dictatorships in the americas

BY:

TOM ALLENANDJOANA BETTOCCHI-BARROW

DICTATORSHIPS IN THE AMERICAS

ARCHIBISHOP OSCAR ROMERO, EL SALVADOR 1980.

“WHEN ALL PEACEFUL MEANS

HAVE BEEN EXHAUSTED, THE

CHURCH CONSIDERS INSURRECTION

MORAL AND JUSTIFIED”

SECTION 1: CENTRAL AMERICA: US

POLICY AND ITS EFFECTS

SECTION 2: CHILE: ALLENDE AND

PINOCHET

SECTION 3: PERU

OUTLINE

RULED BY 14 FAMILIES

1960: 12 % OF THE PEASANTRY LANDLESS

MID 1970S: 80% OF THE PEASANTRY LANDLESS

1980: CIVIL WAR COMMENCES

EL SALVADOR

Murdered by GovernmenttSanctionedDeath Squad 1980.

OSCAR ROMERO

PEACE TREATY 1992

USA SPENT 1 BILLION DOLLARS (TAX PAYER’S MONEY) PROPPING UP THE REPRESSIVE SALVADOREAN GOVERNMENT

75,000 PEOPLE KILLED IN EL SALVADOR OVER 12 YEARS OF CIVIL WAR.

CURRENTLY: COALITION GOVERNMENT, SOIL EXHAUSTION, 80% OF THE LAND IS STILL OWNED BY 14 FAMILIES, AND POVERTY/HARDSHIP/MISERY IS RAMPANT.

EL SALVADOR

1954: USA’S FIRST CIA-INITIATED COUP D’ETAT

ARBENZ GOVERNMENT TOPPLED BY CASTILLO ARMAS JUNTA GOVT WITH US MILITARY AID

SERIES OF REPRESSIVE MILITARY REGIMES

1982-83: GENOCIDAL CAMPAIGN AGAINST MAYAN PEOPLE INITIATED BY PRESIDENT JUAN EFRAIN RIOS MONTT (CALLED THE AUGUSTO PINOCHET OF GUATEMALA)

GUATEMALA

ON TRIAL FOR CRIMES AGAINST HUMANITY AND GENOCIDERIOS MONTT: COUP ON ANOTHER MILITARY REGIME IN 1982 BECAME THE DEFACTO PRESIDENTBORN AGAIN CHRISTIANRIOS

MONTT

DOCUMENTS GENOCIDAL POLICIES AGAINST INDIGNEOUS PEOPLE.WINS NOBEL PEACE PRIZE. CONTROVER-SIAL FIGURE TO THIS DAY RIGOBERTA MENCHU

35 YEARS OF CIVIL WAR

100 000 DIED (MOSTLY MAYANS), 1 000 000 REFUGEES

PEACE TREATY SIGNED IN 1990

CURRENTLY: VAST INEQUALITY, SPORADIC INDIGENOUS UPRISINGS

CURRENT PRESIDENT: OTTO PEREZ MOLINA - WAS A FORMER MILITARY OFFICER WHO REPORTED TO RIOS MONTT.

GUATEMALA

SOMOSA DYNASTY LASTED 40 YEARS: FATHER, SON, GRANDSON

FDR: “HE’S A SON OF A BITCH, BUT HE’S OUR SON OF A BITCH”

1973 EARTHQUAKE: RELIEF MONEY STOLEN BY THE SOMOSAS. BLOOD DONATIONS WERE SOLD.

SANDINISTAS OUST SOMOSA #3 IN 1979

SOMOZA FLEES TO PARAGUAY WITH 1.6 BILLION DOLLARS OF NICARAGUA’S NATIONAL TREASURY

NICARAGUA

LED A REBELLION AGAINST THE FIRST OF THE SOMOSAS

MURDERED BY SOMOSA # 1 IN 1934

AUGUSTO SANDINO

SANDINISTA PROGRAM: LAND REFORM, MINIMUM WAGES, REGULATED WORKING HOURS, SAFETY PRACTICES, MATERNITY LEAVE, CHILD CARE, PENSIONS.

US GOVT ACCUSES THE SANDINISTAS OF UNFAIRLY LIMITING THE FREEDOM OF CORPORATE AND BUSINESS INTERESTS: COMMUNISTS!

REAGAN GOVT FINANCES MERCENARY CONTRA ARMY THE IRAN CONTRA SCANDAL

SANDINISTAS REPEATEDLY RE-ELECTED UNTIL 1990; DANIEL ORTEGA IS THE CURRENT PRESIDENT AGAIN

NICARAGUA

Leader of Sandinista Forces

DANIEL ORTEGA

LA VIOLENCIA: 30 YEARS OF GUERRILLA WARFARE 1948+

BRUTAL MILITARY REPRESSION

USA ANTI-DRUG CAMPAIGN

INNOCCENT CIVILIANS CAUGHT IN THE MIDDLE

CURRENTLY: LARGEST RECEIPIENT OF USA MILITARY ASSISTANT.

VERY LITTLE MONEY FOR SOCIAL SERVICES,FEW JOB OPPORTUNITIES, , MASSIVE BRAIN-DRAIN.

