to revitalize their economies through national and foreign investment (Bermudez, 1992). Among the largest foreign investors in Central America have been companies headquartered in the four Asian "tigers:" South Korea, Singapore, Taiwan, and Hong Kong. The main countries which have been targeted for investment are Honduras, Guatemala, Costa Rica, and Panama. Between November of 1989 and May 1991 79 Korean manufacturers invested $82 million in plant and equipment in Central America, constructing 18 new factories (Millman, 1991). South American countries have also been making extensive efforts to privatize national enterprises, although there has been considerable resistance from the entrenched bureaucracies which had run the enterprises previously. Foreign investors have also been wary of continuing economic problems in most of the South American countries, fearful of committing too much capital to what may eventual |
