MILITARY DICTATORSHIPS IN LATIN AMERICA
In the 1960's, there were 10 military coups d'etat in Latin America. This trend became so pronounced during this period because:
- There was tremendous internal and external pressures to crack down on potential communists and maintain stability, even at the cost of social and economic reform.
- In the build-up to these coups include political unrest, economic instability and social elite fear of radical redistributive reform.
- The US supported the different militaries in the region to replace civilian rule with right-wing, anti-Communist dictatorships, ostensibly to keep order and bring an end to political, social and economic chaos.
The Inter-American Military System
The military officers who seized power in Latin America during the 1960's were also different than those that came before them. They had all attended staff training colleges that were part of the Inter-American Military System, organized by OAS and included the School of the Americas, originally located in the Panama Canal Zone (which was controlled by the USA) and later moved to the US state of Georgia.
It was at these training schools that these officers not only studied traditional military curricula such as counter-insurgency tactics (and some non-traditional tactics such as covert operational strategies) but also the social and economic conditions prevalent in Latin America. In their opinion, this broader range of military and civic education put them in the best position to control and govern their countries. The fact that so many Latin American military officers passed through this system also explains why so many military dictatorships in the region were so similar. |
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The military junta in Brazil (1964-1985)
Joao Goulart was a left-wing populist president who came in power in 1961 upon the resignation of his predecessor, a moderate conservative.
Like many Latin American countries, there were many deeply entrenched social, economic and racial divides in Brazil at a time when the shock of the Cuban Revolution was still fresh. In the early 1960's there were demands for radical social reform, including land redistribution, from trade unionists, students and peasant leagues (ligas). This in turn alarmed the social and economic elites of Brazil, who often owned big businesses and valued a strong relationship with the USA.
Moreover, Goulart appeared to be reaching out to China, the USSR and Cuba. In 1964, as social unrest increased, the Army stepped in to restore order and removed Goulart from power.
Between 1964 and 1968, the military created an absolute dictatorship through legal means (see the video above).
They obtained the rights to select electoral candidates, dissolve congress and suspend habeas corpus. They used these powers to ruthlessly suppress dissent, killing 200 but exiling and torturing thousands. They also abandoned populist ISI policies (Import-Substitution Industrialization) and replaced them with Neoliberal economic policies such as supply-side (or 'trickle down') economics as championed by Milton Friedman of the University of Chicago.
Supply-side economics sought to minimize government intervention in the economy in order to create a free market, and in Brazil's case, attract foreign investment. Measures introduced to ensure Brazil was an attractive market for multinational corporations to invest in included government deregulation, wage freezes, lower taxation and curtailing of trade unions. One of the effects of these policies was a marked decrease in social spending.
Over a 10 year period, the 'Brazilian economic miracle' achieved growth at 10% of GDP but this growth was unequal.
While big business thrived, the poor suffered from low wages, unemployment and lower social spending. Moreover, the OPEC oil embargo of the 1970's hit the Brazilian economy hard and the government was forced to reintroduce some elements of ISI to maintain growth. This resulted in high levels of foreign debt (cheap loans were readily available from oil producing countries) and increased inflation.
This situation was exacerbated in the late 1970's when international interest rates increased and Brazil was forced to borrow more to service its debts. In spite of this, the economic policies of the 1970's did result in increased development and diversification of the Brazilian economy, although millions of ordinary Brazilians suffered.
With the military realising that their economic experiment had largely failed by the late 1970's, they promised distensao - a gradual return to civilian rule. This was achieved by 1985, when the first free elections in over 20 years were held.
Like many Latin American countries, there were many deeply entrenched social, economic and racial divides in Brazil at a time when the shock of the Cuban Revolution was still fresh. In the early 1960's there were demands for radical social reform, including land redistribution, from trade unionists, students and peasant leagues (ligas). This in turn alarmed the social and economic elites of Brazil, who often owned big businesses and valued a strong relationship with the USA.
Moreover, Goulart appeared to be reaching out to China, the USSR and Cuba. In 1964, as social unrest increased, the Army stepped in to restore order and removed Goulart from power.
Between 1964 and 1968, the military created an absolute dictatorship through legal means (see the video above).
They obtained the rights to select electoral candidates, dissolve congress and suspend habeas corpus. They used these powers to ruthlessly suppress dissent, killing 200 but exiling and torturing thousands. They also abandoned populist ISI policies (Import-Substitution Industrialization) and replaced them with Neoliberal economic policies such as supply-side (or 'trickle down') economics as championed by Milton Friedman of the University of Chicago.
