History of Latin America
... to Right
Lecture outline
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This week we look at the military dictatorships that dominated Latin America during the Cold War.
Almost all were anti-Communist and politically conservative.
Above, left: Argentinian soldiers confront the Madres de la Plaza de Mayo, who demanded the opening of military records every Thursday beginning in 1977. They make an interesting comparison to the Cuban Damas de Blanco.
Above, right: A wounded soldier being evacuated in northern Quiche, Guatemala, in the early 1980s.
Arturo Alessandri, a Chilean conservative, on the circumstances leading to the coup of Sept. 11, 1973.
Look also at the interviews of Duane Claridge for a soft Alliance for Progress perspective from the U.S.,
and of Paul Wimert for a U.S. military perspective.
The trial of Adolfo Scilingo in Spain. There's lots more on the Scilingo trial and the trial and legacy of Pinochet.
Courtroom reaction to the judgment in September 2006 against Miguel Etchekolatz, former police
commissioner of Buenos Aires accused of murder and 'genocide' (the first time this term was officially used)
during the Argentinian military dictatorship. For those who understand Spanish,
here is Etchekolatz explaining his views to a news program filmed as the "Dirty War" was in progress.
A recent article on the children of the disappeared often adopted by their parents' killers,
who are now in their 40s and discovering their past. The testing of a pair of adopted siblings
from Argentina's wealthiest media family became highly political. In another case, a man born
after his father was disappeared later had ex-dictator Jorge Rafael Videla removed as his baptismal godfather, after his mother had used an obscure law allowing families to name the chief of state the godfather of their seventh son in an attempt to get more information about the father's whereabouts.
One of the most prominent members of the Abuelas de la Plaza de Mayo found her grandson.