The reading this week focused on a particularly bloody and divided time in Latin American history, between the 1960s and 1980s, where guerrilla warfare reined. Newly formed socialist groups fought against their states, with civilians, and rural peoples in particular, becoming the main targets of the violence. Both the governments and the revolutionaries were responsible for a huge amount of deaths, as well as just overall chaos.

It was sad to learn about the large role that Cold War politics had to play in this era, with both the United States and the Soviet Union funding and aiding their respective sides. The socialist guerrilla armies could count on the support of Moscow, while their enemies, governments who most of which had turned authoritarian, could rely on the helping hand of Washington. There were a lot of factors surrounding the breakout of this horrific time in Latin America, as is summed up well in the textbook: “The unrest they faced could be attributed to both local and global patterns – dimming economic prospects combined with youth culture, idealism unleashed by the Cuban revolution, and cold war politics.” It truly was a dangerous mix.

I found this week’s reading to be particularly sad and troubling, for a couple of reasons. First off, just the amount of death and suffering that was experienced by Latin Americans, and particularly civilians who wanted nothing to do with any of it and were simply left wondering when the nightmare would be over. Next, these events happened so recently, only 30 or so years ago, and so close to home, with our neighbors in Latin America. As we are seeing today with groups like ISIS, and the terrible violence that is occurring in places like Syria, people are far from evolving past the point of events like these, and we can only hope that one day the world will be a place where everyone can at least live in safety.