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Revolution Beyond the Sierra Maestra: The Tupamaros and the Development of a Repertoire of Dissent in the Southern Cone

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  17 February 2015

Aldo Marchesi*
Affiliation:
Universidad de la RepblicaMontevideo, Uruguay

Extract

In July 1967, while Che Guevara was trying to create—with limited success— a rural foco (guerrilla cell) in Bolivia, the first conference of the Organization of Latin American Solidarity (OLAS) was taking place in Havana. The conference was presented as the application of the decisions made at the Tricontinental Conference, which had taken place in January 1966. For the first time, members of different organizations on the Latin American left met to agree on a collective response to the question of how to develop solidarity among countries such as Cuba that had defeated imperialism and those that had embarked upon but not yet won a definitive battle.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
Copyright © Academy of American Franciscan History 2014 

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References

I would like to thank Eric Zolov for his invitation to participate in this issue and for his initial comments, James Kelly for his careful translation, and the anonymous readers of The Americas for their important input that helped to improve my initial draft. Also, I would like to thank for their comments Ada Ferrer, Greg Grandin, Sinclair Thomson, Barbara Weinstein, and Peter Winn who participated in the defense of my dissertation, from which this paper was developed. Earlier drafts were read by friends and colleagues, among whom I would like to acknowledge Jennifer Adair, Ernesto Seman, Martin Sivak, and Joshua Frens String for the insights they shared during the Southern Cone workshop for NYU graduate students. Vania Markarian, Jaime Yaff, Maria Cristina Tomi, and David Cmpora also provided important observations for the writing of this paper.

1. The conference saw the participation of 164 leaders from 27 Latin American countries, and Black Power Movement leader Stokely Carmichel, representing the United States. See OLAS, , Primera Conferencia de la Organizacin Latinoamericana de Solidaridad (Montevideo: Nativa Libros, 1967).Google Scholar

2. Jorquera, Carlos Lucha armada y lucha guerrillera, Punto Final 35:2, August 1967.Google Scholar

3. Gutirrez, Carlos Mara Conversacin con Fidel: la guerrilla en toda Amrica es una sola, Marcha, August 18, 1967, p. 23.Google Scholar

4. Quoted in Gleijeses, Piero Conflicting Missions, Havana, Washington, and Africa, 1959–1976 (Chapel Hill: The University of North Carolina Press, 2002), p. 22.Google Scholar

5. By way of example, John Johnson highlighted Argentina, Chile, and Uruguay, together with Brazil and Mexico, as countries where the middle classes had had a major impact on social and political development. See Johnson, Political Change in Latin America (Stanford, Calif.: Stanford University Press, 1958).Google Scholar

6. For the debate on the significance of the New Left in the region, see for Cristina Torni, Argentina Maria El viejopartido socialista y los orgenes de la nueva izquierda (Buenos Aires: Prometeo Libros, 2009);Google Scholar Hilb, Claudia and Lutzky, Daniel La nueva izquierda argentina (Buenos Aires: Centro Editor de Amrica Latina, 1984);Google Scholar Puciarelli, Alfredo ed., Le primaca de la poltica. Lanusse, Pern y la Nueva Izquierda (Buenos Aires: EUdeBA, 1999);Google Scholar and Weisz, Eduardo and Luis Bournasell, Jos El PRT-ERP: Nueva Izquierda e Izquierda Tradicional (Buenos Aires: Centro Cultural de la Cooperacin, Departamento de Historia, 2004).Google Scholar For the Chilean case, see Arrate, Jorge and Eduardo, Rojas Memoria de la izquierda chilena: Tomo I (1970–2000) (Santiago: Javier Vergara Editor, 2003), chapt. 5.Google Scholar For Uruguay, see Rey Tristan, Eduardo A la vuelta de la esquina. La Izquierda Revolucionaria Uruguaya, 1955–1973 (Montevideo: Editorial Fin de Siglo, 2006).Google Scholar For a discussion of the various dimensions of the New Left in Latin America, see Zolov, Eric Expanding Our Conceptual Horizons: The Shift from an Old to a New Left in Latin America, A Contracorriente 5:2 (Winter 2008), pp. 4773.Google Scholar

7. Tarrow, Sidney Power in Movement: Social Movements and Contentious Politics, 2nd ed. (New York: Cambridge University Press, 1999), pp. 91105.Google Scholar

8. Despite its subject matter extending beyond the geographic scope of this article, the influential work by Castaeda, Jorge Utopia Unarmed: The Latin American teft after the Cold War (New York: Knopf, 1993),Google Scholar is perhaps the clearest example of this type of approach. In this work, Cuba plays a central role in the formation of a new Latin American left, moving away from the traditional distinction between socialists and communists.

