, an uneasy relationship between the indigenous peoples of the region, converted or not, and the Church, was established at the very beginning of the so-called Columbian Exchange; this uneasy relationship helped bring about the revolutionary uprisings of the masses under, for example, Diaz and Villa in Mexico and Bolivar in Peru.
What one must also recognize about the countries of modern Latin America is referenced briefly by Lauria-Santiago (Text) with respect to El Salvador. These countries were, in almost all cases, well developed and structured social systems long before the Spanish or the Portuguese explorers set sail for the New World. The arrival of these European adventurers and their decision to settle and build permanent military and economic centers in the various countries that would ultimately be created had a profound impact upon indigenous peoples, who found themselves marginalized at best and enslaved a worst. Additionally, as Martinez-Vergne (Text) reports with respect to the Dominican Republic, the Spanish and Portuguese systems of government via the haciendas, the encomiendas, and the alcalas with their substantial military presence further ensured that a largely Eurocentric elite would arise in each of these regions and that control of most of the land and the economic resources of a particular region would be vested in the hands of these colonial elites. This established a dramatically divided class system which became over time even more confusing and complex with intermarriage between Europeans and indigenous peoples and the establishment of Creole society as an intermediary between the European overlords and the masses of peasants, Indians, and Mestizos
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