Transcript Reaction to Revolution in Contemporary Latin America


During the 1960’s Latin American nations had a profound reaction to the Cuban Revolution
and U.S. intervention in Latin politics. Fidel Castro and Che Guevara began training
revolutionaries in Cuba to start new uprisings in other countries. Cuba became a symbol of
rebellion for nationalists against imperialism and U.S. greed. The United States reacted by
sponsoring conservative military dictators that suppressed communist movements harshly.
This policy would create a trend of military controlled governments that were allied to the
United States against the Soviet Union but would also give rise to numerous revolutions
against oppressive dictatorships.

National Security Doctrine: After WWII and the Cuban Revolution the United States began
to equip and train the nations of Latin America in order to “stem the tide” of Soviet
Communism. (in reality the Soviet Union didn’t care about Latin America, only Cuba) The CIA
established Counter-Insurgency schools in these countries in order to train the soldiers in
anti-guerrilla warfare tactics and Black Ops. (assassination/secret missions) With U.S. aid
many of these militaries became modernized and powerful. The United States would be
responsible for handling all foreign communist invasions (Korea, Vietnam etc..) while their
newly trained Latin American allies would handle the communist movement in South
America. Communists in Latin America were labeled “enemies of freedom” and the U.S.
supported dictatorships had the mission to “defend freedom” by crushing the revolutionary
movements.

The U.S. also instituted a financial program similar to the Marshall plan called The Alliance
for Progress to fund the anti-communist governments and their militaries. The money was
also meant to pass reforms for the people in order to make communism less appealing but the
majority of it went to the military or into the pockets of the upper class and the dictators. The
common people were once again the victims of corruption and this would strengthen the
revolutionary movement.

Marxist communism became the most popular philosophy among students and intellectuals
during this time. Many young Latin Americans looked up to Che Guevara as a symbol of
rebellion against oppression and wanted to follow in his footsteps. The literary works of Pablo
Neruda and Gabriel García Márquez also inspired many revolutionaries to stand up to the
dictatorships in their countries. Marquez wrote 100 Years of Solitude, a novel about a
fictional island named Macondo that is created by violence and eventually destroyed by it.
Marquez used a technique called “Magical Realism” (the supernatural is common while
everyday occurrences are extraordinary) to tell a story that mirrored the history of his
homeland of Colombia.

As the revolutionary movement grew the government and the military began to abuse their
powers in brutal ways. Martial law(military lockdown) became an everyday part of life in
many cities. Anyone who collaborated with revolutionaries was subject to arrest and
interrogation. Many citizens were kidnapped, tortured and murdered during this period of
time. An Urban Guerrilla movement was formed by the rebels to counter the brutal tactics
of the military. These rebels created networks of spies, assassins and terrorists that hid in plain
site and blended in to the crowds of the cities. They bombed government buildings, killed
high ranking officials and robbed banks to fund their operations.

Unfortunately violence creates more violence and the success of the guerillas prompted the
military to become more sadistic. The soldiers began to target women and children of
suspected rebels. Women would be repeatedly raped in front of loved ones and children would
be held hostage until rebel leaders turned themselves in. These harsh tactics only created
more hatred for the government and swelled the ranks of the revolutionaries.
The U.S. supported National Security Doctrine was used by Latin American dictators as an
excuse for the brutality of the military. The policy encouraged the military to take an active
role in national life, which the dictators corrupted into martial law. The intent was to promote
economic development and public safety not to create authoritarian states. The U.S. had
created a monster that was growing out of their control.
 The militaries in Latin American nations grew so powerful that the Generals began to see that
elected civilian politicians were unnecessary. Many elected presidents that were supported by
the U.S. were overthrown and replaced by military Juntas(military controlled
government). These governments saw civil liberties as a hindrance to crushing the
revolutionaries so they abolished many individual rights of their citizens. The military that
was supposed to defend freedom now ruled with an iron fist and the citizens of many Latin
American nations had lost many of the rights they had fought for.

 The Era of Military Rule in Latin America (1965-1982)
Brazil: The U.S. considered Brazil their greatest ally in Latin America. Getulio Vargas had
maintained order in the country during the 1940’s and 50’s by stopping communism and
fascism using the military. Brazil became the example of how to control revolutionaries in U.S.
eyes. After the Cuban Revolution the U.S. supported only right wing conservative leaders who
feared communism. However in 1961 Jõao Goulart was elected prime minister of Brazil. He
was a left wing reformer who had socialist support. Goulart actually followed the National
Security Doctrine in the correct manner.
 He passed educational reforms that raised the literacy rate, gave lower class citizens the right
to vote and passed land reform that gave peasants land for the first time in years. Goulart also
worked with socialists and communists instead of hunting them down. All his efforts at
reform made him popular with the people but the United States was worried about his
communist tendencies. The CIA was sent into Brazil and used Psyops(psychological
warfare) to blackmail, character assassinate and spread propaganda in order to discredit
Goulart. In 1964 a military coup supported by the U.S. forced him from power.

