En el rubro del «realismo mágico» tan preciado de los escritores latinoamericanos, el presidente Hugo Chávez ya les había proporcionado a sus estudiosos material suficiente como para ilustrar ampliamente la idiosincrasia local y abordar en toda su diversidad el culto bolivariano que el carismático «Comandante Supremo», «Comandante galáctico» y «mago de las emociones» reinventó a su antojo hasta su desaparición en 2013. Con esta obra «espectral» de Irina Troconis, se da un nuevo paso hacia la consideración de elementos aparentemente alejados del racionalismo que se espera de las ciencias sociales y humanas. Sin embargo, algunos antropólogos, como Michaelle Ascencio, ya habían esbozado este tipo de análisis, al destacar la permanencia de los «imaginarios religiosos» en la Revolución. En este aspecto, el libro entabla el diálogo más bien con autores tales como Rafael Sánchez (Dancing Jacobins, 2016) y Michael Taussig (The Magic of the State, 1997). El estudio de Irina Troconis llega hasta nuestros días, en una coyuntura en que no sólo se ha desvanecido el poder de convicción de la Revolución Bolivariana con la desaparición de su líder carismático, sino que ha desembocado en una dictadura condenada por las izquierdas democráticas del continente. También aparece en un momento en que las ciencias sociales y las disciplinas artísticas tienden a unirse para descifrar, representar y reinterpretar el funcionamiento de un Estado que antes se calificaba de «mágico» (Fernando Coronil). (…)
National Security Archive – Covert Action in Chile: The Significance of the Church Committee Report 50 Years Later
El funesto destino de las estatuas. Cuando el Comandante perdió la cabeza
NSA: Truth Commission Documents 25 Years of State Violence During Mexican Dirty WarNSA:
By Kate Doyle and Claire Dorfman
Mexico City, Mexico, August 19, 2024 – From 1965 to 1990, the Mexican State was responsible for “systematic and widespread” human rights abuses “against broad sectors of the population,” according to the recently published report of a truth commission on Mexico’s dirty war.
On Friday, August 16, after nearly three years of investigation, the Commission for Access to Truth, Historical Clarification and the Promotion of Justice for Grave Human Rights Violations committed between 1965 and 1990 (COVEHJ in Spanish) presented Fue el Estado (1965-1990), the first of two planned reports on the 25-year dirty war period. Commissioners Abel Barrera Hernández, David Fernández Dávalos, and Carlos A. Pérez Ricart revealed their findings at the Centro Cultural Universitario Tlatelolco in Mexico City.
The commissioners accused the Mexican State of unleashing a violent counterinsurgency campaign against perceived opponents—not only armed guerrillas, but a range of dissident groups the government believed threatened the political, economic, and moral stability of Mexico’s ruling party. During their presentation, the commissioners were accompanied on stage by human rights defenders and activists, who read excerpts from some of the 1,079 testimonies given by survivors during the commission’s investigations (…)
Para seguir leyendo: https://nsarchive.gwu.edu/news/mexico/2024-08-19/truth-commission-documents-25-years-state-violence-during-mexican-dirty-war?eType=EmailBlastContent&eId=b8ec8cc1-bdba-4e64-874f-548c7d50ce9c
Mexico Project: https://nsarchive.gwu.edu/project/mexico-project
Lectura a la vista: Frédérique Langue, María Laura Reali, Las ideologías de la nación
Frédérique Langue y María Laura Reali (coordinadoras), Las ideologías de la nación. Memorias, conflictos y resiliencias en las Américas, Prohistoria Ediciones, Rosario, 2023, 276 pp. – Historia y Antropología de América Latina, 22
Los tiempos de crisis ponen en evidencia fenómenos intelectuales y políticos considerados como “atípicos” en Europa, inscritos sin embargo en una temporalidad de largo alcance en América Latina. Una de sus manifestaciones aparece en el caso de las convergencias ocasionales o duraderas entre los extremos de un tablero político generalmente pensado en términos de derecha(s) e izquierda(s).
El escenario político latinoamericano presenta un movimiento permanente de interacciones, tensiones y combinaciones entre diversas tradiciones (democrática-autoritaria, internacionalista/nacionalista conservadora-liberal, modernizadora-tradicionalista, centralista-federalista, etc.) que no siempre resultan pertinentes para enfocar las circulaciones de ideas y de actores que se desprenden de dichas convergencias.
Este libro analiza las relaciones entre la idea de nación –como proyecto– con los nacionalismos como “ideologías” de amplia circulación en su carácter de rasgo específico de la región.
Hacia el sitio del editor: https://prohistoria.com.ar/#!/producto/2762/
Reseña: Frédérique Langue, « Fausta Gantús, Gabriela Rodríguez Rial, Alicia Salmerón(coord.), El miedo: la más política de las pasiones Argentina y México siglos xviii-xx », Caravelle, 119 | -1, 204-208.