COLOMBIA

CURRENTLY: LARGEST RECIPIENT OF USA MILITARY ASSISTANCE

VERY LITTLE MONEY FOR SOCIAL SERVICES

FEW JOB OPPORTUNITIES

MASSIVE BRAIN-DRAIN

COLOMBIA

MANUEL NORIEGA WAS CONSIDERED A “GOOD” GUY

BY THE CIA

“SO LONG AS NORIEGA WAS SUPPORTING THE REAGAN ADMINISTRATION WAR AGAINST THE SANDINISTAS,

HIS DRUG DEALING ACTIVITIES WERE OVERLOOKED” (pg.300, MEADE)

PANAMA

CHILE

ALLENDE : SOCIALIST PRESIDENT

ATTEMPTED MANY SOCIAL & ECONOMIC REFORMS

POLICY OF HIGHER WAGES AND FIXED PRICES NAÏVE

NATIONALIZATION PROGRAMS ANGERED US COMPANIES

SYSTEMATIC ECONOMIC SABOTAGE BY CHILEAN ELITE,

NIXON GOVERNMENT AND CIA

SALVADOR ALLENDE

AUGUSTO PINOCHET

EARLY MILITARY CAREER UNREMARKABLE

VERY MUCH A FENCE-SITTER ON MAJOR POLICIES

AFTER 1973 COUP: SUDDEN TRANSFORMATION FROM ANONYMOUS BACKBENCHER TO AUTROCRAT

SHORTLY AFTER THE COUP, ALL OTHER MEMBERS OF THE MILITARY JUNTA DEPOSED, RETIRED, DISAPEARED, OR DIED OF MYSTERIOUS ILLNESES

PINOCHET

PINOCHET WROTE A BOOK CALLED “EL DIA DECISIVO”,

RE-WRITING HIS OWN PERSONAL HISTORY IN WHICH HE PORTRAYED HIMSELF AS MORE OF A HARDLINER AND ANTI-COMMUNIST THAN HE HAD BEEN

PINOCHET: “GOD PUT ME THERE. PROVIDENCE, OR DESTINY, OR WHATEVER YOU WANT TO CALL IT PUT ME THERE” (pg.65/66)

PINOCHET

SENDERO LUMINOSO (SHINING PATH): MAOIST-INSPIRED TERRORIST GROUP THAT EMERGED IN THE 1980s.

TORTURED AND KILLED INDIGENOUS PEOPLE IN THE ANDES.

TARATA BOMBING.

ABIMAEL GUZMAN WAS CAPTURED IN 1992.

ALBERTO FUJIMORI AND THE MILITARY.

PERU

Professor and Lead of the Shining Path.

ABIMAEL GUZMAN

COMISION DE LA VERDAD Y RECONCILIACION (TRUTH AND RECONCILIATION COMMISSION)

SENDERO STILL HAS A PRESENCE IN PERU, THOUGH NOT POLITICALLY. THEY CONTROL PARTS OF THE AMAZON AND SURVIVE FROM THE NARCO TRADE WITH COLOMBIA.

SENDERO PRESENTS ITSELF AS A CHARITY/ADVOCACY GROUP IN NORDIC COUNTRIES TO THIS DAY TO END “THE OPPRESSION OF THE PEOPLE”

PERU

WAS THE USSR A REAL THREAT

IN LATIN AMERICA?

WHAT DID US TAXPAYERS THINK ABOUT THE BILLIONS OF

DOLLARS OF PUBLIC MONEY BEING SPENT TO PROP UP

VIOLENT MILITARY REGIMES IN LATIN AMERICA? DID THEY KNOW? DID THEY CARE?

DID THE DICTATORS REALLY BELIEVE THEY

WERE FIGHTING COMMUNISM, OR WAS THIS A CONVENIENT POLITICAL POSTURE, ENABLING THEM TO

RECEIVE US MILITARY AID BY LABELLING ALL THEIR OPPONENTS AS

COMMUNISTS?

HOW DO YOU ACCOUNT FOR

PINOCHET’S SUDDEN TRANSFORMATION FROM ANONYMOUS BACKBENCHER TO

RUTHLESS, AUTOCRATIC

MURDERER AND TORTURER?

WHAT DO YOU THINK OF

ARCHBISHOP ROMERO’S

STATEMENT:WHEN ALL

PEACEFUL MEANS HAVE BEEN

EXHAUSTED, THE CHURCH

CONSIDERS INSURRECTION

MORAL AND JUSTIFIED.”

NEARLY HALF OF ALL CHURCHGOING

GUATEMALANS HAVE TURNED AWAY FROM

CATHOLICISM IN FAVOR OF OTHER

RELIGIONS. WHY DO YOU THINK THIS IS

SO?

DO YOU HOLD OUT HOPE FOR:

GUATEMALA – CURRENT PRESIDENT WAS A FORMER MILITARY OFFICER DURING THE WORST YEARS OF GENOCIDE

EL SALVADOR – 80% OF THE LAND STILL CONTROLLED BY 14 FAMILIES

NICARAGUA – INFRASTRUCTURE DESTROYED BY EARTHQUAKE, CONTRA WAR AND HURRICANE MITCH