National Security Doctrine in Latin America: the Genocide Question

DANIEL FEIERSTEIN

The Oxford Handbook of Genocide Studies

Oxford University Press

Lugar: Oxford y Nueva York; Año: 2010; p. 489 - 508

<!-- /* Font Definitions */ @font-face {font-family:"OUP Swift Light"; mso-font-alt:"Times New Roman"; mso-font-charset:0; mso-generic-font-family:auto; mso-font-pitch:variable; mso-font-signature:-2147483609 64 0 0 1 0;} /* Style Definitions */ p.MsoNormal, li.MsoNormal, div.MsoNormal {mso-style-parent:""; margin:0cm; margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:11.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size:12.0pt; font-family:"OUP Swift Light"; mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-ansi-language:EN-GB; mso-fareast-language:EN-US;} @page Section1 {size:612.0pt 792.0pt; margin:70.85pt 3.0cm 70.85pt 3.0cm; mso-header-margin:36.0pt; mso-footer-margin:36.0pt; mso-paper-source:0;} div.Section1 {page:Section1;} --> During the second half of the twentieth century, large sections of the population were exterminated in various parts of Latin America. Most of these events followed a similar pattern and were the result of what became known as the National Security Doctrine. Developed primarily by the United States, this policy widened the sphere of international conflict to Latin America in the belief that the region could play a strategic role in the fight against Communism, an ideological struggle that had no territorial boundaries. <!-- /* Font Definitions */ @font-face {font-family:"OUP Swift Light"; mso-font-alt:"Times New Roman"; mso-font-charset:0; mso-generic-font-family:auto; mso-font-pitch:variable; mso-font-signature:-2147483609 64 0 0 1 0;} /* Style Definitions */ p.MsoNormal, li.MsoNormal, div.MsoNormal {mso-style-parent:""; margin:0cm; margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:11.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size:12.0pt; font-family:"OUP Swift Light"; mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-ansi-language:EN-GB; mso-fareast-language:EN-US;} @page Section1 {size:612.0pt 792.0pt; margin:70.85pt 3.0cm 70.85pt 3.0cm; mso-header-margin:36.0pt; mso-footer-margin:36.0pt; mso-paper-source:0;} div.Section1 {page:Section1;} --> This chapter analyzes the general characteristics of these developments, their similarities and differences, and the possible connections between civil wars in the region and processes of mass extermination, taking into account that there were no real wars in many of the territories in which these practices were applied. It also examines the controversial question of whether some of these events – particularly the cases of Guatemala and Argentina, as they have been analyzed in Courts sentences and academic research - could be understanding through the genocide concept, bearing in mind especially what the concept of genocide can contribute to a better understanding of the differences among these events and the strategic purpose of the political repression in some of the Latin american societies.