9. In the Chilean case, Miloss study, Pedro Historia y memoria: 2 de abril de 1957 (Santiago: LOM Ediciones, 2007)Google Scholar reconstructs an anti-government urban uprising that swept the countrys main cities (Santiago, Valparaiso, and Concepcin) in 1957. In the Uruguayan case, 1958 was a year of intense social mobilization. See Aken, Mark van Los militantes: una historia del movimiento estudiantil universitario uruguayo desde sus orgenes hasta 1966 (Montevideo: Fundacin de Cultura Universitaria, 1990).Google Scholar In Argentina, the post-Peronist period was marked by deep political instability and intense social protest, accompanied by attempts at armed resistance among certain sectors of Peronists and the left. See James, Daniel Resistance and Integration: Pero-nism and the Argentine Working Class (1946–1976) (New York: Cambridge University Press, 1993).Google Scholar

10. The Chilean journal Punto Final, the Uruguayan weekly Marcha, and the Uruguayan daily poca are extremely important sources for examining the debates within the sectors that began to split from the traditional left in pursuit of new directions. Marcha is also an important source for debates within Argentina at points when the governments in power were censoring the left-wing press. In Argentina, some of the publications referred to as cultural journals linked to former members of the Communist Party (for example, Pasado y Presente) and the Socialist party (in this case, Che), or to progressive Catholic sectors during the period of Ongania (for example, Cristianismo y Revolucin), also played a significant role. Some of these publications were available throughout the region. Marcha was distributed weekly in Santiago de Chile and Buenos Aires. During the Ongania dictatorship (1966–1973), the distribution of Marcha (weekly), poca (daily) and Punto Final (fortnightly) was proscribed in Argentina at various times.

11. For a brief account of these events, see Lee Anderson, John Che Guevara: A Revolutionary Life (New York: Grove Press, 1997), pp. 307312.Google Scholar

12. See Mara Gutirrez, Carlos Con Fidel, en la sierra maestra, la maana, 14-18/3/1958, En la Sierra Maestra y otros reportajes (Montevideo: Ediciones Tauro, 1967).Google Scholar

13. Ricardo Masetti, Jorge Los que luchan y los que lloran (Buenos Aires: Editorial Jorge Alvarez, 1969).Google Scholar

14. For a study of the career of Masetti, see Rot, Gabriel Los orgenes perdidos de la guerrilla en la Argentina: la historia de Jorge Ricardo Masetti y el Ejrcito Guerrillero del Pueblo (Buenos Aires: Ediciones El Cielo por Asalto, 2000).Google Scholar

15. During the period, a large volume of literature was produced by political leaders of parties on the left and in the center, as well as by intellectuals who had traveled to Cuba and returned to share their experiences. Some of the best examples are Allende, Salvador Cuba: un camino (Santiago: Prensa Latinoamericana, 1960);Google Scholar Benedetti, Mario Cuaderno cubano (Montevideo: Ed. Arca, 1967);Google Scholar Bernhard, Guillermo and Etchepare, Alberto Reportaje a Cuba (Montevideo: Ediciones Amrica Nueva, 1961);Google Scholar Cheln, Alejando La Revolucin Cubana y sus proyecciones en Amrica Latina (Santiago: Ed. Prensa Latinoamericana, 1960);Google Scholar Collazo, Ariel Regreso de Cuba; la crisis en el Uruguay; reforma constitucional revolucionaria (Montevideo: n.pub., 1961);Google Scholar Frondizi, Silvio La Revolucin Cubana: su significacin histrica (Montevideo: Editorial Ciencias Polticas, 1960);Google Scholar Estrada, Ezequiel Martnez En Cuba y al servicio de la revolucin. Mi experiencia cubana (Montevideo: Siglo Ilustrado, 1965);Google Scholar Moreno, Carlos Martnez El paredn (Barcelona: Seix Barrai, 1962);Google Scholar and Seman, Elias Cuba miliciana (Buenos Aires: Ediciones Ubicacin, 1961).Google Scholar

16. For more information on Departamento Amrica, see Pineiro, Manuel Che Guevara y la revolucin latinoamericana (Havana: Ocean Sur, 2006); Anderson, Che, pp. 533, 759;Google Scholar and Castaeda, , Utopia Unarmed, pp. 5089.Google Scholar

17. Piero Gleijeses states that the revolution prioritized training over direct expeditions into other countries to avoid creating problems in the Latin American sphere, a method Guevara believed to have been proven infallible. Gleijeses, Piero Conflicting Missions, Havana, Washington, and Africa, 1959–1976 (Chapel Hill: The University of North Carolina Press, 2002), pp. 2123.Google Scholar

18. For a study of this wave of guerrilla warfare, see Gott, Richard Guerrilla Movements in Latin America (Calcutta, London, and New York: Seagull Books, 1970);Google Scholar and Wickham-Crowley, Timothy P. Guerrillas Revolution in Latin America: A Comparative Study of Insurgents and Regimes since 1956 (Princeton, N.J.: Princeton University Press, 1992), Part II.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

19. Although Cuban-supported military training was taking place in the Ligas Campesinas movement in northeast Brazil, a military solution never arose. See Rollemberg, Denise O apoto de Cuba a luta armada no Brasil: o treinamentoguerrilheiro (Rio de Janeiro: Mauad, 2001), chapt. 1.Google Scholar

