The Latin America in Transition educational package is divided into six topics listed below. The issues discussed are a good focal point for the secretaries' discussions and the essays. A study of our neighbors to the South is critical in the days of NAFTA and increasing interdependence between North and South American nations. The instructional guide and the videotape cover the following areas:

1. An Overview of Latin America
   Students are introduced to the diversity within the geographic, historical, cultural, ethnic and religious background of the region.
2. Politics and Democracy
   Students explore how Latin American governments have moved from extreme authoritarian rule to democratic government, and how repression, corruption and civil war have shaped politics in this region in the 20th century.
3. Economic Development and Regional Integration
   An overview is provided of the development of Latin America's economies from agricultural to industrial. Important topics focus on how government control of the economy leads to both growth and instability. Furthermore, the birth of NAFTA, and the other regional integration efforts between specific countries are discussed.
4. The Environment
   The following topics are included: the destruction of the rain forest, rural and agricultural environmental issues, urban environmental problems such as overcrowding, and solutions to the environmental problems such as those introduced at the Rio Earth Summit.
5. Poverty, Human Rights and Social Change
   Students are challenged to identify the sources of conflict and poverty by examining the impact of European colonization on indigenous peoples, Latin America's legacy of authoritarian governments and the unequal distribution of wealth.
6. U.S. Interests in Latin America
   This highly informative section looks at historical, economic, and cultural ties between the U.S. and Latin America. The materials also cover how the drug trade and immigration affect foreign and domestic policy in the United States.

Each topic is featured on the accompanying videotape which contains historic and current news footage as well as excerpts from the SCIS television programs of former Secretaries of State and Defense, former world leaders and former ambassadors to the UN. The news footage and the issues discussed by the secretaries are directly related to the instructional manual and the lesson plans. The instructional manual contains 201 pages and the videotape is 1 hour long. Both are divided into 6 segments.

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Free Downloads and Other Resources
NCSS Correlation Chart [PDF-format file]	Correlation of this package to NCSS standards. Explains which skills are developed in each lesson and the appropriate grade level for each lesson.
GPS Correlation Chart [PDF-format file]	Correlation of this package to Georgia Performance Standards (GPS) standards.
Index [PDF-format file]	Index to the Instructional Guide.
Updates	Updates to this package, additional activities and other resources, available in PDF.
Timelines	Timelines of recent events in this region and the world.
Infolinks	Other web sites with information about Latin America and other regions of the world.

The updates are presented in PDF format, which requires the free Adobe^® Acrobat ^® Reader ^TM. Download Acrobat ^® here.