On Latin America and the rest of the Americas
As well as all the hard working people, communist and not, fighting for the emancipation of the Latino and indigenous peoples.
Coming from the North Americas.
Latin America (with a focus on Cuba)
Branching out from the US, hmm, let's see. For Cuba, there's Che and Fidel. I love Che Guevara Talks to Young People - I reference it heavily in On Technology. For a quick Cuban piece, check out On the Ideology of the Cuban Revolution (1960) by Che. Or, here are a couple longer interviews by Fidel: One, two. Oh, and when you get there, the most important for me: Guerilla Warfare by Che. About the real logistics of organizing his troops, what it took to fight those battles, all the real-life little details that matter.
As they report in Havana, there's a great friendship between cuba and north korea. Their struggles are one and the same, against imperialism. They have fought the same battles. Survived the same attack, steely peoples the both of them. Enjoying life; fighting hard to keep doing that.
Head here for more On Che Guevara.
US + Latin American History
United States backed coups in Latin America
Copied from a thread of Armani's (@historyoarmani2's) here:
Guatemala 1954: the USA overthrew Jacobo Arbenz Guzman because he had a land reform program that took over large estates. The CIA believed Guzman was a Communist because he gave more than 200,000 acres of American-owned land to poor people.
Brazil 1964: USA backed military coup overthrew João Goulart because he had ties with communist countries & urged congress to approve land redistribution. The day before he was ousted he proposed a package to congress which would benefit the working class people of Brazil.
Dominican Republic 1965: after getting rid of the dictator Trujillo, Dominicans had their first free election & elected Juan Bosch. His pro castro sentiments, creation of the Dominican Revolutionary Party, & ability to unite all factions of Dominican society threatened the USA.
Chile 1973: the first Marxist president to ever be democratically elected, Salvador Allende was overthrown by the United States and murdered during the coup because he nationalized healthcare, large industries, gave free education and food for children, and redistributed land.
Nicaragua 1980s: Not a coup, but one of the worst cases of US involvement in Latin America by the hands of the cia, which funded Contra death squads against the Popular People’s Movement. 50,000+ people were murdered by the US backed Contras
El Salvador 1980s: Not a coup but US funds death squads to destroy the Popular People’s Movement, killing 75,000+ people.
Grenada 1980s: The USA invaded Grenada after a People’s Revolution took control of the country and started implementing communist policies. The United States wanted to prevent “communism from spreading to other Carrie an countries”
Venezuela 2002: The failed coup backed by the US was an attempt to get Hugo Chavez out of office because he was a self declared socialist who was and had strong ties with Cuba and Fidel Castro.
Haiti 2004: Haiti’s first democratically elected President was Jean-Bertrand Aristide. He was overthrown by the US which led to the US occupying the country. He called for former colonizer, France, to pay $21 billion in restitution
Honduras 2009: Democratically elected president Manuel Zelaya was overthrown by the US when he shifted from his party’s center right ideology and began seeking advice from Hugo Chavez to combat poverty, and joined a leftist alliance formed by Cuba and Venezuela
Bolivia 2019: Democratically elected president Evo Morales was overthrown by US backed right wing party when he decided to keep Bolivia’s resources in country instead allowing outside businesses to export them
TODO: Bolivia, Venezuela, oh, right, literally all of Latin America other than Cuba.
Speaking of the Cuban-Korean friendship, next up: Korea!
index tags: Communists, Reading List, South America, Latin America, America, Cuba, Che Guevara, Fidel Castro, Evo Morales, RedSails, @historyoarmani2, United States backed coups in Latin America, Guatemala, Brazil, Dominican Republic, Chile, Nicaragua, El Salvador, Grenada, Venezuela, Haiti, Honduras, Bolivia
category tags: World History