20. For a detailed analysis of Guevaras texts during the period, see Childs, Matt D. An Historical Critique of the Emergence and Evolution of Ernesto Che Guevaras Foco Theory, Journal of Latin American Studies 27:3 (October 1995), pp. 593624.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

21. Guevara, Ernesto La guerra de guerrillas (Vims: Fondo de Cultura Popular, 1973), p. 15.Google Scholar

22. Ibid., p. 16.

23. Guevara, Ernesto Guerra de guerrillas Un mtodo?, Punto Final, Documentos 40 (October 1967).Google Scholar

24. Guevara, Ernesto Pasajes de la guerra revolucionaria (Cuba: Unin, 1963).Google Scholar

25. Sweig, Julia introduction, Inside the Cuban Revolution: Fidel Castro and the Cuban Underground (Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, 2002).Google Scholar

26. For Chile, the source is an interview with Andrs Pascal Allende by the author on October 8, 2008, in Santiago. For Uruguay and some of the activities carried out by the members of Tupamaro National Liberation Movement, see Blixen, Samuel Sendic (Montevideo: Ediciones Trilce, 2000);Google Scholar and Huidobro, Eleuterio Fernndez Historia de los Tupamaros (Montevideo: Banda Oriental, 2012), Vols. 1 and 2.Google Scholar

27. Over the last decade, some research has focused on Guevaras political interest in Argentina in the wake of the triumph of the Cuban Revolution. Going beyond ideological definitions, this Argentine dimension to Guevara largely explains his projects in South America during the 1960s. See Anderson, Che; and Heredia, Fernando Martinez ed., Che, el argentino (Buenos Aires: Ediciones De Mano en Mano, 1997).Google Scholar

28. Manuel Gaggero is one of the few survivors of those who participated in this preparation in 1961. Gaggero, El encuentro con el Che: aquellos aos, in Che, el argentino, Martnez Heredia, ed. For an idea of the various activities and positions of Argentines in Cuba in 1961, see the report of Amalio Juan Rey, a member of the directors' commission of the Argentine-Cuban Friendship Institute. Rey, Sobre el mensaje del Che Guevara a los argentinos el 25 de mayo de 1962 (Crdoba, Argentina: Narvaja Editor, 1999).Google Scholar

29. Nicanoff, Sergio and Castellano, Alex Las primeras experiencias guerrilleras en la Argentina: la historia del Vasco Bengochea y las Fuerzas Armadas de la Revolucin Nacional (Buenos Aires: Centro Cultural de la Cooperacin Floreal Gorini, 2006).Google Scholar A small book published in Montevideo in 1970 and titled Guerra de Guerrillas contains a reference to a conference held in the city. The book does not specify the year, but given that Bengochea died in 1964, it is reasonable to assume that some of its content reflects the issues discussed with Guevara in 1962. The book states that the operational bases of the guerrilla campaign could be in the city, the country, or border areas and analyzes the advantages of each without providing a prescriptive solution. Bengochea, ngel and Lpez Silveira, J.J. Guerra de guerrillas (Montevideo: Editorial Uruguay, 1970), pp. 6773.Google Scholar

30. See Gaggero, El encuentro con el Che: aquellos aos.

31. The journal was edited by Jos Aric. Later, the books published by the group became a point of reference in the renewal of Marxism in Latin America during the 1960s and 1970s. See Burgos, Ral Losgram-scianos argentinos: Cultura y poltica en la experiencia de Pasado y Presente (Buenos Aires: Siglo XXI, 2004).Google Scholar

32. Masetti, its main leader, disappeared; two militants, one of them Cuban, were murdered; and the majority were captured. For details of the EGP episode, see Rot, Los orgenes perdidos de la guerrilla en la Argentina; and the testimony of Ciro Bustos, El Che quiere verte: la historia jams contada del Che en Bolivia (Buenos Aires: Javier Vergara Editor, 2007), Part I.Google Scholar

33. See Nicanoff and Castellano, Las primeras experiencias guerrilleras en la Argentina.

34. Debray, Rgis Le castrisme: la longue marche de lAmrique latine, Les Temps Modernes 224 (January 1965).Google Scholar The Spanish translation appeared as El castrismo: la gran marcha de Amrica Latina, Pasado y Presente 2:7–8 (October 1964-March 1965).

