Ideas y sociedad en el ascenso de la guerrilla en el cono sur latinoamericano

Abstract

The objective of this thesis is to study, from the perspective of sociology, the cycles of conflict that arose in the 1960s and 1970s in three countries of Latin America’s Southern Cone: Argentina, Chile and Uruguay. These conflicts emerged following patterns that exceeded the limits of political differences of opinion, and thus could not be solved through political confrontation; rather, they attempted to follow the example of the Cuban revolution, which was considered a model for achieving social change in these countries through violence, by imposing guerilla warfare on the day-to-day life. This thesis first analyzes the revolutionary position – which considers revolution as a tool for conflict resolution and for social change – in order to show the possible causes of the rise in the guerilla movements in these areas of the Southern Cone as well as the violent results of the decisions made in this respect. By defining conceptual frameworks (understood as “interpretive schemes that simplify and summarize the external world”) and applying them to the social context, it is possible to evaluate the societal anxieties that were the focus of attention for an important group of citizens, predominantly youth, which aimed to achieve social change. These conceptual frameworks provide clues to the possible origins of the social movements that led to guerrilla movements. The methodology applied in this thesis analyzes secondary sources to identify the “protagonists.” These protagonists articulate the ideals that led them to take action to achieve the social change that, they understood, was demanded by the societies in which they lived. This thesis emphasizes the role of the youth and, for that reason, analyses the 1960s and 1970s by looking at the growth in the proportion of the population that may be considered “youth” as well as the increase in university students: it is these sectors of society that are understood to have given impulse to the social movements that led to the growth in guerrilla movements...