The Role of the Military in Latin American Politics

1960 ◽  
Vol 13 (3) ◽  
pp. 745 ◽  
Author(s):  
Theodore Wyckoff
Keyword(s):  
Latin American ◽  
American Politics ◽  
Latin American Politics ◽  
The Military

True Crimes: Rodolfo Walsh and the Role of the Intellectual in Latin American Politics

2002 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michael McCaughan
Keyword(s):  
Latin American ◽  
American Politics ◽  
Open Letter ◽  
Latin American Politics ◽  
Dirty War ◽  
Death Squad ◽  
The Us ◽  
Own Name ◽  
The Military

Rodolfo Walsh was a writer of crime novels, a tireless investigative journalist who uncovered real political crimes, an instant historian of a turbulent and violent era in Argentinian and Latin American politics. He was in Cuba in 1960, participating in setting up the first revolutionary press service in Latin America, "Prensa Latina", when a coded telex arrived in their offices by mistake. After sleepless nights and with one cryptography manual, Walsh deciphered the plans for the US invasion of Cuba being planned in Guatemala by the CIA. Walsh was active in the Montonero guerrilla in Argentina, co-ordinating information and intelligence work. In that capacity he made public the existence of ESMA, the Naval Mechanics School which was the main military torture centre. In his own name he wrote an Open Letter to the Military Junta, a year from the coup and a day before his death, denouncing the dirty war. He was gunned down in the streets of Buenos Aires by a military death squad. This is an account of Rudolfo Walsh's life. It includes extended excerpts from his varied writings.

Latin-American Executives: Essence and Variations

1961 ◽  
Vol 3 (1) ◽  
pp. 81-95 ◽  
Author(s):  
R. A. Gómez
Keyword(s):  
Latin American ◽  
American Politics ◽  
Dominant Role ◽  
Latin American Politics ◽  
Lack Of Information ◽  
Political Inquiry ◽  
Excellent Work ◽  
Comparative Government ◽  
Variations On A Theme

The most widely-professed fact in the field of Latin American politics is unquestionably the dominant role of the president. The task facing Latin Americanists is not the defense of this theme but the elaboration of it. One of the most confining factors — so often lamented at conferences where these matters are discussed — is the lack of information in depth concerning all of the revelancies of power structure. This is particularly evident in appraising cultural factors although it must be admitted that much excellent work is now being done. A very challenging problem in the area of comparative government is involved, a problem admitting of some of the methodological uneasiness associated with that branch of political inquiry. Obviously, in the study of Latin American politics one may proceed with greater assurance with the “variations on a theme” technique than would be possible in many other areas; however, some disillusionment and appreciable inaccuracies lie in wait if one submits to this temptation too extensively.

Armies and Politics in Latin America

1974 ◽  
Vol 27 (1) ◽  
pp. 107-130 ◽  
Author(s):  
Abraham F. Lowenthal
Keyword(s):  
Latin American ◽  
American Politics ◽  
Extensive Literature ◽  
Latin American Politics ◽  
Military Involvement ◽  
Political Roles ◽  
Social Modernization ◽  
Military Institution ◽  
The Military

An extensive literature analyzes military participation in Latin American politics. Case studies and a few comparative works undermine the faith of a decade ago—that military involvement in Latin American politics would decline as a result of economic development, social modernization, military professionalization, and American influence. Attention has turned increasingly to die variety of military involvements: direct and indirect; personal, factional, and institutional; intermittent and long-term; reformist and regressive. Analyses stressing the confluence and interaction of macro-social factors with those internal to the military institution seem most persuasive in explaining the diverse political roles played by Latin American officers. One central proposition which deserves further research is that the relation between the levels of military institutionalization and the institutionalization of civilian political procedures importantly affects these varying roles.

Political Development and Military Intervention in Latin America

1966 ◽  
Vol 60 (3) ◽  
pp. 616-626 ◽  
Author(s):  
Martin C. Needler
Keyword(s):  
Latin America ◽  
Latin American ◽  
Political Development ◽  
American Politics ◽  
Military Intervention ◽  
Political Community ◽  
Military Coup ◽  
The Political ◽  
Latin American Politics ◽  
The Military

It is noteworthy that the recent spate of writings in the field of “political development” has shown a pronounced tendency to omit consideration of Latin America. Thus the “communications” and “bureaucracy” volumes in the SSRC political development series are totally innocent of Latin American data, as is an excellent recent treatment of—of all things!—the political behavior of the military in developing areas.The Latin Americanists, for their part, have largely stressed those key features of the area's politics which have long remained constant—executive predominance, military intervention, and the influence of the peculiarities of Hispanic culture. At the same time, it is clear that the social changes usually collectively termed “modernization”—urbanization, technological borrowing, and the development of mass communications grids—together with their political correlate, the expansion of the political community to include hitherto excluded social elements, are proceeding in Latin America too. Accordingly, it becomes desirable to reexamine the “statics” of Latin American politics in the light of the “dynamics” of the processes of political development and social mobilization.The present article attempts this reexamination with respect to the most characteristic feature of Latin American politics, the coup d'état and the establishment of a de facto military government.A priori, mutually contradictory theses about the relations of the military coup to social development can be constructed—and indeed the literature on the subject abounds in such contradictory theses, evidence to support each of which is always available.

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