35. Debray, Rgis Alabados sean nuestros seores. Una educacin poltica (Barcelona: Editorial Sudamericana, 1999) p. 50.Google Scholar

36. Ibid.

37. Ibid., p. 67.

38. Anderson, Che, p. 707.

39. Debray, Rgis Revolucin en la revolucin? (Havana: Casa de las Americas, 1967).Google Scholar

40. Ibid., p. 15.

41. Ibid., p. 20.

42. Ibid., pp. 33–34. Another example of these disagreements can be seen in the debate that took place between Adolfo Gilly and Fidel Castro at the end of 1965 and 1966. See Gilly, Adolfo La renuncia del Che, Marcha, October 22, 1965;Google Scholar Fidel Castro, Discurso pronunciado en el acto clausura de la Primera Conferencia de Solidaridad de los Pueblos de Asia, frica y Amrica Latina (Tricontinental), Chaplin Theater, Havana, January 15, 1966. http://www.cuba.cu/gobierno/discursos/, accessed October 24, 2013; and Gilly, Adolfo Respuesta a Fidel Castro, Marcha, February 18, 1966.Google Scholar

43. Debray, , Revolucin, p. 108.Google Scholar

44. Ibid., p. 107.

45. Debray, Rgis La crtica de las armas (Mexico: Siglo XXI, 1975), p. 217.Google Scholar

46. Debray, Rgis Revolucin en la revolucin?, Punto Final, Documentos 25:2 (March 1967).Google Scholar The book was serialized and continued in subsequent issues: 26:1, April 1967; and 27:2, April 1967. See also Debray, Rgis Amrica Latina: algunos problemas de estrategia revolucionaria, Punto Final, Documentos, 29:2 (May 1967);Google Scholar and Debray, , El castrismo: la gran marcha de Amrica Latina, Punto Final, Documentos 30:1 (June 1967).Google Scholar

47. Debrays fame reached such heights that in May 1968, an article in The New York Timesranked the 27-ycar-old as one of the seven heroes of the new left, together with Noam Chomsky, Albert Camus, Frantz Fanon, Paul Goodman, Herbert Marcuse, and Che Guevara. See Abel, Lionel Seven Heroes of the New Left, New York Times, May 5, 1968.Google Scholar

48. Ferre, Alberto Methol Rgis Debray y la ideologa de la revolucin en Amrica Latina, Cuadernos Latinoamericanos (Montevideo: Instituto de Estudios Americanos, 1968), p. 8.Google Scholar

49. See Resea sucinta de la polmica suscitada por Revolucin en la Revolucin? in Ferre, Methol Rgis Debray y la ideologa de la revolucin, p. 212.Google Scholar

50. For example, see the PRT (Workers Revolutionary Party) document developed by Domecq, Sergio Ramirez, Carlos and Candela, Juan (pseudonyms), El tnico camino para la toma del poder y el socialismo (No location given: Ediciones Combate, 1969);Google Scholar CEDINCI and Tupamaros National Liberation Movement Archive, Documento 1, (1967), Archivo de Lucha Armada David Cmpora, Centro de Estudios Interdisciplinarios Uruguayos, Universidad de la Repblica, Montevideo.

51. Although the resistance to the Paraguayan dictatorship of Alfredo Stroessner, an old ally of Pern, was largely organized from Argentina due to the anti-Peronist stances of the latters governments after 1955, there was also a large Paraguayan community in Montevideo. Dur, Victor R. and Silva, Agripino Frente Unido de Liberacin Nacional (1959–1965): guerra de guerrillas como guerra del pueblo;Google Scholar Cspedes, Roberto and Paredes, Roberto La resistencia armada al stronismo: panorama general, Nova Polis 8 (August 2004).Google Scholar

52. Tavares, Flavio Memorias do esqueeimento (Sāo Paulo: Globo, 1999), p. 175.Google Scholar

53. This created significant opportunities and problems for the Cuban embassy. According to Agee, the CIA station in Uruguay was the only one in the hemisphere where operations against Cuba took priority over operations against the Russian embassy. Agee, Philip La CIA por dentro, diario de un espa, trans. Leren-degui, Silvia (Buenos Aires: Editorial Sudamericana, 1987), p. 265.Google Scholar

54. For an overview of how the notion of crisis was used during the period, see Marchesi, Aldo and Yaff, Jaime La violencia bajo la lupa. Una revisin de la literatura sobre violencia y poltica en los sesenta, Revista Uruguaya de Ciencia Poltica 19 (2010), pp. 95118.Google Scholar

55. Benedetti, Mario El pats de la cola de paja (Montevideo: ARCA, 1966).Google Scholar For a description of Bene-dettis political commitment, see Campanella, Hortensia Mario Benedetti, un mito discretsimo (Montevideo: Planeta, 2009);Google Scholar and Gabriel Lagos, Jos Una zona intermedia entre el Benedetti moral y el Benedetti poltico (unpublished).Google Scholar

56. Benedetti, El Pats, p. 58.Google Scholar

57. See Lagos, Una zona intermedia.Google Scholar

58. Benedetti, , El Pas, p. 143.Google Scholar

59. Ibid., pp. 153–154. Cited by Lagos in Una zona intermedia.

60. Instituto de Economa, El proceso econmico del Uruguay (Montevideo: Universidad de la Repblica, 1969), pp. 257–271.

61. In 1962, the Unin Popular (UP), a coalition led by the Partido Socialista (PS), obtained 2.3 percent of the vote, with the Frente Izquierda de Liberacin (FIDEL), led by the Communist Party, obtaining 3.5 percent. Added together, the left's share remained less than 6 percent of the total. In 1966, FIDEL obtained 5.7 percent, while the Partido Socialista coalition disbanded. The PS obtained 0.9 percent and the Unin Popular 0.2 percent.

