Life history and cultures of militancy in Latin America’s Cold War

This review outlines some of the key interventions in the literature on Latin America's Cold War produced since the early 1990s, concentrating largely on broad shifts in anglophone historiography. With questions of periodization and definition in mind, it offers a new, multi-layered model of the Cold War in the region, though with wider application. Using the example of Mexico, it then demonstrates some of the weaknesses of the current literature's assumptions and argues for the potential usefulness of a new way of seeing the period and its interconnected conflicts. Show more

As Cuban–Soviet relations strengthened throughout the 1960s, Havana sent a significant number of becarios (scholarship holders) to the USSR. This was intended to improve Cuba’s technical advancement, but it was also part of a broader attempt to build, through education, what Ernesto ‘Che’ Guevara coined as ‘Cuban New Man’. To ensure the students’ adherence to socialism and avoid dissatisfaction with the revolution, Cuban leaders asked the students to organise themselves in colectivos , which assembled all students enrolled in the same Soviet institution. Although these organisations were constantly monitored by a state officials, many Cubans eagerly assumed a leading position within colectivos, guaranteeing the observance of strict discipline and contributing to strengthening the bond between the students and the revolution, ultimately reinforcing Cuban socialism’s New Man. Show more