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When States Kill

Latin America, the U.S., and Technologies of Terror
  • Edited by: and
Language: English
Published/Copyright: 2005

About this book

Since the early twentieth century, technological transfers from the United States to Latin American countries have involved technologies of violence for social control. As the chapters in this book illustrate, these technological transfers have taken various forms, including the training of Latin American military personnel in surveillance and torture and the provision of political and logistic support for campaigns of state terror. The human cost for Latin America has been enormous—thousands of Latin Americans have been murdered, disappeared, or tortured, and whole communities have been terrorized into silence.

Organized by region, the essays in this book address the topic of state-sponsored terrorism in a variety of ways. Most take the perspective that state-directed political violence is a modern development of a regional political structure in which U.S. political interests weigh heavily. Others acknowledge that Latin American states enthusiastically received U.S. support for their campaigns of terror. A few see local culture and history as key factors in the implementation of state campaigns of political violence. Together, all the essays exemplify how technologies of terror have been transferred among various Latin American countries, with particular attention to the role that the United States, as a "strong" state, has played in such transfers.

Author / Editor information

Cecilia Menjívar is associate professor in the Department of Sociology and the School of Justice and Social Inquiry at Arizona State University.

Néstor Rodríguez is Professor and Chair of the Department of Sociology at the University of Houston, where he is also Codirector of the Center for Immigration Research.

Reviews

I have given chapters of this book to our clients—survivors of state-supported terror in Latin America—and watched as they nodded their heads in agreement and then asked variations of the question: 'how can academics understand so well what was going on in our countries?' This book uses the lens of rigorous scholarship to bring out of the shadows the particularities and common patterns that enabled state repression to operate so effectively in the United States' sphere of influence for more than two decades.
— Sandra Coliver

There are currently no volumes that do what When States Kill accomplishes. This extraordinarily important volume, edited by two superb scholars, will make an outstanding contribution to many fields.
— Martha K. Huggins

This extraordinary collection of essays locates Latin American state terror within the context of the distinct and influential role of U.S. foreign and military policy in the region. This is a rare work, a 'must read' for academics from a range of disciplines as well as human rights and refugee advocates and lawyers.
— Carolyn Patty Blum

The combination of a regional framework and original case studies makes this volume an important addition to research on the nature of U.S. involvement in state violence and human rights violations in Latin America.
— American Journal of Sociology

Topics

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    Frontmatter

    i
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    Contents

    ix
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    List of Illustrations

    xi
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  • Publicly Available

    Acknowledgments

    xiii
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  • Part one INTRODUCTION
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    Chapter 1 State Terror in the U.S.–Latin American Interstate Regime

    3
    Cecilia Menjívar and Néstor Rodríguez
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    Chapter 2 Operation Condor as a Hemispheric “Counterterror” Organization

    28
    J. Patrice Mcsherry
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  • Part two CENTRAL AMERICA AND MEXICO
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    Chapter 3 “The Blood of the People” The Guardia Nacional’s Fifty-year War against the People of Nicaragua, 1927–1979

    59
    Richard Grossman
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    Chapter 4 The Culture and Politics of State Terror and Repression in El Salvador

    85
    Aldo A. Lauria-Santiago
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    Chapter 5 Caught in the Crossfire: Militarization, Paramilitarization, and State Violence in Oaxaca, Mexico

    115
    Kristin Norget
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    Chapter 6 Bloody Deeds/Hechos Sangrientos: Reading Guatemala’s Record of Political Violence in Cadaver Reports

    143
    M. Gabriela Torres
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    Chapter 7 U.S. Militarization of Honduras in the 1980s and the Creation of CIA-backed Death Squad

    170
    Joan Kruckewitt
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    chapter 8 “No Hay Rosas Sin Espinas” Statecraft in Costa Rica

    198
    Annamarie Oliverio and Pat Lauderdale
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  • Part three SOUTH AMERICA
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    Chapter 9 The Colombian Nightmare: Human Rights Abuses and the Contradictory Effects of U.S. Foreign Policy

    227
    John C. Dugas
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    Chapter 10 The Path of State Terror in Peru

    252
    Abderrahman Beggar
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    Chapter 11 Turning on Their Masters: State Terrorism and Unlearning Democracy in Uruguay

    278
    Jeffrey J. Ryan
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    Chapter 12 Producing and Exporting State Terror The Case of Argentina

    305
    Ariel C. Armony
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  • Part four CONCLUSION
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    chapter 13 New Responses to State Terror

    335
    Cecilia Menjivar and Néstor Rodriguez
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    About the Contributors

    347
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    Index

    351
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Publishing information
Pages and Images/Illustrations in book
eBook published on:
October 25, 2021
eBook ISBN:
9780292796706
Pages and Images/Illustrations in book
View content
https://doi.org/10.7560/706477
eBook ISBN: 9780292796706
Audience(s) for this book
For an expert adult audience, including professional development and academic research
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