CHAPTER 13

1. CHAPTER 13 Latin America and South America

2. LEARNING OBJECTIVES • Discuss how death squads have been allowed to operate with impunity in central America • Describe the rise of the peasant revolt and its causes in Mexico • Discuss why the tri-border area is strategically important for terrorist organizations • Examine the history and development of FARC in Colombia

3. Anti-Terrorism Assistance Program (ATA) Cali cartel Chiapas Contra GAULA Morazanist Patriotic Front (FPM) Monsignor Juan Gerardi Condera Montoneros (Movimiento Peronista Montonero) Movimiento Revolucionario Tupac Amaru (MRTA) North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) Popular Revolutionary Army (EPR) Rebel Armed Forces (FAR) Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) Sandinistas The Shining Path United Self-Defense Forces of Colombia (AUC) Zapatista National Liberation Army (ELZN Terms to Remember

4. MEXICO

5. LATIN AMERICAN TERRORISM EXTREME RIGHT WING AUTHORITARIAN GOVERNMENTS STATE TERROR DEATH SQUADS HALLMARK OF VIOLENCE

6. Mexico • Political liberalism gave way to dictatorship from 1876 to 1880 and again from 1884 to 1911 and the Mexican Revolution. • The revolution provided a stable political system in Mexico unmatched anywhere else in Latin America. • The Diaz regime in the 30 years preceding the Mexican Revolution showed him to be a master in political intrigue. • Created a powerful military and police base to solidify his power and relied heavily on the force of guardias rurales or rural police. • Diaz had the Mexican Constitution amended over and over again to permit his re-election to the office of President. • Land grabs as part of the program of developing road and rail infrastructure resulted in the rise of Emiliano Zapata as a leader of the landowners who had had their land ‘stolen’ by the dictatorship of Diaz.

7. Continued… • Zapata supporters became known as Zapatistas. The revolution to them was their opportunity for the return of their lands. • After WW II, Mexico looked to industrialization as the path away from poverty. • Miguel Aleman, the first civilian President since the Revolution, renamed the official party calling it the Partido Revolutionario Institutional (PRI). PRI moved to the left and the party was made up of three sectors; peasant, worker, and popular. PRI were the dominant political movement. • Right wing groups began to emerge–Partido Autonomista (PAN)–in order to maintain control PRI has annulled election wins by PAN. • The late 1960s saw student protests in Mexico City. Confrontation between students and the overwhelming force of the military continued through 1968. • Police shootings of unarmed students only fuelled opposition to PRI. • Guerrilla attacks began against the government in 1977.

8. Continued… • A Special Prosecutor in 2005 announced charges of genocide against two dozen former officials of PRI for their actions in the student massacres of the late 1960s, just days before the opening of the Summer Olympic Games. • PAN’s Vicente Fox assumed the Presidency in 2000. • This ended 71 years of one party rule in Mexico.

9. Zapatista National Liberation Army (ELZN) • Mexico remains a country of privileged and under privileged. • Land reforms have not taken place and an equitable distribution of the country’s economic wealth has not been widely dispersed. • ELZN takes the name from the legendary Zapata and in the Chiapas region have mounted numerous insurgent attacks against the regional government. • 1994 - ELZN attacked the Mexican government over its lack of land reforms. • While in Canada and the United States they debated the Free Trade issues in Mexico and Chiapas they went to war!

10. Continued… • In 1995 the Mexican Army (30,000) was sent to Chiapas to suppress the popular uprising. The ELZN dispersed into the hills. • The region of the Chiapas is in the hands of the ELZN and the surrounding areas plus access to Chiapas is controlled by the Mexican Army. • ELZN uses electronic methods (Internet) to communicate its strategy and grievances to a global audience. • Chiapas remains quiet but the ELZN have not stopped their demands for land reform.

11. Continued… • 1995 - Mexican Army (30,000) was to Chiapas to suppress the popular uprising. The ELZN dispersed into the hills. • The region of the Chiapas is in the hands of the ELZN and the surrounding areas while access to Chiapas is controlled by the Mexican Army. • ELZN uses electronic methods (Internet) to communicate its strategy and grievances to a global audience. • Chiapas remains quiet but the ELZN have not stopped their demands for land reform.