62. In 1962, the Nacional Party won the elections with 46.5 percent of the vote, while the Colorado Party obtained 44.5 percent. In 1966, the Colorado Party won the elections with 49.3 percent of the vote, with the Nacional Party obtaining 40.4 percent.

63. See among other works Broquetas, Magdalena> Los frentes del anticomunismo. Las derechas en el Uruguay de los tempranos sesenta, Contempornea. Historia y Problemas del Siglo XX. 3:3 (2012);Google Scholar Baino, Mauricio La caza del fantasma. Benito Nardone y el anticomunismo en Uruguay (1960–1962) (Montevideo: FHCE, 2007);Google Scholar Bucheli, Gabriel Organizaciones demcratas y radicalizacin anticomunista en Uruguay, 19591962, Contempornea: Historia y problemas del Siglo XX 3:3 (2012), pp. 3152;Google Scholar Ferreira, Roberto Garcia El Cine Trocadero: un testigo de la Guerra Fra, Contempornea: Historia y problemas del siglo XX 1:1 (2010), pp. 27–19;Google Scholar and Iglesias, Mariana En procura del orden interno: sentidos y estrategias en torno a la sancin de medidas de excepcin en el Uruguay de mediados del siglo XX, Nuevo Mundo Mundos Nuevos (2009).Google Scholar

64. See El gobierno contra el derecho de reunin. Decret medidas de seguridad. Quieren el golpe, poca, April 9, 1965, cover; and Dictadura legal, poca, October 8, 1965, cover. For a general overview of the period, see Alonso Eloy, Rosa and Demasi, Carlos Uruguay, 1958–1968: crisis y estancamiento (Montevideo: Ediciones de la Banda Oriental, 1986).Google Scholar

65. For an example, see the events surrounding the confinement of Brizla: Brizla fue internado sin pruebas, poca, March 23, 1965, final page.

66. A report by the U.S. Department of State stated: There have been close relations between the Brazilian and Uruguayan military since the revolution in Brazil and the few Uruguayans with golpista tendencies look upon the Brazilian revolution as a model. U.S. Embassy, Montevideo, Joint Weekly 20, May 22, 1965, RG 59, Box 2791, National Archives and Records Administration, College Park, Maryland.

67. See Entrevista Ongana-Costa: Uruguay, un grave peligro, poca, September 1, 1965, p. 7; and Otra vez la cisplatina? poca, September 6, 1965, p. 7. The news aroused the concern of the Uruguayan diplomatic body in Argentina and Brazil. See Declaraciones General Juan Carlos Ongania, Argentina, Con-fidential Dossier No. 20 (1965), Archive of the Ministry of Foreign Relations, Uruguay.

68. Rodrguez, Hctor Dos caminos ante los sindicatos, Marcha, January 11, 1963, p. 10.Google Scholar

69. For a historical approach to this mobilization, see the chapter in Gonzlez Sierra, Yamand Los olvidados de la tierra (Montevideo: Nordan, Fundacin Friedrich Ebert, 1994).Google Scholar For an ethnographical approach to the union, see Merenson, Silvina (Des)marcaciones (trans)nacionales. El proceso de movilizacin y radi-calizacin poltica de la Unin de Trabajadores Azucareros de Artigas, 1961–1972, Contempornea: Historia y problems del siglo XX 1:1 (2010), pp. 115132.Google Scholar

70. See Sierra, Gonzlez Los olvidados, p. 218.Google Scholar

71. Aldrighi, Clara La izquierda armada: ideologa, tica e identidad en el MLN-Tupamaros (Montevideo: Trilce, 2001);Google Scholar Cultelli, Andrs La revolucin necesaria, contribucin a la autocrtica del MLNTupamaros (Buenos Aires: Colihue, 2006);Google Scholar Huidobro, Eleuterio Fernndez Historia de los Tupamaros (Montevideo: Banda Oriental, 2012), vols. 13;Google Scholar Gatto, Hbert El cielo por asalto: el Movimiento de Liberacin Nacional (Tupamaros) y la izquierda uruguaya (1963–1972) (Montevideo: Taurus, 2004);Google Scholar Esther Gilio, Mara La guerrilla tupamara (Havana: Casa de las Americas, 1970);Google Scholar Harari, Jos Contribucin a la historia del MLN (Tupamaros) (Montevideo: Editorial Plural, 1987);Google Scholar Labrousse, Alain Una historia de los Tupamaros: de Sendic a Mujica (Montevideo: Editorial Fin de Siglo, 2009);Google Scholar Lessa, Alfonso La revolucin imposible: los tupamaros y el fracaso de la va armada en el Uruguay del siglo XX (Montevideo: Editorial Fin de Siglo, 2002);Google Scholar and Rey Tristn, Eduardo A la vuelta de la esquina.Google Scholar For more information on the coordinador, see Duffau, Nicolas El coordinador (1963–1965). La participacin de los militantes del Partido Socialista en los inicios de la violencia revolucionaria en Uruguay (Montevideo: Universidad de la Repblica, FHCE, 2008);Google Scholar and Sasso, Rolando Tupamaros, los comienzos (Montevideo: Editorial Fin de Siglo, 2010).Google Scholar