Pour qui s’intéresse à l’histoire des sensibilités et des émotions en des contextes et temporalités diverses, la peur est, sans nul doute, celle qui a le plus retenu l’attention. Depuis la « mentalité obsidionale » abordée par Jean Delumeau dans son ouvrage pionnier La peur en Occident (1978), avec, en arrière-plan la vision de Hobbes, nombreuses ont été les déclinaisons par les sciences sociales d’une émotion à la fois réactive et facteur d’action dont les expressions sémantiques dans le monde hispanique sont par ailleurs quelque peu distinctes (miedo, temor, terror, etc.). Cette approche d’un phénomène à la fois politique et social, puisque telle est l’orientation de l’ouvrage, comprend dès lors une spécificité : il s’agit de s’interroger sur l’instrumentalisation de cette émotion dans une finalité très précise, celle de gouverner, depuis les sommets de l’État, du gouvernement lui-même et depuis ses élites, de mettre en œuvre une forme d’ordre et de contrôle social ou, à l’inverse, de s’y opposer et de résister.
Les six chapitres – et études de cas – issus d’un projet mexicano-argentin et d’un séminaire de recherche occupent une séquence temporelle située entre le xviiie siècle et la moitié du xxe siècle. Ils visent à identifier ces peurs, dans leur dimension plurielle (individuelle/collective, verticale/horizontale, résultant d’une hiérarchie/autorité ou d’une conjoncture spécifique et d’intensité variable), leur rôle voire leur instrumentalisation dans l’histoire du Mexique et de l’Argentine de par la violence, l’insécurité ou la coercition, les situations de conflit, les situations de rébellion ou d’anarchie. Outre un historique des travaux connus sur la question, l’introduction propose un bilan historiographique qui met en évidence les apports d’historiens tels que Sandra Gayol ou Ariel Rodríguez Kuri, ou encore Patrick Boucheron pour l’Europe moderne. L’ouvrage tente en effet d’appréhender la dimension affective des phénomènes politiques, culturels et sociaux dans leur pluralité et dans leur variabilité au fil du temps. Leurs usages politiques, particulièrement présents en ce qui concerne la peur à l’époque moderne – explicités à travers la relecture de classiques tels que Hobbes ou Machiavel –, se retrouvent ainsi en filigrane, d’où la référence renouvelée aux pouvoirs dévolus à l’État moderne et aux pratiques faisant de la peur un instrument majeur de ce contrôle institutionnel. De même cet ouvrage se propose-t-il d’ouvrir la voie à des méthodologies nouvelles en abordant leur prise en compte dans la culture politique et le sens assigné sur un mode collectif à certains événements. Un recours à des catégories nouvelles d’analyse est proposé, à l’aune de cultures, comportements et valeurs politiques marqués par un enjeu de pouvoir. (…)
Para seguir leyendo: https://journals.openedition.org/caravelle/13459
Una novedad NSA: Guacamaya Leaks and the Ayotzinapa Case
Military Surveilled Ayotzinapa School for Years Before Disappearance of 43 Students. Intelligence Reports Reveal Constant Exchange of Messages During Night of Attacks in Iguala. Mexican Military Continues to Deny Investigators Complete Access to Archives
Briefing Book #823 - Edited by Kate Doyle and Claire Dorfman - Additional research by Carlos Osorio
Washington, D.C., March 10, 2023 – Years before 43 young men from the Ayotzinapa teachers’ college were attacked and forcibly disappeared in Iguala, Guerrero, the Mexican military had the school under surveillance and considered its students to be subversives, according to internal communications and documents from the Mexican armed forces published today by the National Security Archive.
The military records also reveal that Mexico’s National Defense Ministry worked to shield the institution from civilian scrutiny during the investigation into the disappearance of the 43 students; that military intelligence routinely lumped together dangerous drug traffickers and parents of the missing students in the same reports on “conflict” in Mexico; and that Mexico’s Defense Secretary oversaw a propaganda campaign to discredit the parents, their lawyers, and a group of experts assigned to assist in the case by a United Nations commission.
The 20 documents posted by the Archive today are among an estimated four million emails and records that were stolen from the Mexican Defense Ministry (Secretaría de la Defensa Nacional—Sedena) by an anonymous collective of hackers known as “Guacamaya.” Following Guacamaya’s leak of the massive data set in late September 2022, journalists in Mexico and elsewhere have used the six terabytes of information to publish a steady stream of breaking-news stories about diverse topics, including:
- The Mexican military’s current use of the Israeli surveillance platform “Pegasus” to spy on human rights activists by infecting their mobile phones, despite President Andrés Manuel López Obrador’s repeated public assertions that his government does not spy on journalists or political opponents;
- The surveillance of feminist groups by the Mexican military from 2017 to the present;
- Joint intelligence operations by U.S. counternarcotics agents and Mexican military personnel to target criminal organizations trafficking fentanyl;
- The Defense Ministry’s plan to create an enormous new tourism business– administered by the Mexican military – that would include parks, museums, hotels, and a new national airline.
