The Power and Influence of The Sendero Luminoso

The image of a somewhat cohesive revolutionary party working towards peace put forth by Womack draws a stark line between the “bandit” enemy described by General Huerta and the Zapatistas. Brunk, in his writings on Zapata, challenges this narrative by exploring the gray space that does not allow for easy delineation between revolutionaries and bandits. Rather than existing as an arbitrary offshoot of Zapatismo, “banditry represented the pursuit of local political (and economic) goals” (Brunk, 349). Womack does acknowledge the “insoluble village rivalries that only compromise could ease”, but does not relate them directly to feuds involving bandits (Womack, 233). The nature of local politics was arguably defined by the multiplicity of intrinsic power struggles over local democratization.

were also motivated by greed and ambition. A small group of radicals led by John Ridge

They wanted to find someone to ‘manipulate’ in a way, to push their anti-communist regime. However, blinded by the threat of the cold war their the plan failed, since as we can see throughout the novel, what the people got in exchange from Trujillo was far worse; genocide, terror, rape and pillage, etc.

Originating in the United States, ms-13 and similar gangs have had a devastating impact on central America. This article describes the origins from the United States and how through the Los Angeles Riots and other tough on crime policies had the effect of placing many immigrants and criminals back in their home country of central America. The deportees some of that might have been criminals and taken to the United States as children, united in desperation to become ms-13. The article further describes the brutality that the gangs have committed in the region. Through drug trade, smuggling and senseless murder, life in central America has been disturbed by gangs and have become a national security there. The dangers of gangs in central America

During this time, instead of giving up their cause, they held steadfast and kept their voices heard. They believed in their cause with so much passion, that they would not surrender to the cruel tortures of the SIM, Trujillo’s secret police. In fact, they tried convincing other prisoners to want to overthrow Trujillo by secretly taking newspaper clippings of his wrongdoings and having them in their hair. Had they given up in prison, their cause and motivation for other revolutionaries would have died right there. However, they stayed persistent and resilient to continue fighting against Trujillo’s regime. Imagine if they had not stayed true to their cause. Trujillo may not have been overthrown! His despotic and inhumane ways of treating his country and people may have never ended. People who would say anything opposing him would be instantly put to death. There would be no freedom of speech. The very basic rights and freedoms people live and long for would be taken away from them. By sacrificing their time with their families, friends, and children, the Mirabal sisters ensured that the entire nation’s future generations would live with peace and

Methods: This investigation will describe Che Guevara’s involvement in Latin American independence movements, focusing specifically on his involvement with Fidel Castro’s “26th of July” movement. His actions and words will be analyzed, and his conduct this period of political upheaval will be used as evidence in order to answer the investigative question.

Born in Blood and Fire text describe and explain Chasteen’s perceptions on the effect that important invents that occurred in Latin America had during the Cold War. Chasteen’s visions of the period were precise and outstanding. First Chasteen’s ideas reflect how during the Cold War Latin American governments started turning into a military rule with the United Sates as an ally and founder of their army. He explains how countries started revolutionary movements in order to fight for nationalism. Marxist ideologies and communist revolutionary guerrillas rose as well as anticommunist governments. Chasteen’s argues how during the Cold War period there was a constant increase of civil right abuses from the government’s army who impose their power with violence and brutality. Chasteen’s ideas are reflected and confirmed in the Guatemala Reader documents by describing specific events that occurred in Guatemala during the Cold War period. The Guatemala Reader goes beyond Chasteen’s ideas by giving detailed documents and historical facts of the social injustices that people had to go through every day. Born in Blood and Fire texts and the Guatemala Reader documents show the rise of civil wars and a period of political struggle in Latin America during the Cold War.

Comprised of landowners, lawyers, judges, priests, military officers and public officials, the creole and mazomba leaders of Latin American society found insatiable inspiration from the American and French Revolutions of the eighteenth century, and flooded Latin America with a liberal movement for independent nations. Conservatives, in contrast, sought to preserve the traditions of the colonial period, and the Orthodox rule of both the church and foreign-born royal authorities. Yet Old World flavor soured bitterly in a New World teeming with liberal thinkers and daring rebels. Desiring to surpass Old World peninsular and reinós rulers, creole and mazomba won control over local resources and economic development.

