The Shining Path Research Paper

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.

This project’s purpose is to record a people who have lived through the promises and outcomes of the Bolivarian Revolution, an idea that captured Venezuela’s spirit and spread across 16 Latin America nations as the Pink Tide. The poor and working class will be a fundamental component of this story as I investigate the role the revolution has played in shaping the lives of this perpetually overlooked group of people. Simultaneously, the nature of these issues will create a portal into the world of Venezuelan heritage, traditions, and political and civic culture. What I write will be the reality of the situation; the interpretation will be left up to the reader.

All they wanted was an answer to one question “Where were their children? Their sons and daughters were “missing” and all they were told was” We don’t have any answers! The citizens were afraid, even high authorities of religious groups turned a blind eye. In 1977, with Argentina under a violent military dictatorship, a group of mostly house wives living in a fear oppressed state made a stand and found their voice. They demanded to be heard and while the regime was enforcing their control and power over Argentinians political views through torture and disappearance; a mother’s devotion to her child and the political resistance transformed these mothers into a political force. They are the Mothers of the Plaza de Mayo, who effectively mounted a civil rights movement that forced the top military officials to be charged for their crimes and have sustained an

From 1976 to 1983, a military group was in charge of Argentina after overthrowing the government in the 1930s (Tolerance. N.a. N.d). The military silenced the people who opposed or spoke out against them. The people who actually spoke out suddenly disappeared. These people were either imprisoned, tortured, killed, and never seen again. The most common person disappeared were children who opposed the military. Lawyers, and people who questioned the military (Tolerance. N.a. N.d). In Buenos Aires, Argentina during the 1970s, a group of women gathered in the Plaza de Mayo, in front of the president's palace and government buildings, to speak out about their missing children. The “Mothers of the Disappeared” formed the first public protest against

During the 1970’s more and more protests and uprisings in the capital and the southwest part of the nation became very frequent, and overtime, very violent. The Peace Pledge Union expressed a dramatic and detailed example of the violent acts that the military of Guatemala practiced on Indian natives in search of subversives,

The Seekers were formed in 1962 in Melbourne by Athol Guy on double bass (cello), Keith Potger on twelve-string guitar and Bruce Woodley on guitar. Guy, Potger and Woodley had all attended Melbourne Boys High School in Victoria. In the late 1950s, Potger led The Trinamics, a rock 'n' roll group, Guy led the Ramblers and, with Woodley, they decided to form a doo-wop music group, the Escorts. The Escorts had Ken Ray as the lead singer and in 1962 they became "The Seekers". Ray left the group to get married. His place was taken by Judith Durham, an established traditional jazz singer who added a distinctive female lead voice. She had earlier recorded an extended play disc on W&G Records with the Melbourne group, Frank Traynor's Jazz

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.

Rigoberta Menchu, a Quiche Indian woman native to Guatemala, is a recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize for politically reaching out to her country and her people. In her personal testimony tittled “I, Rigoberta Menchu” we can see how she blossomed into the Nobel Prize winner she is today. Following a great deal in her father’s footsteps, Rigoberta’s mobilization work, both within and outside of Guatemala, led to negotiations between the guerillas and the government and reduced the army power within Guatemala. Her work has helped bring light to the strength of individuals and citizen organization in advocacy and policy dialogue on the world scale. In a brief summary of the book I will explore why Rigoberta Menchu is important to

Alexander Avina’s book, Specters of the Revolution: Peasant Guerillas in the Cold War Mexican Countryside, provides insight into the contextual relationship of Mexico’s habitual revolutions with in their turbulent history, and the failure of leadership from Lucio Cabanas and Gerno Vezquez , as well as the overall divisive culture that plagues Mexican history. Though his arguments are often lengthy and complex, Avina’s work manages to chronologically document the extensive history of Mexico’s revolutionary upheaval. In addition, Avina addresses the flawed leadership of Lucio Cabanas and Gerno Vezquez as they scrupulously debated various ideologies in attempt to find the solution for the people. Meanwhile the Mexican people whom they were theorizing

At seven o’ clock in the morning on December 11, 1981 an evil force entered the small El Salvadorian village of El Mezote (School of Assasins). With painted faces and army fatigues, the guerillas carried machine guns and automatic rifles into the peaceful village. As survivor Rufina Amaya recounts, “At ten o’clock the soldiers began to kill the men who were in the church. First, they machine-gunned them and slit their throats” (“Country Sheets for Close it Down Fast!” 3). After the men, the women were placed face down in the dusty streets and shot to

There is not a single country in this hemisphere which has not been penetrated by the apparatus of International Communism … The Communist conspiracy is not to be taken lightly. It’s agents operate under the iron discipline of the Soviet Communist Party acting as the self-proclaimed “General Staff of the World Proletariat.” The agents themselves, in order to gain a following pretend to be reformists seeking to eradicate the evils which exist in any society.

On January 1, 2004, over one thousand people in the mountain hamlet of Oventic, Chiapas, celebrated the 10th anniversary of the Zapatista Army of National Liberation (EZLN) rebellion with song and dance. Thus, it seems a fitting time to take stock of the successes and failures of the Zapatista movement in the context of its original goals. While the EZLN has been able to establish thirty eight autonomous indigenous communities in Chiapas, it has failed to weaken the Mexican government's commitment to neo-liberal economic policies. In the following pages, we will explore those factors which enabled the Zapatistas to establish regions of autonomy and extrapolate from Theotonio Dos

Historically, the relations between U.S and Colombia have been marked the foreign policy and the international trade. Nevertheless, the civil war in Colombia have shifted this relation. In Colombia, the establishment of The Revolutionary Forces of Colombia (FARC) and the leftist National Liberation Army (ELN) during the 1960s created the beginning of an era of terrorist and drug trafficking. The FARC began forming in 1966 inspired by the Cuban Revolution with a left-wing nationalism and Marxism-Leninism. FARC’s actions trough the history has been involved with terrorist against of the population in Colombia. As well, thousands of peasant farmers that have been obligated to produce illicit drugs in their own properties controlled by the guerrillas. Nowadays, the FARC has been the largest and oldest insurgent group in the Americas. The FARC has been roundly criticized for initiating

Pedagogy of the Oppressed is Paulo Freire’s most well-known work. In it he presents a theory of education in the context of the revolutionary struggle. While the revolutionary theory is Marxist the context is unmistakably South American. There is more than a hint of Liberation theology. The focus of the educational programmes he describes seem to be aimed primarily at rural peasants rather than the urban

The author’s understanding of violence is extended beyond the text and into the political history of Latin America, full of neo-colonial repression, racial discrimination and struggles.