72. For a reflection on the methodological dilemmas of reconstructing this process, see Car-dozo, Marina El cordero nunca se salv balando: reflexiones acerca de los relatos de un militante de la izquierda armada, in Tania Medalla et al., Recordar para pensar. Memoria para la democracia. La elaboracin del pasado reciente en el Cono Sur de Amrica Latina (Santiago de Chile: Ediciones Heinrich Boll Cono Sur, 2010), pp. 230248.Google Scholar For the debates on the origins of the MLN-T and its role in the polarization leading to military authoritarianism, see Marchesi, Aldo Tupamaros et dictature, radicalisation et autoritarisme: dbats sur le coup dtat de 1973 en Uruguay, Vingtime Sicle. Revue dHistoire 105 (January 2010).Google Scholar Here, even in contemporary academic reflection, we can see how the debates have been colored by subsequent events. While for some the MLN-T was a response to growing right-wing state authoritarianism, for others the lefts violent response contributed to the development of an authoritarian climate that would find its maximum expression in dictatorship. This position shares certain features with some of Hugo Vezzettis arguments in the case of Argentina. See Vezzetti, Hugo Sobre la violencia revolucionaria, memorias y olvidos (Buenos Aires: Siglo XXI Ediciones, 2009).Google Scholar

73. One of their first documents, which has not been preserved, was entitled Ningn cordero se salv balando, and suggested a more defensive strategy, culminating in the explicit call to arm yourself and wait. Huidobro, Fernndez Historia de los Tupamaros, Vol. 1, pp. 131135.Google Scholar

74. Ser y hacer, Barricada 1 (September 1964), p. 3.

75. The phrase Arismendi-Quijano axis refers to Rodney Arismendi, general secretary of the Communist Party, and Carlos Quijano, the editor of the weekly publication Marcha. The positions of the two intellectuals differed sharply. While Arismendi was leader of a party that toed the Soviet line, Carlos Quijano was one of the main advocates of the so-called third way, calling in the context of the polarization of the Cold War for an alternative, Latin Americanist, social-democratist international position.

76. La marcha de los caeros y la reordenacin de la izquierda uruguaya, Barricada 1 (September 1964), p. 10.

77. Ibid., p. 11.

78. Tristn, Rey A la vuelta de la esquina, p. 112.Google Scholar

79. Cuba maintained its embassy until September 1964. After pulling out, it maintained staff and a significant network of contacts in the city.

80. See Bustos, Ciro El sueo revolucionario del Che era Argentina,Google Scholar interview by Jaime Padilla, Malmo, Sweden (1997), Centro de Documentacin e Investigacin de la Cultura de Izquierdas en Argentina (CEDINCI), Aires, Buenos and Bustos, , El Che quiere verte, pp. 231239.Google Scholar For some of the repercussions of the EGP in Uruguay, see the articles published in Marcha by Garca Lupo, Rogelio Masetti, un suicida, Marcha, May 14, 1965, p. 18;Google Scholar and Walsh, Rodolfo Masetti, un guerrillero, May 14, 1965, p. 19.Google Scholar

81. See Prez, Eduardo Una aproximacin a la historia de las Fuerzas Armadas PeronistasGoogle Scholar in Duhalde, Eduardo and Prez, Eduardo De Taco Ralo a la alternativa independiente. Historia documental de las Fuerzas Armadas Peronistas y del Peronismo de base (La Plata: De la Campana, 2003);Google Scholar Dandan, Alejandra and Heguy, Silvina Joe Baxter, del nazismo a la extrema izquierda. La historia secreta de un guerrillero (Argentina: Editorial Norma, 2006), chapt. 7; and Bustos, El Che quiere verte.Google Scholar

82. For an example of Cookes activities in Montevideo, see Carta a Hector Tristan, in John W. Cooke. Obra completa. Artculos periodsticos, reportajes, cartas y documentos. Tomo III, Duhalde, Eduardo Luis ed. (Buenos Aires: Ediciones Colihue, 2009), p. 45.Google Scholar

83. Prez, Eduardo Una aproximacin a la historia de las Fuerzas Armadas Peronistas, pp. 48, 51.Google Scholar Nell Tacci was taken prisoner as a Tupamaro militant in 1967; Baxter escaped to Havana and returned to Argentina in 1970, turning his back on Peronism and joining the PRT-ERP; and Cataldo returned to Argentina in 1967. For a biography of Joe Baxter, see Dandan and Heguy, Joe Baxter, del nazismo a la extrema izquierda.

