Unit 6: Reaction and Repression

In this unit, we'll be studying various reactions to the revolutions of the mid-twentieth century. Most notably, military dictatorships took hold of Brazil, Argentina, and Chile, with other nations practicing more subdued "dirty wars" against dissenters in their own populations. As you've noticed, the themes we've explored over the last few Units blend together. We've already seen the ways in which the Cold War shaped U.S. foreign policy in Latin America. The "containment" of "communism" became the most important guiding principle for U.S. policy makers. Of particular interest are the cases of Chile and Guatemala; I've added some readings on the trial of Efrain Rios-Montt, the Guatemalan military leader who presided over the brutal genocide campaigns against Mayan people in the early 1980s. In Chile, the socialist--not U.S.S.R affiliated--government of Salvador Allende was democratically elected. The idea that a socialist administration could come to power through legal, legitimate means was something that had not occurred to U.S. policy makers. Chile terrified them because it provided evidence that socialism was not simply a system that stamped out freedom or that could only arise via violent revolution. When Richard Nixon learned of Allende's election, he screamed "that son of a bitch, that son of a bitch!" His administration then took measures to make Chile's "economy scream." Through combined economic sanctions and CIA support for military opposition to Allende, U.S. foreign policy ensured instability in Allende's Chile. On September 11, 1973, a CIA-backed coup overthrew Allende in favor of Augusto Pinochet, who then presided over nearly two decades of repression and violence.