The Military and Development

Abstract

The attempted kidnapping and killing of US Ambassador Gordon Mein in Guatemala in 1967 heralded an outbreak of urban violence which took many forms: bombings, political assassination, hijacking of aircraft and kidnappings. The choice of diplomats and executives of transnational corporations for kidnapping and ransom demands was no accident; the Left saw the political systems of Latin American countries as integrated with and hence sustained by the world capitalist system, led by the United States. This rise of urban terrorism in Latin America, coupled with the emergence of left-wing governments in Peru, Bolivia and Chile, formed the pretext for changes that in the 1970s led to the emergence of a new wave of military governments in Latin America.KeywordsArmed ForceLatin American CountryNational GuardMilitary CoupAgrarian ReformThese keywords were added by machine and not by the authors. This process is experimental and the keywords may be updated as the learning algorithm improves.