Goulart had unified the peasants and workers and now that he was gone the landowners and
military generals took back all the reforms that had been passed. A military Junta was
established in 1965 with U.S. support. The U.S. ambassador called it the “single most decisive
victory for freedom” of the era, he would regret those words. Once the military took power the
government established two political parties that citizens could “vote” for in elections. Both
parties were fake and were designed to support the military junta and give the appearance that
Brazil was still a democratic republic.
 In reality the Junta now ruled by decree, changed any law that weakened their power and
dissolved the civilian congress. Brazil was now a military controlled state that suppressed all
individual freedoms and rights. An urban guerilla movement sprang up in Brazil and began to
fight the junta government. Many of these rebels were captured and subjected to inhumane
torture before being executed. The junta kept detailed files on all “suspicious” citizens and
formed out of uniform Escuadrón de la Muerte (death squads) that would infiltrate rebel
camps and destroy them.
 The hard-line junta ruled Brazil from 1964 to 1974. Their harsh treatment of the citizens and
brutal attacks on the rebels kept them in power. In an attempt to make Brazil a modern world
power they also began an industrialization program. Workers were forced to build roads and
railroads in harsh terrain for little pay. Plantations were expanded in the rural areas while
factories were built in the cities. The Generals in charge called this program The Economic
Miracle. In reality it only benefitted the ruling classes while exploiting the lower classes.
 The government held down wages on purpose, anyone who complained “disappeared” and
strikes were strictly illegal. The economy was focused on middle class and upper class products
which 75% of the country could not afford. The building projects focused on bridges, airports
and canals that most of the population would never use. Most of the money for this “miracle”
had been borrowed from the U.S. Brazil went into enormous debt and the economic boom was
over. To pay back the debt, the junta lowered coffee prices for exports but raised all the prices
at home. Brazil’s economy was ruined, the people had no choice but to rise up. Strikes in 1978
and a massive uprising in the early 1980’s eventually pushed the junta out.

Jõao Goulart
Argentina: After Juan Peron was forced from office by the military in the 1950’s, the
government had to deal with Peron’s loyal followers who he still controlled from outside the
country. All of the working class still supported Peron despite his absence and voted for
presidential candidates that supported his policies. The Military voided all Peronist electoral
victories and banned the party in the 1960’s. This led to the creation of an Argentinean
military junta similar to the one in Brazil.
 The Junta began to crack down on all revolutionary activity and censored the media. The
Argentinean economy was based on the urban working class and the military controlled their
wages and hours. The repression by the military led to a revolutionary movement inspired by
the memory of Evita and Juan Peron and the Argentinean rebel Che Guevara. The violence
that followed would cost many lives on both sides.
 The Dirty War: The Revolutionaries in Argentina were much more organized and inspired
then many of the other rebels in Latin America. Communists were inspired by Che Guevara to
topple capitalism and imperialism, socialists were driven by the policies of the Perons and
wanted to return to that era and the anarchists wanted to destroy the strict military order. All
three factions joined together to rebel against the military junta in the 1960’s leading to what
was called “The Dirty War”.
 The military created death squads and began hunting down revolutionaries and their families.
20,000 “insurgents” disappeared and the government never acknowledged their existence. The
rebels formed powerful guerilla forces, especially in the cities and the military began to suffer
heavy losses. The Montoneros were the most powerful of the guerilla squads and were made
up of communists trained by Che Guevara and former Peronists. The fighting and killing
escalated to horrifying levels in the late 1960’s with both sides becoming more and more
brutal. The name “Dirty War” was created to describe the lawless and savage nature of the
conflict. The military junta began to lose ground to the growing rebellion and in a desperate
move invited Juan Peron back as president in 1973. It did not stop the fighting however as an
elderly Peron soon died after taking office.


Juan Peron’s second wife Isabel Peron became president but was not as well liked as Evita had
been and the Peronist movement split into two factions: the ones who supported the original
policies and the ones who supported the new president. The military saw that Isabel was weak
and could not stop the Dirty War so it took control again in 1976. Under the supervision of the
sadistic dictator Jorge Videla, the military declared a nation wide martial law and began a
systematic extermination of all its opponents. The rebels were no match for the extreme
violence that followed and were forced underground.

The violence in Argentina seemed to have no end until a movement called the Madres de la
plaza de mayo began massive protests in the streets from 1977 to 1983. Mothers of fallen
soldiers and rebels began marching through Buenos Aires hand in hand holding pictures of
their dead sons and daughters and wearing white scarves with their names on them calling for
an end to the violence. The military called them crazy and ordered them to disperse. The
women refused and the government was put in a weak position. They could not fire upon
defenseless women who were peacefully protesting. The fighting was halted and a cease fire
was announced, the mothers of Argentina had stopped the violence without firing a shot.

