Friday, April 09, 2010

Mexico's new dirty war

Mexico’s  New Dirty War
Kent Paterson.
Carlos Montemayor broke a political taboo. An astute social analyst and prolific writer, Montemayor's novels about the leftist guerrilla uprisings and state repression of the 1960s and 1970s recovered the memory of the dirty war from the historical dustbin. Although the Mexican government still guards the fates of hundreds of people disappeared by its security forces during the dirty war as state secrets, Montemayor's literary contributions helped puncture an official silence at a time when popular forces were struggling to make Mexico a more democratic and just country.
Montemayor's untimely death on February 28 came during a year when Mexico celebrates the twin anniversaries of the 1810 War of Independence and 1910 Revolution, events that unleashed pent-up historical aspirations for land, freedom, democracy, and equality.
Ironically, the dirty war the Chihuahua-born intellectual so brilliantly recreated is back in force just in time for Mexico's historic year. From Chiapas in the south to Chihuahua in the north, forced disappearances, murders of activists and politicians, attacks against journalists, and other violations of human rights are steadily mounting.
Read the entire report: here. americas.irc-online.org
Read Americas Online.

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