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Las venas abiertas de america latina

by Eduardo Hughes Galeano

4.26 · rating details · 1,467 ratings · 187 reviews

Since its U.S. debut a quarter-century ago, this brilliant text has set a new standard for historical scholarship of Latin America. It is also an outstanding political economy, a social & cultural narrative of the highest quality, & perhaps the finest description of primitive capital accumulation since Marx. Rather than chronology, geography or political successions, Eduar...more

Paperback, 384 pages

Published April 30th 2006 by Siglo XXI Ediciones (first published 1971)

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Mar 10, 2009

Tucker rated it

· review of another edition

Eduardo Galeano passionately recounts the horrific events of the last 7 centuries in Latin America. I am neither a history buff nor Latino insider, so I discovered quite a bit, even as I concurrently traveled and experienced aspects of the region firsthand. It should be noted, however, that the author applies no science or organization to his storytelling. Facts are obviously molded for dramatic appeal (handpicking specific dates, excerpts from JFK speeches, etc.). Footnotes are lacking for ...more

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Sep 13, 2011

Miquixote rated it

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Shelves: latin-america, left-texts, history, non-fiction, politics, latin-american-history, economics, freedom, general-audience, uruguayan, spanish, latin-american, cultural, philosophy, classics, 33, 46a, 98c, favourites

One of the best books ever written for a general audience...period. This guy writes fiction likes it's non-fiction and non-fiction likes it's fiction. He blends in and out better than anyone I know of. What beauty, what poetry, what defiance, what anger, what celebration, what satire, what humour. Sheer brilliance. Oh, and he does his research too.

Recommended related readings: Pedagogy of the Oppressed, Exterminate All the Brutes, Fragments of an Anarchist Anthropology, The Wretched...more

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Oct 24, 2010

Allen B. Lloyd rated it

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When Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez presented President Obama with a copy Eduardo Galeano's Open Veins of Latin America during a summit meeting in 2009 the intellectually gouty noise machine of the bourgeoisie began to flap its collective jowls, calling the gift an insult to America, and Obama's acceptance of it a sign of his acquiescence to communist influences. The truths contained in the gift were essentially ignored by the right-wind punditry, because truth and history have no place in th...more

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Mar 31, 2010

Susan rated it

· review of another edition

I read this book out of curiosity—and interest in Latin America. I was advised that it was just rant or left-wing rant, but decided to see for myself. I came away with this as the main idea: “in Latin America, free enterprise is incompatible with civil liberties” as Galeano says in his commentary on the book in an afterward. The book catalogues the exploitation of “the people” —usually the indigenous people—by South American oligarchies and by their European and North American affiliates.
...moreI read this book out of curiosity—and interest in Latin America. I was advised that it was just rant or left-wing rant, but decided to see for myself. I came away with this as the main idea: “in Latin America, free enterprise is incompatible with civil liberties” as Galeano says in his commentary on the book in an afterward. The book catalogues the exploitation of “the people” —usually the indigenous people—by South American oligarchies and by their European and North American affiliates.
It’s certainly been a controversial book. First published in 1971 and often condemned and frequently banned in Latin America, I doubt it’s been on the radar in North American very long. The current edition was published in 1997 with a foreward by Isabel Allende. It’s been in the news recently when President Hugo Chavez of Venezuela gave a copy to Obama and then when commentators speculated on whether or not he would read it. Actually, I hope he did. (http://www.time.com/time/arts/article/0,...)

My first impression was that Galeano’s detractors were right, the book was just rant. Galeano is a journalist and he knows how to use words to move readers. My impression was that every sentence in the first chapter had emotionally-loaded words. If his ideas hadn’t piqued my curiosity I might have put it down. Ensuing chapters might come to emotionally-loaded conclusions, but the presentation of evidence was impressive. I can’t endorse the ideas completely because I don’t know enough to evaluate everything he says, but I was impressed.

Galeano’s thesis is that the first the European conquerors (Spain and Portugal), later European business interests—mainly the British—and finally the US (government and business) have promised developmental assistance but delivered subservience largely by economic means—by keeping production costs low using raw materials and cheap labor from Latin American and then selling products for large profits, even selling them back to Latin American countries at the same time as they prevent them from producing their own products. In what seemed to me a telling comparison he contrasts conquistadors arriving in Latin American with the expectation of taking riches home to Europe with settlers in New England fleeing Europe and determined to grow their food and make the products they need for themselves—and to stay, not seek treasure to bring home. In what turned out to be an advantage for North America, there was no gold or silver, not even promising farms land so the British, in comparison to the Iberians, tended to ignore the colonies rather than plunder them.

