University of London. Institute for the study of the Americas

The majority of the materials held in the collection here date from the period of military rule over Brazil between 1964 and 1985. Following the overthrow (with the alleged support of the United States) of the Goulart administration a series of generals presided during a period characterised by unprecedented economic growth and social repression. The former phenomenon, driven by huge state-backed industrialising projects such as the construction of the Itaipu hydroelectric dam and later by external borrowing culminating in the 1980s debt crisis, failed to bridge the inequalities of Brazilian society, as testified to here in the materials produced by development groups such as the Federao de Orgaos para Assistncia Social e Educacional (FASE) as well as those of Christian organisations both indigenous and foreign. The latter is evinced here in the items produced by human rights and Latin American solidarity groups, whilst the restictions on organised labour which appeared to tie together authoritarianism and economic progress were increasingly challenged by the late 1970s by strikes particularly in the So Paulo industrial region, strengthening both the union confederations that are represented here and their political offshoot, the Partido dos Trabalhadores (PT). The grievances of rural and urban organisations working for land and labour reform continued to be expressed as Brazil transferred to civilian government after 1985, with the holdings here from this period being dominated by the Central Unica dos Trabalhadores (CUT) rather than the burgeoning number of political parties emerging in the post-military scene.

From the guide to the Brazil: Political Pamphlets, 1968-[ongoing], (Institute for the Study of the Americas)

The majority of the materials in the collection at present date from the 1970s and 1980s, during which time Panama, despite a democratic faade, was effectively ruled by the military. During the 1970s increasing Panamanian discontent with the 1903 Hay-Bunau-Varilla Canal Treaty led eventually to its renegotiation with the United States in 1977, and it is the canal, these treaties and their consequences for the economy, society and independence of Panama which dominate the content of these items. Bodies from which the items originate include the military junta, the US government, NGOs and homegrown oppositional movements. The increasing repressiveness of the Panamanian regime under Noriega coupled with the post-1982 economic problems of the country are also alluded to in the materials held here, with the plight of the indigenous population in particular being highlighted.

From the guide to the Panama: Political Pamphlets, 1972-[ongoing], (Institute for the Study of the Americas)

Throughout the period covered by the materials held here Mexico was governed by the Institutional Revolutionary Party (Partido Revolucionario Institucional, or PRI) although the relatively small number of party political documents in the collection may be seen as testimony to the limited party political challenges to its hegemony. However, increasing concern with the maintenance of internal order in the 1960s was both cause and consequence of the rise in opposition by other organisations to de facto one-party rule, as evinced in these materials by the publications of revolutionary movements, human rights organisations and groups expressing solidarity with the students massacred at Tlatelolco in 1968. Subsequently, the economic crisis which gradually enveloped Mexico in the 1970s and 1980s (as a consequence of high government expenditure and an increasing reliance on falling oil revenues) is reflected in the workers and peasants' movements represented here which prefigure the Zapatista uprising of 1994.

From the guide to the Mexico: Political Pamphlets, 1961-1985, (Institute for the Study of the Americas)

Following the CIA-backed military coup which removed the reformist government of Jacobo Arbenz in 1954 Guatemala endured thirty years of military rule, characterised by a tragic spiral of human rights abuses and the growth of guerilla insurgencies, both reinforcing the other. By 1982 the revolutionary groups had merged into the Guatemalan National Revolutionary Unity (URNG) and it was with this organisation that the civilian government elected in 1984 began negotiations in 1987. Despite various peace agreements and elections violence, abuse and poverty have remained endemic in Guatemala, with army leaders such as General Efrain Rios Montt still not having been brought to face trial. The majority of the materials held here date from the era of military rule and reflect the concerns of NGOs and local groups regarding human rights, poverty, the indigenous peoples, and the need for development. In addition there are materials from guerilla organisations and from Church groups, though the amount of actual party political material is limited.

From the guide to the Guatemala: Political Pamphlets, 1949-[ongoing], (Institute for the Study of the Americas)

The majority of the materials held in this collection at present originate from the 1970s and 1980s, during which time Paraguay was effectively a military dictatorship under the rule of President Alfredo Stroessner. In the 1970s the country enjoyed a period of sustained economic growth, significantly fuelled by its joint participation with Brazil in the Itaip hydroelectric plant, but this growth was to evaporate following the completion of the project in the 1980s, and the Stronato was eventually overthrown in a February 1989 coup. The limits of the aforementioned economic boom can be seen in the fact that the most prominent organisation represented here is the Misin de Amistad, the church group which through its various projects sought to alleviate poverty and faciliate rural development amongst Paraguay's peasantry and indigenous peoples. Furthermore the price paid by the country for its political stability was a record of repression which helped produce the growing international isolation that preceded Stroessner's deposition, and which is reflected here in a number of items issued by human rights organisations based abroad in Argentina and elsewhere.

