An outline, era by era

Latin American dictatorships and democratic transitions (Chile, Argentina, Brazil)

20th Century · 1914 – 2000

From the 1960s to the 1980s, military governments took power in much of South America, among them Brazil (from 1964), Chile (from 1973) and Argentina (from 1966 and again from 1976). They justified their rule as a defence against communism and disorder during the Cold War. Most suppressed political parties, censored the press and used detention, torture and killing against opponents. Many of these actions were carried out in secret.

These regimes ended in different ways. Argentina's junta collapsed after the 1982 Falklands War, and civilian rule returned in 1983. Brazil's generals oversaw a slow, controlled opening that ended with civilian government in 1985. In Chile, General Augusto Pinochet lost a plebiscite in 1988 and left the presidency in 1990. The transitions were followed by truth commissions, trials and long debates over how to remember and judge the past, which continue today.

Things happened, and the rest is history

  1. Brazil's coup of 1964

    Event

    What happened

    In March 1964 President João Goulart, a left-leaning reformer, faces growing unrest and a revolt among the armed forces. On 31 March and 1 April military units march against him, and he leaves for exile in Uruguay. Congress declares the presidency vacant, and General Humberto Castelo Branco takes office in April.

    The rest is history

    The generals ruled Brazil until 1985. In December 1968 Institutional Act No. 5 closed Congress and widened censorship and repression. The United States government backed the coup plotters, and its role has been studied in declassified records, though historians weigh Brazilian domestic causes heavily. Brazil's regime was a model for others in the region. Its end came by gradual liberalisation.

    Sources

    1. BookSkidmore, Thomas E. The Politics of Military Rule in Brazil, 1964-85. New York: Oxford University Press, 1988.
    2. BookFico, Carlos. O grande irmão: da Operação Brother Sam aos anos de chumbo. Rio de Janeiro: Civilização Brasileira, 2008.

  2. Allende's election and the coup in Chile

    Event

    What happened

    In September 1970 the socialist Salvador Allende wins a plurality in Chile's presidential election, and Congress confirms him. His government nationalises copper and banks and carries out land reform, amid inflation, shortages and sharp political polarisation. On 11 September 1973 the armed forces bomb the presidential palace, and Allende dies during the attack. A junta led by General Augusto Pinochet takes power.

    The rest is history

    The junta dissolved Congress and banned left-wing parties. The regime detained and tortured many thousands and killed or disappeared thousands more. Pinochet became president in 1974 and ruled until 1990. The Rettig Commission in 1991 and the Valech Commission in 2004 documented abuses. The role of the United States in undermining Allende is documented in the 1975 Church Committee report.

    Sources

    1. PrimaryReport of the Chilean National Commission on Truth and Reconciliation (Rettig Report). Santiago, 1991.
    2. PrimaryCovert Action in Chile 1963-1973. Staff Report, U.S. Senate Select Committee on Intelligence Activities (Church Committee). Washington, DC, 1975.
    3. BookValenzuela, Arturo. The Breakdown of Democratic Regimes: Chile. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 1978.

  3. Argentina's coup of 1976 and the Dirty War

    Event

    What happened

    On 24 March 1976 Argentina's armed forces overthrow President Isabel Perón amid political violence and economic crisis. A junta led by General Jorge Videla begins a campaign against guerrillas and suspected opponents. Thousands of people are abducted and held in secret detention centres, and many are never seen again.

    The rest is history

    The disappeared are estimated at several thousand to roughly 30,000, depending on the count, and the figure remains debated. The Mothers of the Plaza de Mayo began marching in 1977 to demand news of their children. The 1984 Nunca Más report of the CONADEP commission documented nearly 9,000 cases. In 1985 the junta leaders were tried in civilian court, and Videla received a life sentence.

    Sources

    1. PrimaryNunca Más: Informe de la Comisión Nacional sobre la Desaparición de Personas (CONADEP). Buenos Aires, 1984.
    2. BookFeitlowitz, Marguerite. A Lexicon of Terror: Argentina and the Legacies of Torture. New York: Oxford University Press, 1998.

  4. Operation Condor

    Event

    What happened

    In November 1975 intelligence chiefs from Chile, Argentina, Uruguay, Paraguay and Bolivia meet in Santiago, and Brazil joins soon after. They agree to share information and to pursue opponents across borders. Exiles are kidnapped or killed in neighbouring countries and beyond, including the 1976 car bombing in Washington that killed the Chilean diplomat Orlando Letelier.

    The rest is history

    The system is known from documents such as the Paraguayan 'Archives of Terror' found in 1992. Courts later convicted officials for Condor crimes, including a 2016 Argentine verdict. The extent of direct United States knowledge and support is still studied, with declassified cables showing awareness of the network.

    Sources

    1. BookMcSherry, J. Patrice. Predatory States: Operation Condor and Covert War in Latin America. Lanham: Rowman & Littlefield, 2005.
    2. BookDinges, John. The Condor Years: How Pinochet and His Allies Brought Terrorism to Three Continents. New York: New Press, 2004.

  5. The Chicago Boys and Chile's market reforms

    Event

    What happened

    After 1973 the Chilean regime hands economic policy to a group of economists, many trained at the University of Chicago, known as the Chicago Boys. They cut tariffs, privatise state firms and, in 1981, privatise the pension system. A deep recession hits in 1982, and the government steps in to rescue banks.