84. See RoUemberg, Denise O apoto de Cuba ā luta armada no Brasil: o franamento jjuerrilheiro (Rio de Janeiro: Mauad, 2001), chapt. 2;Google Scholar and Caldas, Jose Capara, a primeira guerrilba contra a ditadura (Sao Paulo: Boitempo Ed., 2007).Google Scholar See also the testimonial account of Tavares, Flavio Memorias do esquccimento (Sao Paulo: Globo, 1999), pp. 173205.Google Scholar On the timing of Ches campaign in Bolivia, Manuel Barbarroja Pineiro states that Argentina and Brazil were preparing support groups in parallel to Guevaras incursion there. See Pineiro, Manuel Che Guevara y la revolucin latinoamericana (Havana: Ocean Sur, 2006), pp. 9798.Google Scholar For the connections between the Montevideo exiles and the preparation of Capara, see Devi-cenzi, Artigas Rodrguez Asunto: actividades del ex-diputado Leonel Brizla (May 8, 1967),Google Scholar File 169 (Brazil), Ministry of Foreign Relations Archive, Uruguay.

85. Leibner, Camaradasy compaeros, p. 481.Google Scholar

86. Blixen, Sendic, p. 108.Google Scholar

87. See Castelo nos gobierna: internaron a Brizla, poca, January 30, 1965, p. 1.

88. One of the works most frequently cited by the Tupamaros was Menachem Begins Rebelin en Tierra Santa. See Tristn, Rey A la vuelta de la esquina, p. 173.Google Scholar

89. See Huidobro, Fernndez Historia de los Tupamaros, Vol. 2, pp. 6971;Google Scholar and Blixen, , Sendic, pp. 122124.Google Scholar

90. See Blixen, Sendic, p. 123;Google Scholar and Torres, Jorge Tupamaros: la derrota en la mira (Montevideo: Editorial Fin de Siglo, 2002), pp. 114, 184, 347–360Google Scholar.

91. Naez, Guillermo Daniel Abraham Guilln: los remotos orgenes de la guerrilla peronista 1955–1960, Historia (Publicacin del Instituto Superior de Formacin Docente, no. 50);Google Scholar Reyes, Hernn Abraham Guilln: terico de la lucha armada, Lucha Armada 4 (September-November 2005);Google Scholar interview with Abraham Guilln in the Spanish magazine Bicicleta: Revista de Comunicaciones Libertarias (October 1978); and Quin es Abraham Guilln? interview in Carlos Aznarez, A. and Caas, Jaime E. Tupamaros Fracaso del Che? (Buenos Aires: Ediciones Orbe, 1969), pp. 167177.Google Scholar

92. Peronist militants attempted to form a small but short-lived insurgent group that set up camp on a mountain in Tucuman in 1959. See Salas, Ernesto Uturuncos. El origen de la guerrilla peronista (Buenos Aires: Ed. Biblos, 2003).Google Scholar

93. My favorite hero is Spartacus; the myth I admire most Prometheus; the Economist that has had the greatest influence on me Marx; the most exemplary revolutionary Bakunin; the hero of our times is Che. Taken from the back cover of Guilln, Abraham Desafio al Pentgono. La guerrilla latinoamericana (Montevideo: Editorial Andes, 1969).Google Scholar

94. Guilln, Abraham 2Estrategia de la guerrilla urbana (Montevideo: Manuales del Pueblo, 1966).Google Scholar

95. Torress text has not been preserved, but a number of his militant associates claim that it formed the basis of the MLN-Ts first document in June 1967. See Blixen, , Sendic. pp. 139140.Google Scholar Abraham Guilln became a sort of intellectual leader in the field of urban guerrilla warfare, publishing various books on the subject in Latin America, Spain, and the United States. He is also regarded as the Tupamaros tactical and strategic inspiration, in spite of the fact that his libertarian origins separate the two politically. See Bicicleta: Revista de Comunicaciones Libertarias 1.9 (October 1978).

96. It is to be assumed that both Torres and Guilln were aware of the text detailing Bengocheas position and his debate with Che, in which he argued that the operational bases for guerrilla activities could be in the city, the country, or border areas. See Bengochea, and Silveira, Lpez Guerra de guerrillas, pp. 6773.Google Scholar

97. Tupamaros National Liberation Movement, Documento 1 (1967), The David Campora Archive of Armed Struggle, The Uruguayan Center of Interdisciplinary Hispanic Studies, Montevideo.

98. Ibid.

99. Chagas, Jorge and Trullen, Gustavo Pacheco, la trama oculta del poder (Montevideo: Rumbo, 2005), p. 172.Google Scholar

100. 30 preguntas a un tupamaro, Punto Final, Documentos 58 (July 2, 1968). This article would later be reprinted in the Argentine journal Cristianismo y Revolucin. See Cristianismo y Revolucin 10 (October 1968).