From the guide to the Paraguay: Political Pamphlets, 1964-[ongoing], (Institute for the Study of the Americas)

The collection currently consists of materials dating from the three decades that followed the 1959 revolution. Many of the items are official publications originating from either the Communist Party of Cuba or from various government ministries, though in practice the distinction between party and state became increasing blurred. There are also a large number of pamphlets featuring speeches by Fidel Castro. Given Cuba's situation during this period as it faced the antagonism of the United States, sought to maintain a degree of independence within the Soviet orbit and championed the non-aligned movement it is unsurpising that many of these speeches are concerned with foreign policy and foreign affairs (including the wars in Vietnam and Angola and the problems of debt that increasingly faced the whole of Latin America in the 1970s and 1980s). Other materials deal with the transistion of Cuba to a state-controlled planned economy and the problems of reconciling this with civil and human rights, though it must be noted that the majority of the items held here (whether produced internally or externally) are broadly in sympathy with the Castro regime.

From the guide to the Cuba: Political Pamphlets, 1960-1986, (Institute for the Study of the Americas)

The materials held here cover a wide variety of popular movements and issues in recent Latin American history from both internal (in the form of publications by local pressure groups, oppositional parties and governments) and external perspectives (through the reports and bulletins of NGOs, international conferences and foreign political parties). Inevitably (given the military governments, revolutionary movements and increasingly dominant neo-liberal economic policies which have marked this era in the continent's history) major topics include human rights, poverty, economic sovereignty and the condition of indigenous peoples, whilst the role of the United States in the hemisphere is also considered. Another aspect unique to Latin America is the large amount of material originating from Christian groups, many seeking to 'exercise an option in favour of the poor' as promulgated by the II Vatican Council (1962-1965).

From the guide to the Latin America: Political Pamphlets, 1970-[ongoing], (Institute for the Study of the Americas)

In the post-war era Argentina was governed mainly by either the military (1943-1946, 1955-1958, 1966-1973 and 1976-1982) or the authoritarian populist Juan Domingo Pern (1946-1955, 1973-1974), himself a prominent army figure in the 1943 coup. Only after the Falklands War did Argentina embark on a more democratic course, and the new presidential democratic federal republic has been since been beset by severe economic problems culminating in the 2001 collapse. This collection contains two pamphlets authored by Pern himself in the 1940s, but the majority of the material covers either the torture and disapperances that occured during the 1970s 'dirty war' between the state and armed organisations of both the left and right or the attempts to account for the these human rights abuses in the 1980s.

From the guide to the Argentina: Political Pamphlets, 1944-[ongoing], (Institute for the Study of the Americas)

The majority of the materials held here date from the years of Duvalier rule over Haiti, with first Franois ('Papa Doc', 1957-1971) and then his son Jean-Claude ('Baby Doc', 1971-1986) controlling the country through a mixture of fraudulent elections, populist gestures and the backing of the military. The elder Duvalier in particular took steps early in his regime to purge the army of officers considered potentially disloyal and to augment it with a loyal rural militia known as the tonton makouts. Under this dictatorship Haitians suffered both human rights abuses and increasing hardship as government corruption ensured that little foreign aid reached the population in general. The issues of aid, health, refugees fleeing the regime and human rights consequently predominate in this collection, which originates in the main from overseas NGOs and Christian charities as well as United States government bodies.

From the guide to the Haiti: Political Pamphlets, 1963-[ongoing], (Institute for the Study of the Americas)

The period of Venezuelan history covered by the majority of the pamphlets currently held in this collection is one dominated politically by the consequences of the 1958 Pact of Punto Fijo. This was an agreement between the main civilian parties of the day, Accion Democrtica (AD), the Partido Social Cristiano de Venezuela (COPEI) and the Unin Republicana Democrtica (URD) on a common programme and an informal sharing power sharing arrangement, which basically saw AD and COPEI alternate in government until 1989. Though this system provided electoral stability, it gradually eroded trust in the democratic process and in the accountability of Venezuela's leaders to the needs of its people, culminating in the 1989 riots precipitated by AD President Carlos Andrs Perz's economic reforms. As well as materials produced by the mainstream parties there are also items originating from left-wing groups and guerrilla organisations ostracised from the political process, trade unions and pressure groups concerned with issues such as the rights of women and indigenous peoples. Venezuela's economy is largely sustained by its state-owned oil industry, and there are several government-produced pamphlets here appertaining to that.

