| A | B |
|---|
| plazas | public squares |
| vaqueros | Mexican cowhands |
| maquiladoras | factories in which workers assemble parts made in other countries |
| subsistence farms | small parts where farmers grow only enough food to feed their own families |
| plantations | large farms that raise a single crop for sale |
| migrant workers | people who travel to find work when extra help is needed to plant or harvest crops |
| literacy rate | the percentage of people who can read and write |
| command economy | the communist government decides how resources are used and what goods and services are produced |
| remittances | money sent back home by people who work in other countries |
| commonwealth | a self-governing territory |
| selva | Brazilian name for the Amazon rain forest |
| Favelas | overcrowded slum areas that surround many Brazilian cities |
| gauchos | cowhands in Argentina |
| national debt | money owed by the government |
| default | to miss a debt payment to the company or person who lent the money |
| sodium nitrate | a mineral used in fertilizer and explosives |
