Origins and Evolution of the Latin American Guerrilla Movements

From the late 1950s to the late 1990s, one wave of rebel movements after another swept across Latin America and the Caribbean: organized groups of the armed Left contesting the existing political, social and economic order. First we underline the widespread presence of the guerrilla movements in many countries. We trace the existing legacy of resistance and rebellion against conquering and repressive regimes in colonial times and after independence. We mention the significance of the Cuban Revolution (the next chapter is dedicated to Cuba’s significance) and sketch the ideological framework of emerging guerrilla movements: Marxism, dependency theory and especially liberation theology. Then we conceptualize three phases of the revolutionary wave: rational imitation of the Cuban Revolution and other examples, rational adaption, and rational learning. Based on these three phases we organize the country cases in three successive parts of the book. The last part treats more idiosyncratic but eminently important cases. The chapter ends with the characteristics of the insurgent movements in terms of the internal organization and ranks, name-giving and political orientation, recruitment, gender, and the differences and similarities of the urban and rural guerrilla.