Supply-side economics sought to minimize government intervention in the economy in order to create a free market, and in Brazil's case, attract foreign investment. Measures introduced to ensure Brazil was an attractive market for multinational corporations to invest in included government deregulation, wage freezes, lower taxation and curtailing of trade unions. One of the effects of these policies was a marked decrease in social spending.
Over a 10 year period, the 'Brazilian economic miracle' achieved growth at 10% of GDP but this growth was unequal.
While big business thrived, the poor suffered from low wages, unemployment and lower social spending. Moreover, the OPEC oil embargo of the 1970's hit the Brazilian economy hard and the government was forced to reintroduce some elements of ISI to maintain growth. This resulted in high levels of foreign debt (cheap loans were readily available from oil producing countries) and increased inflation.
This situation was exacerbated in the late 1970's when international interest rates increased and Brazil was forced to borrow more to service its debts. In spite of this, the economic policies of the 1970's did result in increased development and diversification of the Brazilian economy, although millions of ordinary Brazilians suffered.
With the military realising that their economic experiment had largely failed by the late 1970's, they promised distensao - a gradual return to civilian rule. This was achieved by 1985, when the first free elections in over 20 years were held.
Augusto Pinochet in Chile (1973-1990)
The coup that put Pinochet in power is discussed in more detail
here
. Below is a summary:
- Left Wing president Salvador Allende had been elected in 1970 when the Chilean electorate was deeply polarized and the socio-economic issues within the country were many.
- His election excited groups on the left of the political spectrum who were clamouring for social reform, like Brazil this also meant land redistribution.
- As in Brazil, the election of Allende alarmed both the socio-economic elite and the Nixon administration in the USA, and there was active CIA sabotage of the Chilean economy in order to destabilise the Allende government. This included the organization of a truck drivers strike, causing shortages of essential items such as food and inflation.
- US and Canadian copper companies (Chile was rich in copper) and other multinational corporations cut back of production and other business to further disrupt the economy. The result was chaos and civil unrest.
- Allende also began to lose control of his own support base who began to initiate reform without government authorization, as worker seized control of factories and peasant took over farm land.
- As in Brazil, the US supported the military (under the command of Pinochet) when they stepped in to restore order.
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Pinochet immediately rounded up thousands of alleged dissidents in the national stadium, where many of them were killed. Pinochet also authorized the so-called "Caravan of Death", a military death squad that flew in helicopters up and down the country to murder the new regimes biggest opponents.
Pinochet became the head of a ruling junta which suspended the constitution and imposed strict censorship and curfew. The dreaded secret police, DINA, arrested thousands of suspected opponents of the new regime and held them without trial in concentration camps (such as the notorious Villa Grimaldi) in the desert regions of the country. Even high-profile Chileans were unsafe- Former General Carlos Prats, in exile in the Argentine capital Buenos Aires, was murdered along with his wife in a car bomb in 1974 while former President Eduardo Frei (who had initially supported the coup d'etat against Allende but later became an outspoken critic of Pinochet) died in mysterious circumstances in 1982. Many Chileans now suspect he was the victim of a poisoning ordered by the Pinochet regime. |
In total, it is estimated that 3,000 Chileans were "disappeared" or murdered (they became known as "desaparecidos", the Spanish word for disappeared) and at least 30,000 tortured. Pinochet's pursuit of exiled opponents became the model for Operation Condor (see bottom of the page). In the words of one prominent Human Rights activist:
"[Pinochet] shut down parliament, suffocated political life, banned trade unions, and made Chile his sultanate. His government disappeared 3,000 opponents, arrested 30,000 (torturing thousands of them)... Pinochet's name will forever be linked to Desaparecidos, the Caravan of Death, and the institutionalized torture that took place in the Villa Grimaldi complex"
Economically, Pinochet installed similar policies as had been installed by the dictatorship in Brazil- Milton Friedman's supply-side economics. Pinochet's advisers were even former students of Friedman at the University of Chicago, the so-called "Chicago Boys". These policies were more successful in Chile than in Brazil (or Argentina) but again, the economic recovery was uneven and unequal.
Pinochet remained in power until 1990, when the changing international climate as the Cold War was ending meant there was less external support for his regime. As part of his agreement to transfer power to civilian democratic control, he was declared a senator-for-life and granted immunity from prosecution. However, by the early 21st Century a series of changes occur which resulted in him being charged with many of the crimes his regime had committed. He died in 2006 before standing trial.