From the guide to the Venezuela: Political Pamphlets, 1967-[ongoing], (Institute for the Study of the Americas)

Most of the materials held here date from the late 1970s and early 1980s, a period in which the tensions that had plagued El Salvador since the 1930s finally erupted into civil war. The war with Honduras in 1969 had exarcebated economic problems and the demand for land reform, whilst the rigging of the 1972 election against the Christian Democratic Party (PDC)'s Jos Napoeon Duarte diminished people's belief in the likelihood of effecting peaceful change. Authoritarian rule and human rights abuses on top of the above led to the formation of a plethora of leftist political and guerrilla groups, which subsequently allied in the alliance between the Frente Democratico Revolucionario (FDR) and the Farabundo Marti National Liberation Front (FMLN). Despite elections and new constitutional guarantees the continued operation of paramilitary death squads with the support of the army meant the FDR-FMLN fought on until the signing of the Chapultepec Peace Accords in 1992. The roles of the United States (which continued to supply aid to the country throughout the 1980s) and the Catholic Church (including that of Archbishop Oscar Romero, murdered in 1980) in the civil war are covered by the materials here, as are the problems of refugees and the terrible human rights abuses and state violence that occurred. The materials originate from NGOs, Church groups, revolutionary organisations, trade unions and political parties, as well as from the United States government.

From the guide to the El Salvador: Political Pamphlets, 1976-[ongoing], (Institute for the Study of the Americas)

Following the assassination of Trujillo in 1961 the Dominican Republic endured a series of shortlived governments punctuated by coups prior to the United States military intervention in 1965. This sought to lessen potential communist influence on the island by denying the Partido Revolucionario Dominicano (PRD) power, and led to the 1966 election victory of Joaqun Balaguer Ricardo. Balaguer ruled until 1978, when American pressure forced him to accept the election victory of the PRD's Antonio Guzmn. Guzmn and his successor Salvador Jorge Blanco checked the role of the military in politics, and attenpted to implement reforms, but the PRD still lost the 1986 elections and Balaguer returned to power. Economically, this period saw the Dominican Republic prosper in the late 1960s and the 1970s with the rise in sugar prices, but when these began to fall, US import quotas were cut and oil prices rose. The result was an economic crisis which saw IMF intervention and food riots by 1985. The materials held here reflect these political and economic developments, with the predominant perspectives being those of Christian organisations working with the peasantry and of the main union federation, the Central General de Trabajadores (CGT).

From the guide to the Dominican Republic: Political Pamphlets, 1965-[ongoing], (Institute for the Study of the Americas)

Costa Rica's political stability during the period covered here stands in marked contrast to the situation in other countries in the region. Since 1949 it has been a presidential democracy in which regime change has come through the ballot box rather than at the end of a gun. The materials here tend not to originate from the major political parties but instead mainly come from organisations concerned with social and economic conditions in Costa Rica, particularly the problems of land reform and the countryside. Internal and external, academic and practical and Christian and secular bodies are all represented.

From the guide to the Costa Rica: Political Pamphlets, 1966-[ongoing], (Institute for the Study of the Americas)

The civil wars, guerilla movements, human rights abuses and economic problems afflicting Central America in the 1970s and 1980s are the chief topics discussed in these documents, primarily authored by non-governmental organisations.

From the guide to the Central America: Political Pamphlets, 1976-1985, (Institute for the Study of the Americas)

Most of the materials held in this collection at present date from period surrounding the 1979 revolution, dealing with the decline and fall of the Somoza dynasty and the progress of the Sandinista government which replaced it. Thus there are reports from NGOs concerned with human rights abuses and economic and social conditions under the old regime alongside publications by and about opposition groups of both gradualist and revolutionary persuasions. Post-revolutionary materials detail the struggle against the US-backed Contra forces, the controversial elections of 1984 and the progress of the Central American Peace Plan. A large proportion of these are authored either by the Frente Sandinista de Liberacin Nacional (FSLN) themselves or by organisations expressing solidarity with them, including some Church groups despite the antipathy of the Catholic heirerchy to the revolution. It must be noted that the overwhelming majority of the items held here are can be judged to be sympathetic towards the Sandinistas, reflecting inevitably the priorities of those who collected and housed the material.

