Las

Front 1

Pedro de Alvarado

Back 1

in 1523 conquered Guatemala and El Salvador and also laid claim to Honduras in 1539.

Front 2

Popol Vuh

Back 2

Mayan Cosmos, creation story

Front 3

General Jorge Ubicos

Back 3

ruled as dictator of Guatemala from 1931-1944,

Front 4

Jaun Jose Arevalo

Back 4

elected pres of Guatemala in 1945; he practiced social and agrarian reform and abolished debt peonage.

Front 5

Jacob Arbenz

Back 5

President of Guatemala in 1950; quickly runs afoul of United Fruit Company through a land reform project. CIA backed revolution ousts him from presidency in 1954.

Front 6

Colonel Carlos Castillo Armas

Back 6

Takes over after Arbenz is forced out of presidency in 1957.

Front 7

Hernando Martinez

Back 7

dictator of El Salvador from 1931-1944. He was responsible for the massacre of over 20,000 peasants who were protesting land reform. He trapped them in a square and shot them, it was called “La Matanza” or “The Killing.”

Front 8

White Warriors Union

Back 8

Rightest Vigilante group in El Salvador during the 1960s. Fought with leftist communist guerrilla groups. The U.S. counseled them on how to fight against a guerrilla army. The WWU tortured and killed many peasants.

Front 9

Adalberto Rivera

Back 9

Only candidate for president in El Salvador in 1962, the wealthy put him up to it.

Front 10

Colonel Fidel Sanchez

Back 10

elected president of El Salvador in 1967 and proposed land reform that infuriated conservatives, business owners and land owners.

Front 11

Soccer War

Back 11

1969 El Salvador fought with Honduras over the illegal immigration of Salvadorans into Honduras and the spark was the World Cup Soccer match between the two countries.

Front 12

Junta

Back 12

(El Salvador) 1979 a junta of liberal army officers ousted Romero and promised land reform. They nationalized key industries, nationalized banks and promised land reform.

Front 13

Francisco Morazon

Back 13

After independence, Morazon was the first president/dictator of Honduras from 1829-1840. He was a liberal dictator. He was followed by a long series of Conservative dictators till 1870

Front 14

Marcos A. Soto

Back 14

1876 first liberal dictator of Honduras since 1840. He began a program of modernization exports. In the early 20th century U.S. fruit companies made bananas the main export of Honduras.

Front 15

Tiburcio Carias

Back 15

1932-1948, ended a long period of political disorder in Honduras. He was considered to be a benign dictator.

Front 16

Ramon Villeda Morales

Back 16

1957 Honduras he was elected president and started programs of agrarian reform which brought about a military coup by Colonel Osvaldo Lopez Arellano in 1963.

Front 17

Current problems in Honduras

Back 17

Criminal gangs are the greatest threat to peace and stability. The military may be called upon to repress them. Poverty and crime remain huge problems.

Front 18

Tomas Guardia

Back 18

1870-1882 dictator of Costa Rica until he was removed. Political freedom was restored in 1889 after turbulence.

Front 19

Civil War Costa Rica

Back 19

1948 the National Assembly refused to recognize the elected president this resulted in a 6 week long war where 2,000 people were killed. This was Atypical for Costa Rican society.

Front 20

Laura Chinchilla Miranda

Back 20

First female president of Costa Rica, she is currently serving

Front 21

President Oscar Arias Sanchez

Back 21

President of Costa Rica before Miranda. He won the nobel peace prize because he negotiated cease fired with the Sandinistas in the 1980s.

Front 22

Current Problems (Costa Rica)

Back 22

growing crime rates, illegal immigration from Nicaragua. there are 500,000 Nicaraguans in the country illegally.

Front 23

Cueves and Cocle tribes

Back 23

Earliest known inhabitants of Panama. Wiped out by Spanish through fighting and the introduction of diseases. Populated by the Chibchan, Chocoan and Cueva people.

Front 24

Rodrigo de Bastides

Back 24

first explored Panama in 1501

Front 25

Vasco Nunez de Balboa

Back 25

First to cross isthmus and see the Pacific Ocean which he claimed for Spain. The Route accross the isthmus began known as Camino road or "royal road."

Front 26

Ferdinand de Lessens

Back 26

1880-1890 Frenchman who attempted to dig a canal with disastrous resutls. He proposed a sea level canal. You can still find remains of dead French and Chinese people on the gulf side of the isthmus. Many were killed by malaria and Chinese committed suicide.