Military Dictatorships Of Latin America

Military dictatorships of Latin America

Chile’s military dictatorship

• Background

On September 11, 1973, there was a coup in Chile, which was carried out by the members of the Armed Forces, the Air Force and the Army to overthrow President Salvador Allende.

Allende assumed the presidency in the year of 1970, his reformist government, was characterized by a growing policy in society and a hard economic crisis that led to a strong social seizure.

Even before Allende assumed power there was already a very high probability that a coup d’etat was carried out, since Richard Nixon president of the United States greatly influenced the opposition groups that Allende had, proceeding to finance them and motivate them to make the blow ofcondition.

On June 29, 1973 there was a military revolt called the "Tancalazo", after the same groups within the Chilean Navy they planned to overthrow the government. Some days before the date for military action, Augusto Pinochet, Commander in Chief of the Army, joined.

On the morning of September 11, 1973, the domes of the Armed Forces and the order managed to control much of the country and demanded the immediate resignation of Salvador Allende, which took refuge in the Palace of La Moneda. And after the bombing at the presidential headquarters, Allende committed suicide and the resistance in the palace was completely controlled.

The coup d’etat marked the end of the Government of Salvador Allende, which was followed by the establishment of a military board that had a Pinochet leader. Chile, which until then remained one of the most stable democracies in Latin America entered a military dictatorship that extended until 1990. And during this period, human rights violations were committed systematic, freedom of expression was limited, political parties were suppressed and the National Congress was dissolved.

• Dictatorship

The military dictatorship had a duration of 17 years under the dictatorial regime of Augusto Pinochet, the same that began on September 11, 1973 and culminated on March 11, 1990.

This period was characterized by the great repressions and strong authoritarian measures addressed to the Chilean people and all that began with a coup d’etat to the then President Salvador Allende, mainly to end the communist regime that at that time existed in Chile.

During the development of the military dictatorship, Chile suffered great social and economic transformations that directly and mainly affected the population. Among the main changes that were given are economic policies, the increase in social inequality, job instability and strong cultural repression towards the whole society.

This dictatorship came to an end in the year of 1990, after the new Constitution approved of 1880 prohibited the re -election of Augusto Pinochet, which forced the then president to call new democratic elections after a referendum in 1989 prohibited Pinochet from PinochetNew re -election, it is then that Patricio Aylwin comes out, ending the military dictatorship in Chile.

• Impact

In the political aspect, the new tax system imposed to be authoritarian and anti -communist, due to its strong measures, it prohibited and pursued the freedom of the opposition press and there were more 28 thousand victims of torture and political prison.

In economic matters Chile went from being a producer to a subsidiary, which meant a radical change for the economy of the Chilean people.

One of the great measures imposed was the strong pension reform, which benefited the State and companies, but meant a great decrease in real value in the salary of retired citizens, which now did not reach 40% of the average salary.

On the other hand, there was a strong labor reform, which limited the strong unionization and sought to increase the flexibility of the labor market. In addition, the military dictatorship in Chile meant an economic precariousness of the middle classes and job instability for the middle and low sectors.

In social matters, the Chilean dictatorship brought many income inequalities, which caused a great imbalance in social classes. On the other hand, the vast majority of the upper class benefited since the entire state structure was privatized.

And as for cultural consequences, there was a great repression of cultural exhibitions that were considered contrary to government lines. This repression was called cultural blackout. In addition, scientific and educational research was strongly impaired, which was devalued by the Augusto Pinochet government.

• Conclusions

After conducting a slightly deeper investigation on the dictatorial period that occurred in Chile we can conclude that this country underwent radical changes where the main affected as citizens were always, who were subjected to severely strict regimes and that the margin kept the marginProgress of life of the pampering since the different reforms imposed in the economic, social areasthat Pinochet did not mind ending children, youth and adults in order to stay in power.

