Contemporary Latin American Revolutions

Revolutions are a commonly studied but only vaguely understood historical phenomenon. Now updated to include the perspectives of grassroots revolutionary movements and biographies of often marginalized voices, this clear and concise text extends our understanding with a critical narrative analysis of key case studies: the 19101920 Mexican Revolution; the 19441954 Guatemalan Spring; the 19521964 MNR-led revolution in Bolivia; the Cuban Revolution that triumphed in 1959; the 19701973 Chilean path to socialism; the leftist Sandinistas in Nicaragua in power from 19791990; failed guerrilla movements in Colombia, El Salvador, and Peru; and the Bolivarian Revolution in Venezuela after Hugo Chávezs election in 1998. Historian Marc Becker opens with a theoretical introduction to revolutionary movements, including a definition of what revolution means and an examination of factors necessary for a revolution to succeed. He analyzes revolutions through the lens of those who participated and explores the sociopolitical conditions that led to a revolutionary situation, the differing responses to those conditions, and the outcomes of those political changes. Each case study provides an interpretive explanation of the historical context in which each movement emerged, its main goals and achievements, its shortcomings, its outcome, and its legacy. The book concludes with an analysis of how elected leftist governments in the twenty-first century continue to struggle with issues that revolutionaries confronted throughout the twentieth century.

Marc Becker is professor of Latin American history at Truman State University. Among his books areThe CIA in Ecuador,The FBI in Latin America, ¡Pachakutik!:Indigenous Movements and Electoral Politics in Ecuador,Indians and Leftists in the Making of Ecuador's Modern Indigenous Movements, andMariátegui and Latin American Marxist Theory.

Preface

1 Theories of Revolution

Biography: José Carlos Mariátegui, 18941930

Document: José Carlos Mariátegui, On the Indigenous Problem, 1928

Biography: Dolores Cacuango, 18811971

Documents: Ecuadorian Federation of Indians (FEI), 1946

Document: Organization of American States (OAS), The Preservation and Defense of Democracy in America, 1948

2 Mexican Revolution, 19101920

Biography: Emiliano Zapata, 18791919

Document: Emiliano Zapata, Plan of Ayala, 1911

Biography: Hermila Galindo, 18861954

Document: Hermila Galindo, The Suffrage Question: Why Do Women Want the Vote?, 1916

Document: Ambassador Henry Lane Wilson to Secretary of State Philander Knox, 1913 62

3 Guatemalan Spring, 19441954

Biography: Jacobo Arbenz Guzmán, 19131971

Document: Decree 900, 1952

Biography: Ester Castellanos de Urrutia, 18921964

Document: Guatemalan Womens Alliance, Appeal to the Women of Guatemala, 1950

Document: Central Intelligence Agency, Present Political Situation in Guatemala and Possible Developments during 1952, 1952

4 Bolivias Nationalist Revolution, 19521964

Biography: Juan Lechín Oquendo, 19142001

Document: The Union Federation of Bolivian Mine Workers, Pulacayo Theses, 1946

Document: Antonio Mamani Alvarez, Caranguillas Thesis, 1947

Biography: Lidia Gueiler Tejada, 19212011

Document: Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), The Outlook for Bolivia, 1956

5 Cuban Revolution, 1959

Biography: Fidel Castro, 19262016

Document: First Declaration of Havana, 1960

Document: Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), Communist Influence in Cuba, 1960

Biography: Vilma Espín, 19302007

Document: Vilma Espín, A Revolution within a Revolution, 1988

6 Chilean Road to Socialism, 19701973

Biography: Salvador Allende Gossens, 19091973

Document: Popular Unity Government, Basic Program, 1970

Document: Institute of Indigenous Development, Indigenous Law, 1972

Biography: Beatriz Allende, 19421977

Document: Viron P. Vaky, Chile40 Committee Meeting, MondaySeptember 14, 1970

7 Sandinistas in Nicaragua, 19791990

Biography: Carlos Fonseca Amador, 19361976

Document: The Historic Program of the FSLN, 1969

Biography: Dora María Téllez, 1955

Document: Alicia Gordon, Christa Berger, and Pilar Lacerna, Nicaragua: We Are Millions, 1980

Document: Draft Law on Autonomy Proposed by the Government of Nicaragua, 1985

Document: Central Intelligence Agency, The Freedom Fighters Manual, 1983

8 Guerrilla Warfare

Biography: Che Guevara, 19281967

Document: Che Guevara,Guerrilla Warfare, 1960

Document: Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), The Latin American Guerrilla Today, 1971

Document: The Association of Salvadoran Women, Participation of Latin American Women in Social and Political Organizations, 1981

Biography: Augusta La Torre (Comrade Norah), 19461988

Document: Popular Womens Movement, Marxism, Mariátegui and the Womens Movement, 1975

9 Venezuelas Bolivarian Revolution, 1999

Biography: Hugo Rafael Chávez Frías, 19542013

Document: Hugo Chávez, World Social Forum, 2005

Biography: Nora Castañeda, 19422015

Document: Constitution of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela, 1999

Document: General Services Agreement between the Venezuelan Opposition and Silvercorp, 2019

10 Socialisms of the Twentieth and Twenty-First Centuries

Glossary

Index

About the Author