In this idea, Galeano reminds me of Fareed Zakaria’s thesis in The Future of Freedom where he explains that wealth in the form of natural resources is actually a deterrent to democracy because it leads to a ruling class that appropriates the resources and uses them to develop the country (or to line their own pockets) rather than depending on the population to supply funds for the government in the form of taxes. Elections don’t mean much if the people doing the electing have no power. And clearly immigration to America took a far different path in the North than in the South. The result was the development of a growing middle class of local producers in North America--something that didn't happen in most Latin American countries which developed local oligarchies who themselves continued to be exploited by powerful patrons.

Galeano’s text is colorful and impressive, even for someone like me for whom the names and historical events are not familiar. He’s a master at creating powerful and memorable phrases than sum up (probably somewhat simplistically but I ended up thinking often right nonetheless) the problem. “Underdevelopment in South America is a result of development elsewhere”, “ a Volkswagen Republic is much like a banana republic”, “nationalization doesn’t necessarily redistribute wealth”. Over and over again he talks about the wealth concentrated among an oligarchy and the widespread poverty at the bottom that has characterized many Latin American countries for centuries, making it clear over and over again that “the outposts pay the price for the wealth of the centers”. The centers were usually the ports that grew up to serve the Europeans and later North Americans who needed to ship the gold, the silver, the meat, the rubber, the bananas or whatever.

It’s easy for a US citizen to agree with all the details about exploitation by Europeans, harder to deal with exploitation by North Americans. Legacy of Ashes: The History of the CIA by Tim Weiner (2007) confirms US involvement in supporting the governments and business leaders that supported the US companies. It struck me reading about the maneuverings of American companies that, whether needing bananas or rubber or petroleum, they were operating not all that differently from how we’re discovering they operate at home and it’s abundantly clear at this point that the US is moving toward something like the Latin American republics with wealth increasingly concentrated among the few while the middle class which enabled the US to be different from its Latin American neighbors is dwindling. Power in the US is increasingly in the hands of corporations—often multi-nationals with loyalties primarily to their own interests which may or may not be the people of the United States. But perhaps I push this too far.

I have to note that Galeano, as many other Latin Americans, deplores the fact that the US has even co-opted the name “America”. (I had a hard time avoiding it in this review.)

Bottom line: This is a highly emotional book, but the logic and the evidence is quite definitely not lacking. I tend to compare him to Michael Moore, who goes after public attention with emotionally charged rhetoric, but backs it up with facts and details that prove the need for drawing attention to the issue. I cannot evaluate the detail and no doubt Galeano exaggerates and rants but it’s still a compelling book that’s worth the attention of a thinking person.(less)

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May 19, 2008

Cy rated it

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Shelves: highly-recommended, favorites-life-changers, rainbow-non-fiction-and-perspective, histories-and-herstories, quisqueyana-studies

The best Latin American history book on earth! "The most heartening response came not from the book pages in the press but from real incidents in the streets. The girl who was quietly reading Open Veins to her companion in a bus in Bogotá, and finally stood up and read it aloud to all the passengers. The woman who fled from Santiago in the days of the Chilean bloodbath with this book wrapped inside her baby’s diapers. The student who went from one bookstore to another for a week in Buen...more

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Sep 23, 2011

Gabriela Mejia rated it

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Mr. Galeano has a unique gift for writing about historical events in Latin America. I have read it so many times that I might need to buy a new copy just because the book is so worn!!
I see how some might not appreciate his brutal honestly and his decision to point a finger directly at those who raped the lands of Latin America and took with them the precious resources to fuel their wars and greed. At the same time, those resources were flushed out of our continent with the blood of the ind...more

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Oct 09, 2009

Alethea marked it as to-read · review of another edition

The audio is available at audible.com--read by Jonathan Davis, who also read Junot Diaz's The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao and Carlos Ruiz Zafon's The Shadow of the Wind. He could read me the phone book and I'd listen. I mean *really* listen. In fact, you can even download his reading of Deuteronomy (no, it's not some modern fiction you've never heard of before, I mean the book from The Bible). No, really!

Anyway, people have been bugging me for months about this book, which the p...more

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Jul 27, 2009

Dianne rated it

· review of another edition

Shelves: anything-latin-american

When Hugo Chavez recently handed this book to Obama, I decided I'd better take a look. The 1997 edition, handily on the shelf in my library, includes a beautifully written foreword by Isabel Allende. This book (plus ODES by Pablo Neruda) were the two books Allende took with her when evacuating Chile after the 1973 coup. I'm learning much about the oppression, colonization, and economic exploitation of Latin America, and feeling fairly stunned that I never knew about this 1973 book.

