Revolution and Counterrevolution in Central America

Until the 1970s, most Americans were only dimly aware of Central America—if anything, it might bring forth an association with earthquakes or “banana republics.” The victory of the Nicaraguan revolution in 1979 and then the eruption of guerrilla wars in El Salvador and Guatemala changed all that, bringing the active intervention of the US government, sparking the interest of a post-Vietnam generation of American youth, and putting new terms and faces on the front pages: Iran-Contra, Archbishop Oscar Romero, Sandino and the FSLN, the sanctuary movement, “low intensity warfare,” the annihilation of Mayan villages. This course examines the origins and dynamics of these revolutionary movements and the reasons for their success or failure. We will look at the revolutionaries’ ideologies, political and military strategies, class base, and the ethnic and gender composition of their leadership and ranks. To what extent was each side inspired by or dependent upon outside forces—Cuba and the Soviet Union in the case of the leftist guerrillas and the United States in the case of the counterrevolutionary armies and governments? What lessons can we draw from the fact that the leading revolutionary parties of the 1980s have all now abandoned armed struggle in favor of elections? In addition to historical monographs, we will make extensive use of primary sources—including revolutionary speeches, memoirs, songs, and manifestos, as well as declassified CIA and other US government documents.