From the guide to the Nicaragua: Political Pamphlets, 1976-[ongoing], (Institute for the Study of the Americas)

The majority of the materials held in this collection date from the country's last period of military dictatorship (1972-1979) and its subsequent return to democracy following the introduction of a new constitution in 1979. The dictatorship had overseen the growth of the country's external debt to record levels, which exacerbated the effects of the economic crisis of the 1980s, when global recession coupled with a fall in petroleum prices forced Ecuador to adopt stringent austerity measures in order to meet debt-rescheduling requirements. It is these economic conditions and the continuing inequality of Equadorian society which dominate the materials held here, which originate mainly from univerisities and institutes, trade unions (notably the Central Ecuatoriana de Organizaciones Clasistas (CEDOC)) and peasant and indigenous organisations rather than from the established political parties. Their concerns range from rural conditions and the need for agricultural reform, across the struggles of the trade union movement, to the situation of the Indian population of Ecuador.

From the guide to the Ecuador: Political Pamphlets, 1972-[ongoing], (Institute for the Study of the Americas)

Puerto Rico has been dominated by the United States since its seizure from Spain in 1898. Its ambiguous status, resolved first by making it an unincorporated territory of the United States in 1917 and then by according it Commonwealth status in 1952, persists to this day. Puerto Ricans are citizens of the United States, serve in its armed forces and yet cannot vote in Presidential elections. Unsurprisingly constitutional issues feature prominently in the materials held here, with both pro-independence groups on the island and in the United States represented as well as the United Nations Commission on De-Colonization. However, there is a lack of material from those parties which have successfully won referenda to maintain the island's current status, as well as from those who campaign for Puerto Rico to become the 51st state, and probably a disproportionate quantity from the anti-American left.

From the guide to the Puerti Rico: Political Pamphlets, 1965-[ongoing], (Institute for the Study of the Americas)

Much of the material in this collection is concerned with the climate of violence in Uruguay in the 1970s. Some documents the activities of the Tupamaros, a left-wing urban guerrilla movement whose role in the increasing unrest in the country provided the pretext for the effective takeover of power by the armed forces in 1973. The widespread human rights abuses that occurred in the period prior to the return to civilian government in 1984 are also covered.

From the guide to the Uraguay, 1970-1980, (Institute for the Study of the Americas)

From 1963 to 1978 Honduras endured a series of military coups and disputed elections as well as the 1969 war with El Salvador and the devastation caused by Hurricane Fifi which killed an estimated 10,000 in 1974. Though the country moved towards an ostensibly civilian form of government from 1978, culminating three years later in an election win for the Partido Liberal de Honduras (PLH), the growing insurgencies in neighbouring El Salvador and Nicaragua during this period led to an upsurge in regional tensions, and a growing influx of refugees. As Honduras became drawn into the US-backed Contras' struggle against the Sandinista government in Nicuaragua the army used the opportunity to crack down on dissent at home, and reports of human rights abuses began to increase. When the Sandinistas lost the 1990 Nicaraguan election the significance of Honduras to the United States largely disappeared, as did the aid that had formerly been liberally provided, leaving the country facing the same economic concerns as in the 1970s. The materials held here date primarily from the this period in the late 70s to the end of the main Central American guerrilla struggle, and deal with both the country's economic situation and with the war and the human rights fallouts thereof. The material comes from trades unions and political groups, though not from the major parties, as well as from external human rights organisations and NGOs.

From the guide to the Honduras: Political Pamphlets, 1964-[ongoing], (Institute for the Study of the Americas)

The coup in Chile in 1973 must rank as amongst the most important and controversial events in the history of Latin America since the Second World War. The holdings here certainly attest to that, more numerous than for any other nation and predominantly concerned with the Allende government and the junta that replaced it. There had been coups in other countries in the region (amongst others Guatemala in 1954, Brazil and Bolivia in 1964, Argentina in 1966), but none that resonated with the outside world in the same way. It was Chile's misfortune to be seen as a paradigm example, a test case for the democratic road to socialism. Following the moderate reformism of Eduardo Frei's Christian Democratic administration (1964-1970) the 1970 election was won by a narrow margin by the Popular Unity coalition led by Socialist Party leader Salvador Allende. Allende sought to move increase state ownership and control in the economy (an early move being the nationalisation of the copper industry), but to do so within the constitutional bounds of Chilean democracy. The result was an increased polarisation of society between the upper and middle classes with most to lose from the expropriation of privately-owned assets and the redistribution of income and the supporters of Allende (primarily the peasants, the working class and the marginal poor). This conflict excerbated Chile's growing economic difficulties (blamed either on the new government's reforms or on the obstruction of those reforms by the opposition and its tacit supporters in the United States), and led to the emergence of more radical left-wing groups such as the MIR (Revolutionary Movement of the Left) and eventually to the September 11th military coup led by General Pinochet. That this succeeded was due in no small part to the divisions on the left, with the Communist Party (and through it the Soviet Union, whose limited funding of the Popular Unity government was provided increasingly reluctantly) continually urging caution in the face of the maximalist demands being put forward by the MIR and the radical wing of Allende's Partido Socialista.