101. 30 preguntas a un tupamaro, Punto Final, pp. 7–8. The phrase creating many Vietnams is a reference to Guevaras Message to the Tricontinental originally published in a Special Supplement to Tri-continental magazine (April 16, 1967).

102. Some examples include the holdup of Financiera Monty, where 6 million pesos and accounts were stolen, the latter being used to expose a series of irregularities involving politicians and businessmen. The action ultimately led to the authorities investigating the case. In this respect, the political scientist Francisco Panizza has stated that in spite of their emphasis on armed actions, the Tupamaro struggle was, in fact, one of the most elaborate strategies of symbolic politics in the history of Uruguay. Panizza, Francisco Uruguay: Batllismo y despus. Pacheco, militares y tupamaros en la crisis del Uruguay Batllista (Montevideo: Banda Oriental, 1990), p. 152.Google Scholar

103. Respuesta del MLN al semanario Al Rojo Vivo in Los Tupamaros, Costa, Omar ed. (Mexico: Ediciones Era, 1971), p. 139.Google Scholar

104. Labrousse, Alain The Tupamaros: Urban Guerrillas in Uruguay (London: Penguin Books, 1973) p. 71.Google Scholar

105. Aznarez, Carlos A. and Caas, Jaime E. Tupamaros: Fracaso del Che? Un anlisis objetivo de la actualidad uruguaya (Buenos Aires: Ediciones Orbe, 1969).Google Scholar

106. Caviasca, Guillermo Dos caminos. ERP-Montoneros en los setenta (Buenos Aires: Centro Cultural de la Cooperacin Floreal Gorini, 2006), p. 67.Google Scholar

107. The foco is a creator of consciousness, and is by no means any old sort of combat unit existing as part of any old strategic position in a given national society. The Tupamaros do not have a rural guerrilla column, they have commandos (or columns as they call them) that practice urban guerrilla warfare but also have a foco. Vaya si lo tienen, Cristianismo y Revolucin 28 (April 1972), p. 58.

108. See Cibelli, Juan Carlos Orgenes de la FAL, Lucha armada en la Argentina 1:1 (2005);Google Scholar and Rot, Gabriel Notas para una historia de la lucha armada en la argentina. Las Fuerzas Argentinas de Libera-cin, Polticas de la Memoria 4 (Summer 2003–2004).Google Scholar

109. Taken from Pablo (–nom deguerre), Informe y propuesta a los militantes in Rot, Notas para la historia de una lucha armada, p. 153.Google Scholar The organization did not survive the polarization between Peronists and and-Peronists within the armed organizations. A large part of the militants ended up joining one of the two groups.

110. For information on the formation of the PRT-ERP, see Mattini, Luis Hombres y mujeres del PRT-ERP: la pasin militante (La Plata: Ed. de la Campana, 2003);Google Scholar Pozzi, Pablo Por las sendas argentinas: el PRT-ERP, la guerrilla marxista (Buenos Aires: Imago Mundi, 2004);Google Scholar Seoane, Maria Todo o nada: la historia secreta y pblica de Mario Roberto Santucho, el jefe gurillero de los aos setenta (Buenos Aires: Sudamericana, 2003);Google Scholar and Weisz, Eduardo El PRT-ERP, claves para una interpretacin de su singularidad: Marxismo, Internacionalismo y Clasismo (Buenos Aires: Ediciones del Centro Cultural de la Cooperacin Floreal Gorini, 2006).Google Scholar

111. De Santis, Daniel Carta a un tupamaro. Desde el alma y con dolor. Carta abierta a Eleuterio Fernndez Huidobro, in De Santis, Entre tupas y perros (Buenos Aires: Ed. Ry R, 2005).Google Scholar

112. Guilln claimed his text was translated into Portuguese and entered Brazil by mimeograph. See Guilln, in Bicicleta, Revista de Comunicaciones Libertarias 1:9 (October 1978).Google Scholar In his research, the historian Marlon Assef mentions intelligence reports from the Centro de Informacoes do Exterior stating that both Carlos Marighella and Carlos Lamarca crossed the border during the period. Assef, Marlon Retratos do exilio, solidariedade e resistencia na fronteira (Santa Cruz do Sul: EDUNISC, 2009), p. 122.Google Scholar

113. See Pascal Allende, Andrs El MIR Chileno. Una experiencia revolucionaria (Argentina: Ediciones Cucaa, 2003), p. 39.Google Scholar The idea of the gentlemanly model is taken from Marambio, Max Las armas de ayer (Santiago: La Tercera, Debate, 2007), p. 67.Google Scholar

114. See Debray, Rgis Los Tupamaros en accin (Mexico: Editorial Digenes, 1972), p. 8.Google Scholar

115. For details of the specific characteristics of the youth mobilization, primarily among students, at the end of the 1960s in Latin America, see Gould, Jeffrey Solidarity under Siege: The Latin American Left, 1968, American Historical Review 114:2 (April 2009), pp. 348375.CrossRefGoogle Scholar