Los desaparecidosA PRESENTATION REFLECTING UPON THE RECURRENT THEME OF THE DISAPPEARANCES OF PROLIFIC LEADERS & CIVILIANS IN LATIN AMERICA, THROUGHOUT HISTORY AND ALSO AS SEEN TODAY, AND THE UNDERLYING MOTIVES FOR THESE DISAPPEARANCES

Outline of essay & presentation

Mass civilian disappearances, by country

Presidential/Executive leader assassinations and deaths of the 1970s

• Allende (Chile) 1973

• Prats (Chile) 1974

• Torres (Bolivia) 1976

• Goulart (Brazil) 1976

• Kubitschek (Brazil) 1976

Modern incidences of forced disappearances and associated foulplay in Colombia, Mexico, and Central America (El Salvador, Honduras, Guatemala, Panama, etc.)

Final considerations

The Argentine military rounds up those suspected of being leftists during the brutal dictatorship in the late 1970s. (Photo: EFE)

http://www.telesurtv.net

CHILESeptember 11, 1973

Chilean military seized power, forcing Allende from power and replacing it with Augusto Pinochet’s regime

Extension of Operation Condor (see following slide)

Reggit Report: Of the disappeared…• 2,279 killed• 31,947 tortured• 1,312 exiled…justified as necessary by Pinochet

theredphoenixapl.org

Salvador Allende addressing his numerous supporters, pre-military takeover

www.salon.comAugusto Pinochet, Chilean dictator 1973-1990 & Commander-in-Chief of the Chilean Army 1973-1998.

Death of Salvador Allende

Assassination or suicide?

Public radio address made just prior to the military capture of the presidential palace and his subsequent death

Gunfire audible in background

Allende’s glasses, found in the Palacio de la Moneda following his death

En.Wikipedia.com

en.tempo.coSeptember 11, 1973: Augusto Pinochet leads a military coup in Chile’s Palacio de la Moneda

amte.wordpress.com

Operation Condor

• 1975• Deaths estimated 60 thousand or more• Southern Cone countries

• Argentina, Chile, Uruguay, Paraguay, Brazil, Bolivia• (Later) Ecuador, Peru

• United States support• In CHILE

• Assassinated former members of Allende’s cabinet and general supporters while in exile• General Carlos Prats (killed 1974, B. Aires)

• In BOLIVIA• Assassinated former Bolivian president, also while in exile

• President Juan José Torres (killed 1976, B. Aires)

• In BRAZIL• Suspicious death of 2 former Brazilian presidents; alleged in 2000 to be a

result of Operation Condor• President João Goulart (died 1976, exiled in Mercedes, Argentina)• President Juscelino Kubitschek (died 1976, Resende, Rio de Janeiro,

Brazil)

ARGENTINAGuerra Sucia

~1974-1983 (1969?)

“Process of National Reorganization”OFFENDERS: military/security forces, right-wing death

squads (Argentine Anticommunist Alliance)TARGETS: left-wing guerrillas, political protesters, anyone

associated with socialism (union members, students, journalists, Marxists, Perón-ist guerrillas, common citizens)

13,000 disappeared (National Commission od Disappearance of Persons)

ww

w.the detroitbureau.com

MEXICO, COLOMBIA,& CENTRAL AMERICAIncidences of disappearances are different than those in 1960s/70s Southern Cone

Internal crimes against human rights

Drug- and gang-related

FARC in Colombia

Underreported

• Poor economic status of victims

• Indigenous victims (social cleansing)

Mexico www.telegraph.com

www.telesurtv.net

Thoughts for discussion

• WHERE ELSE IN THE WORLD HAS THESE SAME THEMES OF POLITICAL DISAPPEARANCES? IS THIS CONFLICT UNIQUE TO LATIN AMERICA?

• WHY OR WHY NOT?

• HOW MUCH INVOLVEMENT DO YOU THINK THE UNITED STATES HAD IN THESE EVENTS?

• WHAT DIFFERENCES DO YOU PERCEIVE WITH THE DISAPPEARANCES IN THE SOUTHERN CONE NATIONS VERSUS IN MEXICO & CENTRAL AMERICA?

AND FINALLY…

• DOES THE TOPIC SEEM TOO BROAD FOR A SUCCESSFUL RESEARCH PAPER?