Latin America and The Cold War: The Political Impact

The Cold War took place from 1941, after the end of World War II, until 1991 when the fall of the Berlin Wall. This War was called the Cold war because there was no real combat and it was largely a war over political territory between America and the Soviet Union. This war caused impacts all over the world and saw the beginning of many dictatorial leaderships, including in Latin America.

Latin America had struggled with political powers for many years because of them trying to find their political identity. Eventually, many countries turned to democracy and were doing okay. Other countries, such as Chile and Argentina struggled through internal crises and regimes that committed atrocities that continue to be felt in those countries.

Chile experienced so much grief and death during the period of the cold war at the hands of a regime that used violence for control. They killed thousands and so many went missing in the process, many children. The Chilean government and military tried to cover up these human rights violations for decades, until January 2001 when they finally admitted to unthinkable war crimes and human rights violations. Throughout the cold war, the United States did point the finger at Chile and called out their human rights violations, however the Chilean government adamantly denied any wrongdoing. On September 11, 1973 the military in Chile began a coup. Planes of the air force destroyed government buildings, arrests were made, over 1,500 people died. Dead were floating in the river that ran through Santiago, President Allende committed suicide, instead of being captured and likely executed. A new regime took over and created new laws of repression in an attempt to stop those that were a political threat to them. The years following the new regime saw a high number of disappearances and the hiding of hundreds of bodies of political enemies. It was later revealed that these bodies were either buried or thrown into rivers and the sea. As a result, there were funerals held for many and the grief was felt for many.