State against guerrillas: The cases of MLN-Tupamaros and FARC-EP

Authors

  • José Manuel Azcona Universidad Rey Juan Carlos
  • Jerónimo Ríos Sierra Universidad Complutense de Madrid

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.53351/ruhm.v11i23.865

Keywords:

FARC-EP, Military Forces, Guerrillas, MLN-Tupamaros, Political violence

Abstract

This paper explores the relationship between the State and military organizations, with a special focus on the case of two guerrillas of great relevance in Latin America: the Tupamaros – National Liberation Movement (MLN-T) in Uruguay and the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia – People's Army (FARC-EP). The aim is hence to contrast two completely antonymous realities if one considers the conditions of their emergence, the context of violence, the military response, the longevity and intensity of the intrinsic confrontation and the rate of their decline and subsequent political transformation. This position becomes further reinforced via a thorough bibliographic review and valuable primary information from in-depth interviews with first-hand protagonists and documents from the "David Cámpora" Archive of Armed Struggle located in the Faculty of Humanities and Educational Sciences of the University of the Republic, in Uruguay, and from the Observatory of Human Rights and International Humanitarian Law attached to the Vice-Presidency of the Republic in Colombia. Emphasis is placed on the importance of transcending reductionist perspectives with respect to the phenomenon of Latin American guerrillas emerging in the 1960s. Much to the contrary, it highlights the importance of individual approaches going beyond their shared elements -which are of equal relevance- to delve into the different trajectories and meanings of violence in these complex processes of armed confrontation that began at a critical moment of the Cold War.

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Author Biographies

  • José Manuel Azcona, Universidad Rey Juan Carlos

    JOSÉ MANUEL AZCONA es Catedrático de Historia Contemporánea en la Universidad Rey Juan Carlos de Madrid Es Director de la Cátedra Iberoamericana de ExcelenciaURJC Santander Presdeia (Vicerrectorado de Innovación  de la URJC), adscrira al Programa Santander Universidades del Banco Santander. Ha sido Profesor de Historia Contemporánea en la Universidad de Deusto donde se doctoró en esta Área de Conocimiento con la tesis Los paraísos posibles.Historia de la emigración vasca a Argentina y Uruguay en el siglo XIX.(1990). Ha sido profesor de Geografía en la UNED y de Historia Económica en la Escuela Oficial de la Cámara de Comercio de Bilbao-Centro Adscrito a la Universidad del País Vasco-EHU. Es Master en Cooperación y Seguridad en Iberoamérica por el CESEDEN (2001). Es autor de diversos trabajos científicos  sobre emigración, violencia política y terrorismo  y movimientos político-sociales contemporáneos, en editoriales de prestigio y en revistas académicas con significativo factor de impacto.

  • Jerónimo Ríos Sierra, Universidad Complutense de Madrid

    Jerónimo Ríos Sierra es Doctor en Ciencias Políticas (premio extraordinario de doctorado) de la Universidad Complutense de Madrid –de la mano de Heriberto Cairo y María Lois-. Actualmente es Profesor Ayudante Doctor en la Facultad de Ciencias Políticas y Sociología de la Universidad Complutense de Madrid y antes fue investigador postdoctoral del programa de excelencia “Atracción del Talento Investigador 2018” que cofinancia la Comunidad de Madrid. Sus principales líneas de investigación son la violencia política y las insurgencias en América Latina –con especial atención a los casos de Colombia y Perú- y también investiga la geopolítica crítica y los discursos en torno a la violencia y la seguridad en el continente latinoamericano. Tiene un total de 86 artículos científicos y 48 colaboraciones en libros (52 trabajos indexados en Scopus y 15 en JCR), publicando, entre otras, en revistas como Geopolitics, Peace Review, Journal of Strategic Security, Journal of Policing, Intelligence and Counter Terrorism, Journal of Iberian and Latin American Research, Canadian Journal of Latin American and Caribbean Studies, Historia Crítica, Revista de Estudios Políticos, Ayer. Revista de Historia Contemporanea, Small Wars and Insurgencies, Partecipazione e Conflitto, Rationality and Society o Latin American Perspectives.

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Published

2023-02-08

Issue

Vol. 11 No. 23 (2022): Guerra irregular en la Edad Contemporánea

Section

Dossier

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Copyright (c) 2023 José Manuel Azcona, Jerónimo Ríos Sierra

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How to Cite

State against guerrillas: The cases of MLN-Tupamaros and FARC-EP. (2023). Revista Universitaria De Historia Militar, 11(23), 85-110. https://doi.org/10.53351/ruhm.v11i23.865

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