modern military regimes in South America:
1945-1958, Venezuela
1954-1989, Paraguay
1964-1982, Bolivia
1964-1985, Brazil
1968-1980, Peru
1972-1979, Ecuador
1973-1984, Uruguay
1973-1990, Chile
1976-1983, Argentina

Southern Cone
Paraguay, Uruguay, Argentina, Chile

MERCOSUR: Paraguay, Uruguay, Argentina, Brazil (Chile is an associate member)

a cool map

Paraguay
size of California, landlocked, capital Asunción, population 5.5m, mostly mestizo
1954-1989: General Alfredo Stroessner

Uruguay
smaller, population 3.3m, capital Montevideo
Tupamarco urban guerillas in the 1960s: Cuban communism + liberation theology
1972: a "state of internal war" declared
1973-1984: military rule
tortures, exiles

Chile

large, long and narrow, capital Santiago, population 14.8 million

1970: Salvador Allende (a "socialist") elected president; strongly opposed by the US government and international corporations (Pepsi-Cola, ITT, and Chase Manhattan Bank especially); CIA begins coup attempts; Allende nationalizes key industries
**a number of previously classified documents have recently been released showing clear involvement of Nixon, Kissinger and others; Freedom of Information Act and the National Security Archive; Christopher Hitchens (2001) The Trial of Henry Kissinger
Fidel Castro visits Allende in Chile

1973: CIA backed coup install Gen. Augusto Pinochet as president; he brings in "the Chicago Boys" to run the economy
1990: a new president (Aylwin) but Pinochet remains commander-in-chief of military
1994: Eduardo Frei elected president
1998: Pinochet indicted by Spanish court (detained 17 months in Britain)
1999: Ricardo Lagos elected president (socialist)
2000: Pinochet indicted in Chile
2001: Pinochet placed under house arrest; ruled incompetent to stand trial

Argentina

and another map
four times the size of Texas, population 36m, capital Buenos Aires (with a population of 11.8m)
cattle ranchers, pampas, gaucho culture, tango
1946-1955: Juan Perón president
        nationalized key industries
        alliance of army and labor against church and oligarchy
        his wife Evita, who died in 1952
1955: army overthrows Perón
1973: Perón reelected
1974: Perón dies, and his third wife, Maria Estela de Perón becomes the first woman president in Latin America

1976: Mrs. Perón overthrown in military coup
1976-1983: the dirty war
        over 10,000 killed or "disappeared"
        Madres de la Plaza de Mayo
Argentine Forensic Anthropology Team
1982: Falklands/Malvinas War
inflation rates:  1982: 400%
                          1985: 700%
                                  1989: >1000%
1983: civilian elections
1989: Carlos Menem, a playboy Peronist, elected president
redefines Peronism, less populist and more neoliberal
**see the Guillermoprieto readings on Menem**
1991: Argentine peso pegged 1:1 with US dollar
1993: constitution changed to allow Menem to serve another term
1995: Menem reelected
1999 de la Rua elected president

2001, July: Menem charged with a kickback arms sales scheme; put under house arrest
Supreme Court dismisses the charges in November


2001, December: recession leads to riots in the streets; bank accounts restricted; loans in dollars, pay in pesos
    20 December de la Rua resigns
    Adolfo Rodriguez Saa takes over, steps down after 8 days
    3 others in the line of constitutional succession also resign
1 January 2002: Eduardo Duhalde elected to complete de la Rua's term (was th elosing candidate in the 199 election)

defaults on Argentina's debt ($155 billion); devalues peso to 1.4 to the US dollar
11 February???: floating peso: 1.95 to the dollar

F2849 .L38 2001
Inside Argentina from Perón to Menem : 1950-2000 from an American point of view
Levine, Lawrence W.