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Aug 04, 2011

Francisco Viliesid rated it

· review of another edition

Del libro: p.294, "La ayuda funciona como el filántropo del cuento, que le había puesto una pata de palo a su chanchito, pero era porque se lo estaba comiendo de a poco". Otra: p. 295, "La caridad internacional no existe; empieza por casa, también para los Estado Unidos. La ayuda externa desempeña, en primer lugar, una función interna: la economía norteamericana se ayuda a sí misma". Otra más: p.337, "Ya Bolívar había afirmado, certera profecía, que los Estados Unidos pa...more

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Aug 11, 2011

Patrick rated it

· review of another edition

Found this on my sister-in-law's bookshelf and haven't been able to put it down in my spare time. Sorry, JL Bourne, but the zombie apocalypse will have to wait.
--
This book is effectively a three-hundred page list of crimes against the natives and the underclasses of the countries south of the Rio Grande and in the Caribbean. I was expecting a history book on Latin America and while there is quite a bit of history here, it is more a list of complaints against the economic policies of...moreFound this on my sister-in-law's bookshelf and haven't been able to put it down in my spare time. Sorry, JL Bourne, but the zombie apocalypse will have to wait.
--
This book is effectively a three-hundred page list of crimes against the natives and the underclasses of the countries south of the Rio Grande and in the Caribbean. I was expecting a history book on Latin America and while there is quite a bit of history here, it is more a list of complaints against the economic policies of Europe and the United States and, more generally, against free trade. The list of crimes perpetrated against "the people" is both impressive and disgusting. The various plots, deceits, manipulations, and -- essentially -- blackmail that have stifled Latin American developments are truly shocking and this is a part of American -- American in the broadest continental sense -- history that should be better known.

Most interesting to me were the passages describing the eccentricities and betrayals of the various petty dictators around Latin America, quickly followed by several passages describing the reasons for vast disparities between the development of "the north" and "the south." The differences in institutions are stark, and it really boils down to countries where there was a resource to be exploited versus countries where the colonists were left to develop their own culture, institutions, and economy.

Where the book falls down, in my view, is in its failure to connect the dots and really go the extra mile to show the development or lack thereof from various angles. I knew this was a left-wing tract when I started, but Galeano fails to really describe the lifestyle of the natives before contact with Europeans. What was life expectancy? What was the birth rate? What did they eat? He's good at listing and citing the horrors perpetrated against the people, but not so good at describing how the lives of the people changed over time. Also, Galeano jumps from colonial period to independence without explaining who it was who moved up and became the new rulers/exploiters. The upper class, the dictators, the bourgeoisie -- these villains appear out of thin air. Obviously these villains came from somewhere and their advancement, even at the expense of the underclass should have been further explored. (less)

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Mar 18, 2011

Natalie is currently reading it · review of another edition

I went into the Bookworm in Hamilton looking for a particular book but I couldn't find it - randomly browsing in the Indigenous section, a little shelf section but the books in it are excellent, actually - I found this beautiful item which I have been intending to buy for some time but have held off. However when I discovered it was $9 which was a steal compared to $25+ elsewhere, I bought it.

I've started it and so far it's amazing - very enthralling and well written. Galeano has a ...more

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Jun 30, 2009

Rob Prince rated it

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I know, I know, this is the book that Chavez gave to Obama. Let us hope that the US president actually reads it and digests its content. Interestingly enough, I used this in a class I taught this past spring. The fact that Chavez offered to book to Obama greatly the likelihood that my students actually read it. Actually they had to as it was the subject matter of the mid term. I still think this is one of the best introductions to what in the `old days' we used to generally called U.S. Imperiali...more

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Jun 05, 2007

nicebutnubbly rated it

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Shelves: non-fiction

My love for Galeano cannot be textually rendered. He's a deeply radical man who writes beautiful books, and The Memoria del Fuego series is not what I think of as "history" - it's not dry, it's not footnoted, it's not strictly factual, but my god, is it compelling. This is exactly what it says in the title, and it's gorgeous.