Military dictatorship

• Background

On March 10, 1952 there was a coup d’etat, which was led by Fulgencio Batista, so the Cuban army decides to intervene in the elections that would be held on June 1 of that same year, those that caused it to takecarried out a military pronouncement, which would result in the establishment of a dictatorship.

When taking power, Batista had inherited a prosperous country for Latin America at that time, although a part of the population lived in poverty, Cuba was one of the most developed countries in the region. The Batista government respected the rights of the American industry and Cuban trade, the salaries of Cuban industrial workers increased significantly.

During the 50s, Havana was full of casinos, brothel. In an attempt to take advantage of this environment, Batista established lasting relationships with organized crime, especially with American mafia, and under her government Havana became known as ‘Las Vegas Latina’.

• Dictatorship

He was appointed prime minister on February 16, 1959 and elected president of the Councils of State and Ministers of the Republic of Cuba on December 3, 1976, charges he occupied until February 24, 2008. From 2008 to 2016, when he died, he was deputy to the National Assembly of Popular Power and First Secretary of the Communist Party of Cuba.

Fidel Castro imposed a repressive system that punished all forms of dissent, during the Castro regime, thousands of Cubans were imprisoned in prisons in deplorable conditions, another thousands were persecuted and intimidated and entire generations were denied basic basic freedoms. Cuba made advances in health and education, but many of these achievements were counteracted for long periods of repressive economic and political difficulties.

The repression was applied by the security forces, groups of civilians aligned with the State and a Judicial Power totally at the service of the Executive Power. These abusive practices placed in Cuba a climate of permanent fear that restricted the exercise of fundamental rights and pressed Cubans to demonstrate their loyalty to the government and discouraged any possibility of criticism.

• Causes

The country’s economic crisis was one of the causes that began the lifting of the people. The lower classes of the country had serious economic problems, mainly due to lack of work and also the exploitation of local resources by Americans.

The main affected were the peasants, who asked for an improvement in their salaries and working conditions, at a time when the most valuable product in the country was completely controlled by foreign companies. But the worst in the country was the unemployment rate, being a million and a half of Cubans approximately those who were out of work.

All this caused a series of socioeconomic problems that were one of the main causes of the beginning of the Cuban revolution.

Another of the important causes was the dictatorial regime of Fulgencio Batista, who had come to power in 1952. The dictatorship of Batista created a strong opposition that did not see with good eyes the military coup through which the Cuban leader had obtained power. Batista had American support and the support of some of Cuba’s upper classes, but corruption and poor administration of his government caused the support to the Cuban revolution to be much greater.

• Impact

One of the most notable consequences was that the government again takes control of the economy, public services, sugar industry, banks, agricultural land and a large number of companies. And with this it was tried to end the dependence of the United States and move on to a more local control.

The gratuity of all services, such as light and water, was also established, and food and clothing were given for the entire population.

Another economic measure that occurred was the policies to reduce salary differences between workers.

But the reforms were not only economic, since there were also social measures. And one of them was the country’s literacy process, creating new schools and universities for them, because it was considered that illiteracy was one of the great problems that the country had.

The other great social reform of Cuba was that of its health system, a health network was implemented to guarantee free of charge that all citizens had medical assistance. Hospitals and clinics were also created, in order to cover the entire population.

• Conclusions

After investigating Cuban history, I was ableA negative aspect that played them against Castro in most of his speeches stressed that the only thing he was looking for was the complete welfare of the town but did the opposite, and in the cases where he suspected or discovered small groups that were in hisAgainst, he was responsible for dismantling them in the worst forms and even, in his last years of life he never showed any repentance for all that, and that firmly shows that Fidel Castro had double moral at the time of directing Cuba.

Guatemala military dictatorship

• Background

On March 23, 1982, Fernando Romeo García was dismissed by a coup d’etat led by officers of the Army of Guatemala. In the first communications, it was indicated that the military coup was led by a group of young army officers whose objective would be to end government corruption.