The Falklands War: In 1982 Argentina got involved in a war over the Falkland islands with
Great Britain. The British refused to give the islands to the military junta of Argentina. The
resulting war lasted 74 days and was an undisputed British victory and military disaster for
Argentina. The Junta was weakened and discredited by the protests of the mothers and the
loss of the Falklands war and fell apart in 1983.

The Trial of the Juntas: The newly elected democratic government arrested all of the military
leaders accused of Human Rights Violations and put them on public trial. All of the leaders
including Jorge Videla were convicted of crimes against humanity and sentenced to life in
prison.
Jorge Videla

Uruguay: the nation was fairly peaceful after World War II and into the 1960’s. Uruguay was
ruled by a council rather than by a president and had remained a socialist nation and welfare
state modeled after José Batlle y Ordóñez’s World War I era government. However in 1964 a
revolutionary movement named Tupamaro began to challenge the government as not
socialist enough. The rebels followed Che Guevara’s model of Marxist revolution and wanted
Uruguay to become fully communist. The rebels carried out daring attacks on government
installations and kidnapped high ranking officials and held them for ransom. They even
kidnapped the British ambassador and a CIA agent. The rebels were seen as terrorists by many
Uruguayan citizens and the government had to respond by militarizing.

Uruguay became a military junta in 1967 and the nation immediately went into martial law.
The Tupamaro movement was small and the military acted swiftly and harshly towards them.
The leaders were rounded up and arrested, anyone associated with them was also imprisoned.
By the end of the 1970’s Uruguay had the most political prisoners of any nation in the world
but the government had crushed the communists with as little blood shed as possible.

Chile: The nation had a long history of socialism and constitutional government. The United
States feared this would evolve into communism in the 1960’s. The U.S. sent millions of dollars
into Chile using the Alliance for Progress and the government used it to help the people
through socialist policies. This is not what the U.S. wanted. Salvador Allende was an
extremely popular Marxist leader who won the 1970 presidential election in Chile. The U.S.
government sent the CIA in to derail his regime. Allende created the “Popular Unity” party
and nationalized the mines, banks and plantations so the CIA sent money to the conservatives
to oppose him. They also cut off all international aid to his government and trained
mercenaries to organize a military coup against Allende’s presidency.

The popular unity party had the support of the workers and the farmers because Allende had
treated them fairly with high wages and land reform. Unfortunately the upper classes had the
CIA behind them and a military coup broke out in 1973. What followed was the bloodiest take
over in the history of Latin America (that is saying a lot….) President Allende was killed
defending his own palace from the U.S supported conservative rebels. (The order to start the
coup was given by President Richard Nixon himself…) Thousands of Allende’s popular unity
supporters were herded into the Soccer stadium in Santiago and executed. Thousands more
were tortured and disappeared forever.

The socialist government was toppled and Augusto Pinochet was declared dictator of Chile.
Pinochet was a megalomaniac who was more of a fascist than a conservative. His regime
murdered any opposition and stole the nation’s wealth through corruption. All this happened
with U.S. approval and aid. Pinochet ruled Chile from 1973 to 1990 with totalitarian power.
Pinochet was arrested in 1998 for human rights violations and embezzlement, he had stolen
more than 50 million dollars from his own nation’s taxes.

Peru: the nation saw what was happening around them and decided not to side with
communism or capitalism. Peru militarized but did not commit atrocities and human rights
violations. The government gave farmers land reforms and workers benefits. It nationalized its
industries and cut off ties with the United States. The native Incas were given more rights and
their Quechua language was made the second official language along with Spanish. There was
no revolutionary movement against the government and it ruled peacefully from 1968 to 1980.
(shocker) Peru served as a model on how to break the cycle of violence that plagued many
Latin American nations during the Cold War.
Urban Guerrillas
Salvador Allende
Augusto Pinochet
 The Last Cold War Battlegrounds

During the late 1970’s many of the South American military junta’s began to weaken and
crumble due to their brutal tactics, corruption and mismanagement. However in Central
America the so called “Banana Republics” were still under harsh, U.S. supported dictators.

Guatemala: Dominated by the United Fruit Company since the early 1900’s and forced to
except a harsh anti-Marxist dictator by the CIA in 1954, Guatemala was the archetype of
exploitation in Latin America. During the 1970’s little had changed, the country still depended
on one crop, bananas, which was controlled by the renamed Chiquita Banana corporation.
(United Fruit Company had bad press so it was re-branded) most of the population consisted
of poor, rural farmers who were strictly controlled by the military. The upper class owned all
the land and the dictators were supported by U.S. financial aid.