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Feb 11, 2010

Eric rated it

· review of another edition

Shelves: favorite-non-fiction, development

An interesting look at the history of Latin America in light of their economic oppression, first by the British and then America. It was first written in 1970ish but it is pertinent today because a lot of the resentment, fear and anger (ie. Chavez etc) against the US today, is a result of what happened in the past. This book has reminded me that there is structural oppression and injustice in this world that we can not even understand. One of the worst stories was of how two multinational com...more

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Jul 27, 2011

Matthew Gaughan rated it

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Shelves: latin-american, politics

A little too polemical and repetitive at times, but this is a compelling alternative history of Latin America, as well as an absorbing and often damning analysis of Anglo-American capitalist imperalism (reminding the reader that a lot of Britain's wealth did not come from its actual Empire). I wish the copy which Chavez gave to Obama last year had been in English; Obama's opinion of this book would have been fascinating, especially as it argues that the US's capitalism is a direct replacement fo...more

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Nov 15, 2009

Madeleine rated it

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Shelves: latin-america, nonfiction

This was recommended to me as a "classic of the Latin American left." Despite my connections to Argentina, I don't know that much about the left and I don't really know any real leftists in Argentina or elsewhere in Latin America, really. I do know someone who - no joke - refers to the Dirty War as the "War of the Subversives." He also gives me shit (in a very polite, very well-to-do, very British sort of way) about being una izquierdista. Part of this giant hole in my knowle...more

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Jul 29, 2011

Nilesh added it · review of another edition

The book is too vitriolic to be of any factual or historic use. An utter lack of balance in any argument makes it laughable at times - almost any action that can be ascribed to European or Western countries were brandished evil and any evil actions or bad outcomes were linked to these powers. As a result, the book is riddled with inherent contradictions and needless diatribe. Yes, it gives some idea on what drives the thinking and actions of leaders like Chavez, Castro etc but also shows why the...more

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Mar 13, 2011

Steven Salaita rated it

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I finally got to Open Veins last week; I'd been meaning to read it for five, six years now. It was worth the wait. Beyond some occasional rhetorical silliness, Galeano writes beautifully and powerfully. His condemnation of the assorted pimps, crooks, shysters, and assholes who have long exploited Latin America--from within as comprador businesspeople and from the outside as (usually North American) imperialists--to the detriment of the vast majority of its peoples is thorough and infuriating....more

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Dec 20, 2009

AC rated it

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Shelves: mining, current-events

An interesting book -- it has been influential in some circles -- and it is certainly finely written. I am also sympathetic to what he says. But the book is too repetitive and rhetorical for my tastes. It is enough for me to read once his outrage, and then to let the facts speak for themselves. Many of the stories are interesting, but they are interlaced with far too many adjectives, and with passages that add nothing specific. I ended up skimming large sections -- and thus called it a day....more

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Oct 30, 2009

Morgan (Turbo) rated it

· review of another edition

The Opening chapters of this book are fascinating! It goes into much detail of the exploitation and enslavement of the indigenous peoples of south and central America. Most of the history is new to me. One fact that still stays with me is that the shipments of gold and goods coming into Spain and Portugal, from their respective conquests, were actually shipped right back out to other countries because of their substantial national debts.

On the other hand, the following chapters ...more

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Jul 15, 2009

Gail Jonas rated it

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I just finished this dense book. Hugo Chavez handed it to Obama when they met. The subtitle says it all - "five centuries of the pillage of a continent."

Galeano completed the book in 1970, updated it in 1997. Were Latin Americans better off in 1997 than in 1970? According to Galeano, "In the years since the first edition of 'Open Veins,' history has not ceased to be a cruel mistress to us....Slave ships no longer ply the ocean. Today the slavers operate from the minist...more

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Mar 29, 2011

Samantha marked it as to-read · review of another edition

I'm so excited to read this this summer!
Eduardo, I feel that I've learned so much from you, in looking at my indigenous, colonial, and modernized Latina roots and about general world history.
REAL HIS-HER-STORY that made me as a reader really care for the stories, the anonymous figures (strategically made anonymous through omission and ignorance) and peoples and civilizations, cultures that were so obviously betrayed and exploited; whose soil others now comfortable, ignorantly smugly l...more

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Apr 25, 2011

Harold rated it

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Shelves: politics-history, latin-america

A must read for politcal/sociological junkies. Galleano looks at the exploitation of South America, first by Europe and then by the U.S. He does a chapter on each of several areas of exploitation. Oil, Gold, Sugar, Bananas, etc and makes us privy to the agreements made by the investing corporation and the ruling oligarchy of each country. In each case the oligarchy reaps the benefit and the worker is further thrust into poverty. He explains the differences in the settlement and colonization bew...more