There were six military groups who participated, but five of them from the Guatemalan capital, supported by the Air Force, were at the origin of the uprising, and one of whose visible heads is the general of Aviation Hernán Ovidio. The citizens who protested asked the police to hand their weapons and join them, although there were no armed clashes in the capital, inside the country there were some clashes but of less importance.

After surrendering, Fernando Romeo was driven under military escort to the airport and then expelled from the country;Although just half an hour before the deadline given by the Protestants had ended for President Lucas to be delivered peacefully, the troops had already taken positions for a possible assault on the palace located in the center of the city. Meanwhile the streets were taken by cars the armored ones, vehicles with machine guns and a large number of soldiers in campaign uniform.

But after the departure of Fernando García, the heads of the Protestants requested the appearance at the Palace of General Ríos Montt and the candidate for the vice presidency Lionel Sisniega Otero.

By then, Montt was the leader of the evangelical church the verb, so he enjoyed prestige among the officers, because someone honest and not committed to the situations that was desired to correct at that time they ruled that he was the one was the one, although he was the oneHe did not participate in the planning of the coup d’etat that had been given or asked if he would accept to assume the position in the government, they only called him because they considered that he was the right person to take the country out of the crossroads in which he was and forbe able to fight against corruption.

• Dictatorship

As of March 23, 1982, Ríos Montt came to power, and chose to suppress the death squads. But the State Council initiated the political debate and, with the participation of 30 percent of directors, proposed a total political opening. The former Electoral Council in which the political parties were judge and part, became the Supreme Electoral Court sworn by Ríos Montt in 1983. The electoral scheme was also opened to the participation of the left. Delegations were sent abroad for the exiles to return, and the first informal contacts with the guerrillas began.

In order for the guerrillas to have a free political participation, Ríos Montt gave amnesties to which more than 15 thousand Guatemalans were hosted. All this came to open a political channel on the left. With this the extreme traditional right, was displaced by a new anti -revolutionary radicalism that combined the social development statements of indigenous and peasants, and the extermination war of the communist guerrillas that sought to recruit them.

During his government, civil self-defense patrols were created, in 1985 he had approximately 500,000 patrolmen throughout the country, they were created as groups of civilian men organized by the armed institution as a complementary paramilitary force that intended to isolate the guerrilla movement and controlall its communities.

Although for the year 1982, guerrilla groups were in a very bad situation after the antiguerrillera offensive of Benedict García, during the government of his brother Fernando Romeo Lucas-García. The guerrillas executed economic recoveries, and thus called acts that scratched in banditry. They made economic kidnappings and carried out some activities, but during that time the fundamental thing was survival, and for this they assaulted gas stations, pharmacies, restaurants and bus.

Ríos Montt was overthrown on August 8, 1983 by a coup d’etat executed by General Mejía Víctor, his Minister of Defense, who in effect initiated the transition to democratic regimes in the country. Most information collected by American intelligence services was correct.

• Impact

Human Rights Organizations estimate that around 10,000 people were killed only in the first three months of their government. During the first eight months of his term, 10 massacres were recorded per month. More than 400 indigenous communities were completely destroyed. The eighty -three percent of the victims of the internal armed conflict were members of indigenous communities and based on these indicators, it was concluded that the counterinsurgent strategy implemented by Ríos Montt at that time constituted “acts of genocide” against the indigenous population infive regions of the country. Ríos Montt will be remembered as one of the most ruthless dictators the 20th century.

• Conclusions

At the end of the respective research on the dictatorship that Efraín Ríos Montt we can conclude that it was really an extremely severe person, who considered that the extermination of the indigenous cultures of Guatemala was something necessary and those who are against their orders were captured and shot alreadyThat no different way of thinking was respected that Montt’s, which is why he until today is remembered as the Guatemalan dictator who promoted the genocide of indigenous peoples and groups of people who are not in favor of his regime.