Laureano Gomez was president of Colombia in the early 1950s until overthrown by a military coup. He was also, for some fifty years, the leading exponent of Latin American conservatism, a political philosophy with roots in both nineteenth century politics and religion. Focusing on Gomez, and other prominent conservative politicians, Henderson traces the evolution of Latin American conservatism and demonstrates the scope of its influence throughout the continent.
While much has been written about particular Marxist movements and right wing regimes in contemporary Latin America, little...

This volume records the perspectives of a highly diverse group of prominent individuals who met late in 1988 in an important international symposium concerned with the continuing conflicts in Central America. Included are presentations by leading conservative and liberal scholar-authors; high ranking diplomats from the governments of Mexico, the United States, and Nicaragua; directors of conservative and liberal think tanks; a spokesperson for a state governor opposed to Ronald Reagan s policy of sending National Guard troops to train in Central America; a centrally involved media...

Carlos Guevara Mann argues that Panamanian militarism, a consequence of the breakdown of legitimacy that occurred in the early nineteenth century, is more a manifestation of a deeply-rooted political tradition than an isolated phenomenon of the late twentieth century. He examines the variable US policy approach to domestic stability with the overall context of US hegemony in the isthmus and its shaping of Panamanian militarism.
Focusing on the causes that generated nineteenth-century predatory militarism, including political illegitimacy and US support, Guevara Mann analyzes the so-called...

The conquest, colonization, independence, the liberal reforms, the regimes, revolution, and dictatorships, the insurrections and ongoing peace dialogues all are combined in a narrative projecting the most important forces in Guatemalan history from the Mayan period to our own times.
Using excerpts from poems, novels, stories, essays, and interviews by writers ranging from Cardoza y Aragon and Nobel Prize winner Miguel Angel Asturias to the indigenous and testimonial voices of Rigoberta Menchu and Mario Payeras, this full sampling of a country s literature is, in truth, a documentary of...

Jose Maria Arguedas (1911-1969) is one of the most important authors to speak to issues of the survival of native cultures. "Jose Maria Arguedas: Reconsiderations for Latin American Cultural Studies" presents his views from multiple perspectives for English-speaking audiences for the first time.
The life and works of Jose Maria Arguedas reflect in a seminal way the drama of acculturation and transculturation suffered not only by what we think of as the indigenous and mestizo cultures of Peru, but by other Latin American societies as well. Intricately reflecting his pluricultural and...

For forty years the Cuban Revolution has been at the forefront of American public opinion, yet few are knowledgeable about the history of its enemies and the responsibility of the U.S. government in organizing and sustaining the Cuban counterrevolution. Available in English for the first time, this outstanding study by Cuban historian and former diplomat Jesus Arboleya traces the evolution of the counterrevolutionary movement from its beginnings before 1959, to its transformation into the Cuban-American groups that today dominate U.S. policy toward Cuba. Arboleya also analyzes the role played...