MIA: Subjects: Marxism and Anti-Imperialism in Latin America
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Selected Latin American Writers and Political Leaders
Salvador Allende (1908 - 1973)
Leader of the Chilean Socialist Party and President of Chile 1970-1973. Allende believed that a "Chilean road to Socialism" could be charted using the instruments of Chilean democracy. His government nationalized key industries, wining the enmity of Chile's bourgeoisie and the US, who overthrew him in a bloody coup.
Fidel Castro (1926 - 2016)
Celebrated Cuban communist revolutionary and a major figure in the anti-imperialist movement of the latter Twentieth Century. Through enourmous struggle, Castro led a successful guerrilla campaign from the countryside, based on the strong support of the Cuban farm workers, which overthrew the Batista regime in January, 1959.
[Full Biography]
Ernesto 'Che' Guevara (1928 - 1967)
International Revolutionary. Helped create and maintain the Cuban Revolution. Creatively tried to establish socialism in Cuba, worked tirelessly to create revolutions throughout Africa and South America. Created the guerilla foco theory -- building a revolutionary movement through militant resistance instead of party building.
[Full Biography]
Schafik Jorge Handal (1930 - 2006)
Secretary General of the Communist Party of El Salvador and, during the 1980s, a Comandante within the Farabundo Martí National Liberation Front (FMLN) guerrilla movement. After peace accords in 1992, he served as the FMLN's general coordinator and was elected to El Salvador's Legislative Assembly on the FMLN ticket.
[Full Biography]
Guillermo Lora (1922 – 2010 )
Bolivian Trotskyist active in the Revolutionary Workers' Party (POR) since the early 1940s and is its best known leader. In the 1960s, when many sought to follow the example of Che Guevara and engage in guerrilla warfare, Lora led a POR faction, generally referred to as 'POR(Masas)', that maintained its focus on the labor movement. Lora lead the POR or his fraction of it for more than 60 years.
Toussaint Louverture (1743 - 1803)
An ex-slave, abolitionist, and accomplished military commander, he of the leaders of the Haïtian Revolution. Along with Jean-Jacques Dessalines, another leader of the Revolution, L'Ouverture is considered as one of the fathers of the Haitian nation.
Jose Carlos Mariategui (1894 - 1930)
Peruvian Indigenist and Marxist.jornalist and writer. He promoted the establishment of the General Confederation of Peruvian Workers (CGTP) and founded the Communist Party. He edited various working class newspapers and the influential journal, Amauta.
[ Full Biography]
Carlos Marighela (1911- 1969)
Brazillian revolutionary who led the National Liberation Action (ALN). His tactics inspired the Italian Red Brigades, the German Red Army Faction, and the Provisional Irish Republican Army. Expelled from the Brazilian Communist Party for "pro-Cuban" sympathy. Executed by police.
Nahuel Moreno (1924 - 1987)
Argentinian Trotskyist. Leader of the Liga Internacional de Trabajadores (LIT), and of Movement for Socialism (MAS) in Argentina, among the largest revolutionary currents in Latin America which remained oriented to the urban working class after the Cuban Revolution, and opposed guerillaism.
A Sampling of Latin American Writers and Political Leaders
in their Original Non-English LanguagesPortuguese
Fúlvio Abramo, João Amazonas, Diógenes Arruda, Agildo Barata, Joaquim Câmara Ferreira, Maurício Grabois, Carlos Marighela, Astrojildo Pereira, Pedro Pomar, Luiz Carlos Prestes, Hermínio Sachetta
Quechua
Spanish
Salvador Allende, Lohana Berkins, Salvador Cayetano Carpio, John William Cooke, Juana Inéz de la Cruz, Luis de la Puente Uceda, Roque Dalton, Manuel Gonzalez Prada, Ernesto 'Che' Guevara, Schafik Jorge Handal, Marta Harnecker, Víctor Raúl Haya de la Torre, Javier Heraud, Liborio Justo, Guillermo Lora, José Carlos Mariátegui, Nahuel Moreno, Lorena Peña, Jorge Abelardo Ramos, Luis Emilio Recabarren, Mario Roberto Santucho, Jorge Enea Spilimbergo, Camilo Torres, César Vallejo, and more
Documents from the History of the Left in Argentina
Documents on the History of Bolivia
Documents on the History of Chile
Documents from the Republic of Cuba
Documents on the History of the Dominican Republic
Documents on the Grenadian Revolution, 1979-1983
History of the Haitian Independence Struggle, 1791-1804
Trotskyism in Latin America
ARGENTINA
Fifth Congress of the Partido Revolucionario de los Trabajadores
–Documents on the discussion of Guerilla Warfare and Trotskyism.The History of Argentine Trotskyism, Parts I through 4
– from Revolutionary History, Summer 1989.Liborio Justo and Argentinian Trotskyism
– from Revolutionary History, Summer 1989..
BOLIVIA
Trotskyism in Bolivia
– from Robert J. Alexander, International Trotskyism 1929-1985: A Documented Analysis of the Movement. Copyright 1991, Duke University Press.Bolivia Before and After the July Rebellion
– by Juan Valverde, Fourth International, March 1947, Volume VIII, No. 3.Revolution and Counter Revolution in Bolivia: The Great Decade of Class Struggles
– by Guillermo Lora, Fourth International, in two parts, May-June and July-August, 1952, Volume XIII, Nos. 3 and 4.Upheaval in Bolivia: An Eyewitness Report
– by Livio Maitan, International Socialist Review, Volume 26 Number 1 (Whole No.170), Winter 1965.The Lessons of Bolivia
- by Aníbal Lorenzo
BRAZIL
Trotskyism in Brazil (1928-1964)
– by Osvaldo Coggiola
CUBA
Trotskyism and the Cuban Revolution
- A large index of documents spanning modern Cuban History and the involvement of the Trotskyist movement there.