The coup was significant not just for its resounding verdict on the democratic socialist approach but also for the opportunity it provided for the trial of the monetarist policies advocated by economists such as Milton Friedman. Thus the Chile of Pinochet continued to attract and divide international attention and opinion, organisations such as Amnesty and the Betrand Russell Tribunal publicising the regime's human rights abuses whilst conservative leaders in the UK and US in the 1980s supported its sound anti-communist and neo-liberal economic stances. The materials held here are predominantly from groups more concerned with torture and disappearances than with interest rates, and include items produced by expatriate branches of the Popular Unity parties, reports from external Church, UN and labour investigators and a host of materials from organisations representing those who suffered under Pinochet. There is also a sizable collection of contemporary material dating from the time of the Allende government.

From the guide to the Chile: Political Pamphlets, 1965-[ongoing], (Institute for the Study of the Americas)

Colombia has a long tradition of both democracy and political violence, and this remains true for the period covered by the bulk of this collection. Prior to 1974 the country had been ruled for sixteen years by a National Front which allowed for the alternation in power of the two main parties, the Partido Conservador Colombiano (Colombian Conservative Party, PCC) and the Partido Liberal Colombiano (Colombian Liberal Party, PLC). This period also saw the emergence of a variety of leftist guerrilla groups, most prominently the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (Fuerzas Armadas Revolucionarias de Colombia - FARC), the National Liberation Army (Ejrcito de Liberacin Nacional - ELN), the Popular Liberation Army (Ejrcito Popular de Liberacin - EPL) and the 19th of April Movement (Movimiento 19 de Abril - M-19). The transition to open competition between the Liberals and Conservatives in 1974 failed to end the insurgency, which was further complicated by the increasing involvement in the fighting of drugs cartels and right-wing paramilitary organisations, the latter with suspected links to both the cartels and the government. The 1970s and 1980s bore witness to a cycle of repression, violence, human rights abuses and failed peace talks.

Of the parties actually involved in this conflict only the M-19 are represented here, along with other small radical socialist groups. However the causes and the consequences of the civil war, especially Colummbia's gross economic inequalities and the catalogue of disappearances and human rights abuses, dominate the agendas of the NGOs, pressure groups, trade unions, Church bodies and international organisations whose publications are held here. As the country remains volatile and in the front line of the US 'War on Drugs' it is likely that these issues will continue to predominate in any new material that is collected.

From the guide to the Colombia: Political Pamphlets, 1970-[ongoing], (Institute for the Study of the Americas)

In 1968 the government of Fernando Belande Terry and his Accin Popular party was deposed by a leftist military coup following a currency crisis and a continuing guerrilla war in the countryside. For the next twelve years a 'revolutionary' military government ran the country, although this period can be divided into two distinct phases. From 1968 to 1975 the new president, Juan Velasco Alvarado, instituted a programme of land reform, industrialisation and nationalisation which sought to end United States dominance over Peru as well as reduce the country's reliance on exports. However, once Velasco was replaced by Francisco Morales Bermudez Cerruti the 'second phase' of the revolution took the form of a move back towards the free market and the increasing embrace of new neo-liberal economic ideas. Civilian rule returned to the country in 1980, but economic problems continued and the emergence of new armed movements such as Sendero Luminoso and Tupac Amuru led to the escalation of the so-called 'dirty war' and a consequent increase in accusations of human rights infractions.

This collection holds materials published by the military government of the 1970s, many on land reform, as well of others from left-wing groups like the Movimiento de Izquierda Revolucionaria (MIR) and the Vanguardia Revolucionaria. Also represented are peasant organisations and trades union federations, as well as independent studies of the Peruvian economic situation in the 1970s. As the 'dirty war' worsened in the 1980s an increasing number of publications, from both local political parties, church groups (such as the Inter-Church Committee on Human Rights in Latin America) and NGOs like Amnesty, are concerned with human rights in the country, while other items concentrate on the increasing problem of inflation. The majority of materials currently held in the collection date from the period between the 1968 coup and the election of Fujimori in 1992.

From the guide to the Peru: Political Pamphlets, 1964-[ongoing], (Institute for the Study of the Americas)