Solidarity under Siege: The Latin American Left, 1968

Consider some of the events in Latin America during the third week of June 1968. In La Paz, Bolivia, students, professors, and workers participated in the “March for University Autonomy” with signs denouncing the “military boot.” In Guayaquil, the port city of Ecuador, students stoned and burned buses in a protest against hikes in fares for public transportation. In Caracas, Venezuela, 25,000 students from the Universidad Central marched in protest against budget cuts. In Santiago, Chile, just weeks after a mass protest movement had been pacified, street violence erupted in the downtown area after eight students were arrested when police broke into the university television station. In Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, 1,500 students compelled the rector and the university council to listen to their views on university reform; for the next three days, thousands of students...