    The rest is history

    Growth recovered in the later 1980s, and Chile later became one of the region's more stable economies. Historians still debate how much of this stemmed from the reforms and how much from later adjustments by democratic governments. Inequality and the legacy of the privatised systems remain contested political issues.

    Sources

    1. BookValdés, Juan Gabriel. Pinochet's Economists: The Chicago School in Chile. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1995.

  6. The Falklands War and the fall of Argentina's junta

    Event

    What happened

    On 2 April 1982 Argentina's junta, led by General Leopoldo Galtieri, invades the Falkland Islands, which Britain governs and Argentina claims. Britain sends a task force, and Argentine forces surrender on 14 June. The defeat discredits the military, which was already facing economic crisis and protests.

    The rest is history

    The junta fell back, and General Reynaldo Bignone arranged elections. Raúl Alfonsín won the presidency in October 1983 and took office in December. His government created the CONADEP commission and the trial of the juntas. Later amnesty measures in the 1980s were annulled in 2005, and trials resumed.

    Sources

    1. BookFreedman, Lawrence. The Official History of the Falklands Campaign. London: Routledge, 2005.
    2. BookNorden, Deborah L. Military Rebellion in Argentina: Between Coups and Consolidation. Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 1996.

  7. Brazil's slow opening and the Diretas Já campaign

    Event

    What happened

    From 1974 President Ernesto Geisel begins a controlled political opening, and an amnesty law follows in 1979. In 1983 and 1984 huge rallies demand direct presidential elections, the Diretas Já campaign. Congress rejects the constitutional amendment in April 1984, so an electoral college chooses the next president.

    The rest is history

    The college chose the opposition candidate Tancredo Neves in January 1985. He fell ill and died before taking office, and José Sarney became president. A new constitution followed in 1988, and direct presidential elections came in 1989. The 1979 amnesty also shielded officers from prosecution, which has long been contested.

    Sources

    1. BookAlves, Maria Helena Moreira. State and Opposition in Military Brazil. Austin: University of Texas Press, 1985.
    2. BookStepan, Alfred. Rethinking Military Politics: Brazil and the Southern Cone. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1988.

  8. Chile's 1988 plebiscite

    Event

    What happened

    The 1980 constitution set a plebiscite on Pinochet's rule for 1988. On 5 October 1988 voters decide between a 'Yes' for another eight years and a 'No'. A broad opposition coalition campaigns for No, and about 56 percent vote No.

    The rest is history

    Pinochet accepted the result, and open elections followed in December 1989. Patricio Aylwin took office in March 1990. Pinochet stayed on as army commander until 1998, and the constitution kept some limits on civilian power. His arrest in London in 1998 renewed legal efforts, and he died in 2006 without a final conviction.

    Sources

    1. BookConstable, Pamela, and Arturo Valenzuela. A Nation of Enemies: Chile Under Pinochet. New York: W. W. Norton, 1991.

  9. The belief that the dictatorships were simply imposed from Washington

    Popular belief

    The legend

    A common belief holds that the Latin American coups of the 1960s and 1970s were planned and run entirely by the United States, which simply installed the generals as its agents.

    The rest is history

    United States governments did support or encourage several coups, and declassified records document covert action against Allende and approval for Brazil's 1964 takeover. But the generals acted on their own fears, rivalries and national doctrines of security. Local business groups, parties and parts of the public also supported intervention at first. Historians therefore see the coups as joint products of domestic crisis and Cold War pressure, not simple imports.

    Sources

    1. BookGrandin, Greg. The Last Colonial Massacre: Latin America in the Cold War. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2004.
    2. BookKornbluh, Peter. The Pinochet File: A Declassified Dossier on Atrocity and Accountability. New York: New Press, 2003.

  10. The Argentine economic miracle claim

    Popular belief

    The legend

    Some people say that military rule brought economic order and prosperity to Chile or Argentina, and that harsh methods were the price of a working economy.

    The rest is history

    Argentina's record under the junta was poor. Foreign debt grew from under 8 billion dollars in 1976 to over 40 billion by 1983, and the economy contracted in the early 1980s. Chile's record was mixed, with a severe crisis in 1982 and unemployment very high for years. Economists still argue over which later gains owed to the regime and which to the democratic governments that followed.

    Sources

    1. BookRock, David. Argentina 1516-1987: From Spanish Colonization to Alfonsín. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1987.
    2. BookCollier, Simon, and William F. Sater. A History of Chile, 1808-2002. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2004.

  11. Pinochet and the 'helicopter' story

    Popular belief

    The legend

    It is often said that the regime's victims were all dropped into the sea from helicopters or that every opponent was killed. People repeat this as the standard fate of the disappeared.

    The rest is history

    Some bodies were indeed dumped at sea. In Argentina, so-called death flights are confirmed by testimony and trials, and in Chile bodies were thrown into the sea from helicopters, as found in 2000s investigations. But many victims were buried secretly, burned or left in mass graves, and many opponents were jailed or exiled rather than killed. Forensic work since the 1980s, including by the Argentine Forensic Anthropology Team, has identified remains.

    Sources

    1. BookVerbitsky, Horacio. The Flight: Confessions of an Argentine Dirty Warrior. New York: New Press, 1996.
    2. PrimaryReport of the Chilean National Commission on Political Imprisonment and Torture (Valech Report). Santiago, 2004.

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