12. Right Wing Violence • Death Squads have been a part of the political scene in Central and Latin America. • “Peace and Justice Group”– targets ELZN and its supporters and pledges support to the Institutional Revolutionary Party • Vicious attacks seem to have the support of the Mexican military. • Peace and Justice - engaged in state sponsored terror in Chiapas. • Instilling significant fear into the Mayan Indian populous • Peace and Justice will accomplish what the Mexican military has been unable to do – control Chiapas

13. Popular Revolutionary Army (EPR) • Rank second in strength to the Zapatistas • Bases of operations in Oaxaca and Guerrero • Claims to have over 20,000 guerrillas • Gets support from the Marxist Shining Path in Peru • Possible infusion of outside support with provision of modern weapons • EPR attacks have focused on police and military

14. GUATEMALA

15. Guatemala • The effects of Communism played a significant role in human rights abuses over the last 45 years. • 1954 - United States assisted in the overthrow of Guatemala’s communist government • Followed by a series of extreme right wing governments • No real democratic gains for the people but a witch hunt for all communist supporters and infiltrators.

16. The Bishop of Guatemala––Monsignor Juan Gerardi Condera • 1996 - Bishop produced a report on Human Rights abuses by Guatemalan Army during the long war • Two days later Condera killed by Guatemalan death squad • Guatemalan army were protected by a system of ‘impunity’

17. Civil War • 1962 - Rebel Armed Forces (FAR), stared guerilla operations against Guatemalan military. • FAR expanded among the indigenous groups and to include the Guerilla Army of the Poor (EGP) and in 1972 and the Organization of People in Arms (OPRA) • The three guerrilla movements, all with the same causes and complaints, the Guatemalan National Unity Group (URNG) was formed. • Guatemalan military conducted operations in which they destroyed villages and killed entire populations • 1996 – Peace Accord – attempts to bring justice for atrocities committed – very limited success

18. HONDURAS

19. Honduras • Honduras has been supported by the U.S. military. • Honduras was drawn into the 1980 fighting against invading Sandinistas and in tracking rebel Contra bases. • This was a U.S.-sponsored war against Nicaragua. • With U.S. troops present it bolstered the importance and esteem of the Honduran military.

20. Morazanist Patriotic Front (FPM • Extreme left wing terror group • Anti U.S. • Opposed to external support to the Honduran government by the U.S. • Late 1980’s carried out a bombing attack against U.S. military target

21. EL SALVADOR

22. El Salvador • Land claims similar to those in Chiapas have been the cause of terrorist violence in this country and repressive regime response. • Augustin Farabundo Marti’s, Central American Communist Party leader, goal was land wealth redistribution not the overthrow of the government. • Marti was arrested and subsequently executed by a firing squad.

23. Continued… • Military were used to suppress popular “peasant uprising.” • 1981 more than 12,000 murders were reported. • Extreme right wing governments of the 1960s and 1970s used terror as a means of controlling the population. • ORDEN–1968–Commander of the National Guard creates this group for intelligence gathering purpose. • ORDEN kidnapped and murdered many peasants. • Labor leaders and people who spoke out against the government became targets for the government sanctioned death squads.

24. NICARAGUA

25. Nicaragua • Nicaraguan government - links to CIA, corruption, weapons for drugs • Nicaraguan National Guard was modeled after and trained by the United States following WWII • 1979 - U.S. involved in defending the country from Communist influences • U.S. supported the Anastasio government waging a campaign against the Communist inspired Sandinista National Liberation Front. • Sandinista seized power from Anastasio in 1979

26. Continued… • U.S. very concerned – Sandinista being supported by Communist bloc. • U.S. began to support the rebels (Contras) fighting against the Sandinistas • 1995 Kerry Report – highlights CIA involvement • Drugs for weapons; sanctioned by Congress • Payment to drug traffickers with U.S. State Department funds authorized by Congress for humanitarian aid to Nicaragua

27. PANAMA

28. Panama • Panama controlled by the U.S. until the late 1970s. • 1983 - General Manuel Noriega took control of the country • Corrupt government–drugs trafficking to the U.S. • Noriega controlled Panama with the use of death squads • 1988–Florida Court indicts Noriega on charges of racketeering and drug running • 1989 - Noriega overturned the results of the democratic election • 1989 - President George. H. Bush orders U.S. troops into Panama to restore the duly elected government and seize Noriega. • Noriega handed over to U.S Marshals after his capture • Was the reason for invasion the establishment of democracy or to stem the tide of drugs into the U.S.?