The wealthy landowners feared a peasant rebellion so the government forced farmers to live in
“Model Villages” which were basically forced labor camps. The CIA was well aware of these
camps and considered them “low intensity violations”. Rigoberta Menchú was a native Maya
woman who had been involved in the guerrilla movement to overthrow the Guatemalan
dictatorship. Her father was a guerrilla leader who had been captured and executed. She
continued his work and organized and educated the peasants into revolutionaries. Over
200,000 rebels and peasants died under the rule of the Junta. The military exiled Menchu to
Mexico in 1980 where she wrote a book about her experiences and brought world attention to
the unfair situation in her country. Many of the brutal leaders of the Guatemalan army were
convicted for human rights violations due to her testimony. She was awarded the Nobel peace
prize in 1992.
Corporate Greed and a “Model Village” in Guatemala
Rigoberta Menchú

Nicaragua: During the 1930’s Augusto Cesár Sandino became a legend in Nicaragua by
leading a rebellion against the U.S. occupation of his country. He was considered a bandit to
Americans but a hero to Nicaraguans. After the U.S. left Nicaragua during the Great
Depression Sandino attempted to take power. However he was assassinated by the leader of
the Nicaraguan army Anastascio Somoza. Somoza then used the army to take control of the
country and established himself as dictator. His family would rule Nicaragua until the 1970’s.
Sandino’s death made him a martyr to the people and he was never forgotten. A rebel group
called the Sandinistas began to form in the 1960’s.

In 1978 a popular journalist named Joaquin Chamorro was assassinated by the Somoza
family. This event set off a violent revolution led by the Sandinista rebels. Somoza’s military
could not hold back the rebel forces and he was forced to flee to Paraguay. He was assassinated
by Argentinean guerrillas once he arrived in Paraguay. The Sandinistas took control of
Nicaragua and their leader Daniel Ortega became president and began to implement
socialist reforms to the citizens. Many Western European nations supported the revolution
and even the U.S., under President Jimmy Carter, offered some aid.

In 1980 Ronald Reagan was elected president of the United States. His presidency was based
on ending communism and restoring the U.S. economy. Reagan saw the Sandinistas as a
communist threat and sent the CIA to organize a counter-revolution. The CIA reorganized the
remnants of Somoza’s army in Honduras and began to train and equip them with state of the
art weapons. The military junta of Argentina also sent military advisors called “Contras”
(counter-revolution experts) to aid the attack against the Sandinistas. All of this was done
as a black op without the public knowing about it. Regan was also sending aid to the Shah of
Iran to stop the revolution of radical Islamists in that nation. The secret military aid, which
cost millions, became known as The Iran-Contra scandal.
Augusto Cesár Sandino
Sandinistas
Contras
Ronald Reagan
Daniel Ortega

The counter -revolution caused thousands of deaths and destroyed the Nicaraguan economy
but the Sandinistas held on to power and pushed the invaders out. Reagan’s administration
covered up the military aid but it eventually leaked out and made his administration look
foolish. Ortega was elected two more times and served as president until 1990 when Victoria
Chamorro (the wife of the assassinated journalist that started the revolution) was elected the
first female president in Latin America.

El Salvador: The nation was an anti-communist oligarchy ruled by a few wealthy families. El
Salvador was still run in the old Spanish style of peons working for wealthy landlords on
haciendas. The economy could not support the population and many of the people were
starving. The communist party in El Salvador was one of the first in Latin America and
attempted an uprising in 1932 but was crushed by the military.

After years of military rule a new communist movement began in the 1970’s. It was very unique
as it was supported by the Catholic Church under Bishop Oscar Romero. The situation of
the poor was so bad that he felt communism was the only way to fix the problem. His
movement was called the Liberation Theology. His followers helped the poor and spoke out
against the government. Death squads began to target priests and nuns that were aiding the
poor and Bishop Romero himself was assassinated in 1980 while saying a mass in church.

The Farabundo Martí National Liberation Front or FMLN was formed to destroy the
dictatorship and free the poor from oppression. It was well led but ill-equipped. President
Reagan saw it as another communist threat and refused to help. However, when four American
nuns were murdered by the El Salvador military the U.S. intervened. It was the first time the
U.S. went against an anti communist government in Latin America. (made the U.S. look
hypocritical) The war between the FMLN and the government was a stalemate of violence for
years until a peace treaty was signed in 1992 that created a democratic nation.
Bishop Oscar Romero
 What was the National Security Doctrine? Who were “the enemies of
Freedom”?
 What is a Junta? Why did so many of them take control in Latin
America during the 1960’s and 1970’s?
 What was The Dirty War?
 How did the United States intervene in Chile and Nicaragua? Why?
 How does Gabriel Garcia Marquez’s idea of a violent beginning and a
violent end sum up the Latin American history you have studied during
this course?