Pinochet remained in power until 1990, when the changing international climate as the Cold War was ending meant there was less external support for his regime. As part of his agreement to transfer power to civilian democratic control, he was declared a senator-for-life and granted immunity from prosecution. However, by the early 21st Century a series of changes occur which resulted in him being charged with many of the crimes his regime had committed. He died in 2006 before standing trial.
The military junta in Argentina (1976-1983)
Populist former president Juan Peron returned to his homeland from exile with his second wife Isabel (a Panamanian) in 1973 and the following year the pair became president and vice-president respectively. However, the Peronist movement was in the process of fracturing and Peron was unable (or unwilling) to unite the different factions. When Peron died in 1974, Isabel became president but was little more than a puppet for the far-right factions and Argentina deteriorated into a battleground where far-right paramilitary death squads fought Marxist rebels in a guerilla-style conflict. As had often been the case in Argentina, the military stepped in to restore order, only this time they remained in power instead of handing back control to civilian politicians.
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The ruling junta between 1976 and 1981 comprised a triumvirate of Generals Jorge Videla, Orlando Agosti and Admiral Emilio Massera. As in Brazil and Chile, they immediately suspended civil rights and sought to suppress dissent. They embarked on a "Dirty War' where an estimated 30,000 people "disappeared".
Beginning in 1977, Les Madres de Plaza de Mayo began raising the profile of the "disappeared" until their plight received international attention by the early 1980's. As protests and dissent were outlawed by the regime, mothers (Les Madres) of the disappeared marched around Le Plaza de Mayo (where the Presidential Palace was located) holding aloft pictures of their sons and daughters and demanding information as to their whereabouts. These protests were covered by international journalists when Argentina hosted the 1978 FIFA World Cup. |
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Serious economic problems had emerged in Argentina by 1981, where the triumvirates attempts to install the same supply-side economic policies as their counterparts in Brazil and Chile were unsuccessful. Inflation was rampant, there were food shortages, minimal government spending and high levels of government debt. The triumvirate gave way to General Leopold Galtieri, who attempted to distract public opinion from domestic issues by invading the Falkland Islands, a British colony (or as the Argentinians called them, Los Malvinas). The ensuing Falklands War was a disaster for Argentina, as the British quickly regained control. The war caused further financial problems and stirred up more criticism of the regime. In 1983, Galtieri agreed to hand back control of the government to civilian politicians.
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Comparing the three regimes
Of the three regimes, Brazil's was the least repressive and its military created an absolute dictatorship gradually and by legal means over a number of years in the 1960's. In contrast, the power grabs in Chile and Argentina were more sudden and government control far more oppressive.
All three regimes suppressed dissent in similar ways- through the use of military death squads, secret police, censorship, curfews, concentration camps and torture. They are also installed very similar economic policies with varying degrees of success. All three regimes were fascist, extremely right-wing and authoritarian in nature but crucially, were accepted by the United States because of their opposition to Communism.
What is also illuminating is the manner in which all three dictatorships gave way to civilian rule. Brazil's ruling junta recognized that its economic policies were not working and gradually retreated out of political affairs. Pinochet agreed to handover power once he saw that the end of the Cold War would lead to an increase in international pressure to reform. Galtieri only surrendered power as a result of a dire economy, domestic and international pressure and the disaster in the Malvinas.
Finally, all three dictatorships were so similar because so many of the officers in charge of these regimes were trained in the Inter-American Military System. To emphasize this last point, the governments of Brazil, Argentina,Chile, Uruguay, Paraguay and Bolivia all participated in Operation Condor, a coordinated attempt to purge these countries of Communists in 1975.
All three regimes suppressed dissent in similar ways- through the use of military death squads, secret police, censorship, curfews, concentration camps and torture. They are also installed very similar economic policies with varying degrees of success. All three regimes were fascist, extremely right-wing and authoritarian in nature but crucially, were accepted by the United States because of their opposition to Communism.
What is also illuminating is the manner in which all three dictatorships gave way to civilian rule. Brazil's ruling junta recognized that its economic policies were not working and gradually retreated out of political affairs. Pinochet agreed to handover power once he saw that the end of the Cold War would lead to an increase in international pressure to reform. Galtieri only surrendered power as a result of a dire economy, domestic and international pressure and the disaster in the Malvinas.
Finally, all three dictatorships were so similar because so many of the officers in charge of these regimes were trained in the Inter-American Military System. To emphasize this last point, the governments of Brazil, Argentina,Chile, Uruguay, Paraguay and Bolivia all participated in Operation Condor, a coordinated attempt to purge these countries of Communists in 1975.