29. Central American Gangs DRUG TRAFFICKERS AND GANGS Anti–social combination Destabilizing civil society in Central America

30. COLOMBIA

31. COLOMBIA Paramilitary groups and Guerrilla forces Political and extra judicial actions by Government security forces Force hundreds of thousands of Colombians to flee the country Thousands are killed annually

32. Colombia • Colombia is well known for: • drug production and export • kidnapping and extortion • one of the most dangerous countries in the world • terrorist groups support for drugs to fund attacks against successive Colombian government

33. AUGUST – 2000 U.S. SANCTIONED PLAN COLOMBIA $1.3 Billion to fight Drug trafficking Uribe beefs up military spending and with help from U.S. Special Forces launches an campaign against drug traffickers President Uribe declares State of emergency in 2002 Aimed at preventing guerrilla groups benefiting from drug sales Plan used to undercut Drug production

34. Continued… • May 2004 - the United Nations announced that the thirty-nine year war in Colombia had created the worst humanitarian crisis in the western hemisphere. • Two million forced from their homes. • Several Indian tribes now close to extinction.

35. Since the early 1960s Colombia has been assaulted by three Marxist, Narco-terrorist groups Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia FARC The National Liberation Army - ELN United Self-Defense Forces of Colombia AUC Capable of providing 25,000 Well trained fighters

36. Revolutionary Armed Forces • Best equipped and trained of the three terror groups operating in Colombia • Extreme left wing, communist inspired movement • Aims – overthrow the government of Colombia • Formed in 1966 out of the Colombian Communist Party • Targets Colombian government officials and military targets, the judiciary and civil servants

37. FARC’S INCOME DRUGS CULTIVATION AND TRAFICKING ROBBERIES EXTORTION & KIDNAPPING Waging a Cuban style revolution and rabidly anti-U.S.

38. Continued… • FARC has its camps a long way from the major cities. • Not considered a peasant army, although in light of zero employment, working within the FARC movement is seen by many in the countryside as a viable means of employment. • FARC has received support from foreign fighters and training from the Provisional IRA in bomb-making techniques. • 65 of the FARC’s 110 operational units are involved in some aspect of the drug trade

39. FARC & ELN • FARC and ELN have at times managed to agree to share the spoils of kidnapping and extortion ventures but falling out over the distribution of the spoils has made ELN an enemy of FARC. • Crackdown by President Uribe - FARC is on the run and Uribe pledged to destroy the group during his term as President.

40. National Liberation Army • Marxist inspired and smaller than FARC • Came to notice in 1963 and has about 3,000 fighters • Operates in the North along the border with Venezuela • Uses same tactics as FARC, kidnapping, robbery, and extortion • In 2001 targeted Colombian oil facilities resulting in $200 million in lost revenues

41. Right Wing Death Squads • Formed to protect the status quo in the drugs distribution • Used as a means of terrorizing the populace into compliance • Right-wing death squads formed over thirty years ago by wealthy landowners, farmers, and drugs cartels who formed their own private armies for protection. • These have grown into a loose coalition called the United Self-Defense Forces of Colombia (AUC).

42. Continued… • FARC and AUC have been responsible for over 3,000 kidnappings and the murder of more than 3,000 Colombians. • AUC gains most of its support through the drugs trade. • AUC - linked to senior members of the Colombian military. • Methods of intimidation have forced more than 340,000 people from their homes.

43. INTERNATIONAL TERRORISM JAMAA ISLAMIYYAH PROVISIONAL IRA FARC?? PIRA members arrested after Training mission in Colombia Mohammed Abed Abel Arrested in Bogotá In November 1988

44. U.S Assistance • US military aid and support • Intelligence and training to Colombian military units • Successful operations against FARC by Colombian troops • March 2008 - Raul Reyes, FARC spokesman and central figure – killed by military in March 2008 • May 2008 – FARC’s iconic leader dies of heart attack

45. PERU

46. Peru • Sendora Luminoso (Shining Path) • Originates in Aucayacu region and led by Abimael Guzman who received his indoctrination in China in 1965 • Leader of the Maoist faction of the Peruvian Communist Party

47. Continued… • Guzman recruited students to his Maoist cause • Sent his converts out to agitate the Indian villagers • Shining Path then began to brutally attack and kill any village leaders that resisted his group’s authority • Peruvian Police and Military response did little to disrupt the cause • Police and soldiers began to kill and attack indiscriminately, which actually helped Shining Path’s cause

48. Continued… • Guzman went from the savior of the peasants to their executioner. • Marxist style was similar to that of the Khmer Rouge. • Set about destruction of the country by intimidating villagers to join Guzman or die. • Feared for their savagery and became a cult of mass murderers.

49. Abimael Guzman • Since his arrest and imprisonment in 1992 the fortunes of Shining Path have waned. • The group has been decimated over the last 15 years. • In 2001 it was again carrying out attacks but mainly in the remote mountainous regions. The Shining Path has not been exterminated!

50. KILLED 25,000 PERUVIANS Used small children to deliver suicide bombs SHINING PATH FROM 1976 to 1990 $20 billion in damage to infrastructure Used female terrorists for suicide attacks