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Jan 19, 2011

Frank rated it

· review of another edition

Shelves: biblioteca

La lettura di questo libro è stata molto interessante per diversi aspetti.
Il libro, una miscellanza tra storia, saggio ed economia, parte dalla scoperta dell’America e dalle conquiste spagnole e portoghesi, per arrivare fino a i giorni nostri.
La chiave di lettura dell’autore sta nella condanna del costante sfruttamento delle risorse dell’intero continente da parte delle potenze mondiali come Spagna, Inghilterra e infine da circa un secolo gli Stati Uniti.
Galeano spiega come attrav...more

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Sep 09, 2009

Deodand rated it

· review of another edition

Shelves: south-america, non-fiction

This book is really about the world. Galeano doesn't miss anyone with his tar brush, rightfully so. If you've ever given any thought to the concept of Fair Trade you should probably read this book instead of just buying your Fair Trade cup o' joe at the local.

I didn't give this book more stars because Galeano jumps around quite a bit and the book is in need of more coherence. It might've been a smoother read if it had followed a time-line instead of proceeding in a looser form. I...more

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Sep 03, 2009

Xochitl marked it as to-read · review of another edition

Shelves: main-focus

Victor Hugo handed this book to Obama, in hopes that in reading it he would be more familiar with the history of not only Venezuela but all of Latin America, especially the history of Latin America and the United States. It is common knowledge that the United States has a very small and ignorant understanding of its own history and that of other countries. Still, to understand the socialist turn some countries have taken it is imperative to understand history. Obama, in turn, handed him a sig...more

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Jun 26, 2011

Mzaczkowski rated it

· review of another edition

This book was really interesting and well-written. The book is written with a big-time bias towards socialism and nationalism, which was not a problem for me because it was refreshingly different from the capitalist and free market bias that is propagated in the history books that I've read. This book left me wondering how I could possibly remember all of the information contained in it without re-reading it at least 5 times and also wondering how I'm going to be able to get ahold of Galeano's t...more

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Jun 08, 2008

Anette rated it

· review of another edition

this is galeano at his best. a must-read. especially for anyone going to latin america.

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Aug 01, 2011

edward j rathke rated it

· review of another edition

This is a powerful and important book. A thorough analysis of imperialism and colonialism in Latin America. He traces their history, not by region or chronology, but by the ways Latin America was bled dry by the Spanish, Portuguese, Dutch, English, and, finally and currently, the USA.

Galeano traces the influence of the natural resources that Latin America was blessed with, only to find this blessing their greatest curse and the source of these 500 years of exploitation. Gold, silver...more

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Sep 28, 2010

E rated it

· review of another edition

Shelves: 2010, dissertation

I'm used to reading some pretty dry political economy, but it took me MONTHS to finish Open Veins. Galeano can certainly turn a phrase but the book is organized poorly and over-emphasizes Brazil at the expense of the rest of the continent; if you don't already have a strong background in the national political and economic systems of other Latin American states good luck trying to figure out who particular historical figures/events are or why they're important, and don't expect systematic docume...more

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About Eduardo Hughes Galeano

Eduardo Hughes Galeano (born September 3, 1940) is a Uruguayan journalist, writer and novelist. His most well known works are Memoria del fuego (Memory of Fire, 1986) and Las venas abiertas de América Latina (Open Veins of Latin America, 1971) which have since been translated into twenty languages and transcend orthodox genres: combining fiction, journalism, political analysis, and history. The au...more

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Quotes from Las venas abiertas de ...

“The Nobodies

Fleas dream of buying themselves a dog, and nobodies dream of escaping
poverty: that one magical day good luck will suddenly rain down on
them---will rain down in buckets. But good luck doesn't rain down
yesterday, today, tomorrow, or ever. Good luck doesn't even fall in a
fine drizzle, no matter how hard the nobodies summon it, even if their
left hand is tickling, or if they begin the new day with their right
foot, or start the new year with a change of brooms.

The nobodies: nobody's children, owners of nothing. The nobodies: the
no ones, the nobodied, running like rabbits, dying through life,
screwed every which way.

Who are not, but could be.
Who don't speak languages, but dialects.
Who don't have religions, but superstitions.
Who don't create art, but handicrafts.
Who don't have culture, but folklore.
Who are not human beings, but human resources.
Who do not have faces, but arms.
Who do not have names, but numbers.
Who do not appear in the history of the world, but in the police
blotter of the local paper.
The nobodies, who are not worth the bullet that kills them.” — 24 people liked it

“Our defeat was always implicit in the victory of others; our wealth has always generated our poverty by nourishing the prosperity of others - the empires and their native overseers. In the colonial and neocolonial alchemy, gold changes into scrap metal and food into poison.” — 5 people liked it

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