The FARC is Colombia’s largest terror group. The FARC was established in 1964. The FARC began with farmers and agricultural workers who abandoned their positions to fight inequalities in Colombia. The FARC revolves around a Marxist-Leninist ideology. The FARCs early establishment suffered losses within its organization due to consistent military raids conducted by the Columbian Forces in order to disrupt or destroy the group. As the fight continued, those losses changed the leadership constantly through the years. The FARC has adapted and overcame many obstacles as the Colombian Government continues its fight against the terror group. As the fight continued through the years, the FARCs ability to change their tactics and weapons advanced. With more powerful weapons through the years and their ability to become more organized, the FARCs ability to fight back became more powerful.

“Unlike the counterproductive repression of his predecessor…Rios Montt's approach was methodical and politically sophisticated, albeit no less brutal. It required massacres of selected Indian villages identified with the guerrillas and, as terror neutralized support for the rebels in surrounding areas, a strategy known as ‘beans and rifles’ was applied, involving distribution of food and creation of civil patrols among the rural population. In a matter of six months, between 3,000 and 5,000 Indians were killed, some 250,000 were displaced from their homes, 30,000 fled into Mexico, 80,000 peasants were press-ganged into civil patrols—and the guerrillas' popular base was largely destroyed. The government also launched a propaganda offensive,

The Communist Party of Peru is an insurgent organization that operates in Peru. The organization is more commonly referred to as Shining Path. The Shining Path was created in 1970 as a group that split from the Peruvian Communist Party (PCP). Shining Path was led and founded by Abimael Guzman and had a few dozen members initially. Guzman originally was a philosophy professor at the University of Ayacucho. Guzman initially began recruiting and training teachers of his ideology at the university itself. The teachers would then return to the rural communities and become the cadre of the Shining Path. Thanks to the spread of their ideology and the targeting of poor peasants for recruitment. At its height, the Shining Path fielded 10,000 men, with

Colombia is a Latin American country located in South America that has been ravaged by violence, starvation, and large-scale inequality between higher and lower classes. The chaos in Colombia has been between rebel forces and the government and has lasted for over fifty years. These rebel forces have fought to achieve their Liberalist lead goals of overthrowing the current democratic government of Colombia and replacing it with a communist government. La Violencia was the main contributor to the conflict between the resistance fighters of Colombia and the Colombian government that has brought on violence and terror from the violent actions between the Liberal and Conservative parties in the 1950’s. , which has directly brought on the violence and terror from the guerrilla groups.

The Fuerzas Armadas Revolucionarias de Colombia (FARC) is the world’s largest group (approximately 12,000) among the Colombian rebels, and is one of the world’s richest guerrilla forces. The FARC’s roots can be tracked back to the rebel guerrilla bands of La Violencia- the civil war between the Liberal and Conservative parties from 1948 until 1958. In the 60’s the FARC had had enough of the liberal party’s leadership and turned to communism. This movement was led by a senior leader in one of the groups’ guerrilla bands named Manuel "Sureshot" Marulanda (his real name was Pedro Antonio Marin). In 1966 Manual named his group the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC). (Hanson & Renwick, 2009)

The opposition organizations in Uruguay and Peru, however, were quite different from Chile and Argentina, because they involved leftist, Marxist organizations that turned to more militant means to oppose the state. In fact, the difference is evident in how the films State of Siege and The Dancer Upstairs portray the Uruguayan Tupamaros in and Peruvian Sendero Luminoso. State of Siege shows the Uruguayan Tupamaros slowly develop from an apparently peaceful organization to a more militant one. In the beginning of the film, the Tupamaros appear professional, composed and nonthreatening as they drive around stealing people’s cars.

It was the sixth day and they were going to fight. They arrived to the location and in fact the ones were there. Some of the men entered from the roof, others from the sides. The chosen ones were surprised but began to fight. They were terrorists and they were not worried about death. The fight lasted two hours but finally the chosen ones were defeated. Many of them were caught, others died, and none escaped. The Peruvian soldiers could save the president and came out victorious.