Hot Spot: Latin America

From border crime in Mexico to Chavez's revolution in Venezuela, this volume presents up-to-the-minute coverage of the key conflicts, corruption, and revolutionary movements simmering or raging in every region of Latin America. In-depth, comprehensive chapters explore drug wars, immigration issues, terrorism, youth gangs, government corruption, controversy over oil, and political instability, including: The Zapatista Rebellion, the Darien Gap controversy, Evo Morales, Shining Path (Sendero Luminoso) and Tupac Amaru, the Falklands, and Guantanamo Bay.From border crime in Mexico to Chavez's revolution in Venezuela, this volume presents up-to-the-minute coverage of the key conflicts, corruption, and revolutionary movements simmering or raging in every region of Latin America. In-depth, comprehensive chapters explore drug wars, imigration issues, terrorism, youth gangs, government corruption, controversy over oil, and political instability. This is a must-have source for current coverage of trouble spots in Latin America, their origins, and subsequent development.Over 30 security-based hot spots are analyzed within these geographical regions. They vary in severity, background, and degree of threat to the United States, the nation itself, or its regional neighbors. Hot spots covered include: Zapatista Rebellion Darien Gap controversy Evo Morales Shining Path (Sendero Luminoso) and Tupac Amaru Falklands Guantanamo Bay

"The reference work is tailored to serve in a very specific frame of reference and Dent has succeeded in covering Latin America and the Caribbean exceptionally well. Libraries with other Hot Spot volumes and those serving mainly general readers will want to consider this volume for their collections. Recommended." - Choice, "This volume for high school students and beyond focuses on Mexico, Central America, South America, and the Caribbean. Background information is provided to readers in order to help them understand current regional and global conflicts. The author discusses potential security threats that range from long-standing and well-known issues (Cuba's leadership transition and the growing influence of Hugo Chavez in the region) to more obscure ethnic conflicts (the increasing Muslim presence in the tri-border region of Brazil, Paraguay, and Argentina and Mapuche activism in Chile). Basic flaws in U.S. policymaking are exposed. The reader will gain a better understanding of 'hot spot' terminology and regional and global conflicts." - MultiCultural Review

David W. Dent is Professor Emeritus of Political Science at Towson University in Baltimore, Maryland. He is the author of Historical Dictionary of U.S.-Latin American Relations (Greenwood, 2005), Encyclopedia of Modern Mexico (2002), The Legacy of the Monroe Doctrine: A Reference Guide to U.S. Involvemenet in Latin America and the Caribbean (Greenwood, 1999), and the co-author of Historical Dictionary of Inter-American Organizations (1998). Dent is the author of over 100 articles, essays, and chapters on Latin American and U.S.-Latin American relations. For over 30 years he has been a contributing editor of the Handbook of Latin American Studies, a biannual reference book published by the Hispanic Division of the Library of Congress in Washington, D.C.