As part of the National Security Archive’s long-term investigative project on the Ayotzinapa case (and the podcast we co-produced with Reveal from the Center for Investigative Reporting), the Archive has spent months examining the data set for references to the Ayotzinapa School, the night of the attacks in Iguala, the disappearance of the students, and the investigations that followed. Today’s posting is an initial selection of documents from this data set intended to give our readers a sense of what we are learning about the Mexican military’s internal communications related to Ayotzinapa. (…)
Para seguir leyendo: https://nsarchive.gwu.edu/briefing-book/mexico-ayotzinapa/2023-03-10/guacamaya-leaks-and-ayotzinapa-case
Bibliotecas Americanistas de Sevilla: un viaje de más de 500 años a través de sus servicios y fuentes de información
Por Nova Ciencia, dic. 25, 2022 – Artículo de Marina Gómez García, Responsable Técnica. Biblioteca Americanista de Sevilla (REBIS-CSIC), y de Mª Carmen Lozano Polo, Responsable de Biblioteca del Archivo General de Indias de Sevilla
Defender que la ciudad de Sevilla tiene un sitio único en la historia del llamado Nuevo Mundo es una obviedad. Sevilla se convirtió en el centro del comercio, de las relaciones políticas y de intereses desde el siglo XV al siglo XVII. El paso del tiempo se convierte en memoria reflejada no sólo en el paisaje urbano y monumental de la ciudad, también es memoria escrita perpetuada a través de la palabra conservada tanto en el patrimonio bibliográfico y documental localizado en bibliotecas y archivos, como en las diversas publicaciones más actuales de temática americanista.
Sin embargo, el reconocimiento de la importancia de Sevilla no ha ido aparejado al conocimiento sobre las distintas instituciones culturales que custodian fondos bibliográficos sobre América, su descubrimiento o su estudio posterior. ¿Falta de visibilidad o desconocimiento de sus posibilidades y oportunidades para la comunidad investigadores?
Bibliotecas americanistas en Sevilla
En Sevilla no hay ni una ni dos bibliotecas americanistas, hay un número importante de ellas y la unión de todas hace que las posibilidades de investigación, de profundizar y de optimizar el tiempo (algo realmente preciado hoy en día), sea exponencialmente muy superior. Hablamos de la importancia de la sinergia y la cooperación entre las distintas bibliotecas americanistas de Sevilla. En la mítica frase de “Sevilla puerta y puerto de Indias”, pervive ese espléndido pasado trasladado a las fuentes documentales y bibliográficas conservadas en instituciones claves para poder acercarse a América y estudiarla desde todas las perspectivas posibles (…)
- Biblioteca del Archivo General de Indias
- Biblioteca Americanista de Sevilla (BAS-REBIS-CSIC)
- Biblioteca americanista de la Universidad de Sevilla
- Biblioteca Capitular y Colombina de Sevilla
- Biblioteca del Instituto Hispano Cubano de Historia de América
Para seguir leyendo: https://novaciencia.es/bibliotecas-americanistas-de-sevilla-un-viaje-de-mas-de-500-anos-a-traves-de-sus-servicios-y-fuentes-de-informacion/
NSA: The Cuban Missile Crisis @ 60
British Ambassador First Outsider to Learn of Kennedy Decision for Blockade - British Told of U.S. Preemptive Nuclear Strike Plan if Soviets Moved Against West Berlin - Belgian Foreign Minister “Preferred U.S. to Inform NATO Allies 24 Hours in Advance”
Washington, D.C., October 21, 2022 – President John F. Kennedy made unilateral decisions to blockade Cuba and approve other military moves, but winning the support of European allies remained central to U.S. policy during the Cuban Missile Crisis, according to declassified records of briefings prepared for NATO members shortly before Kennedy announced the U.S. discovery of the Soviet missiles.
The first to learn of U.S. plans was British Ambassador David Ormsby-Gore, a close friend of the President’s. According to a declassified telegram found in the British archives, during lunch on October 21, Kennedy told Ormsby-Gore of the missiles and the two choices that he saw: a blockade or an air strike. Asked which option was best, Ormsby-Gore said a blockade, because an air strike would damage the U.S. politically. Kennedy said that was the choice he had made. He told the ambassador that his emphasis was on negotiating the missiles out of Cuba and that he did “not expect or intend that the present course of action” would lead to an invasion of Cuba.
Later that day, Kennedy alerted British Prime Minister Harold Macmillan to the discovery of the missiles and the dangers that he saw, but other NATO allies were not informed until the next day before President Kennedy’s televised speech. Kennedy and his advisers believed that sharing with allies the sensitive photographic intelligence that had informed U.S. decisions, even on short notice, would help win their support. Nevertheless, NATO allies resented the last-minute notification and even more so that they were not consulted about U.S. moves in advance. They supported U.S. actions, but some discontent lay beneath the surface.
Highlights
This compilation consists of the available declassified U.S. records of the briefings given to NATO allies on October 22, 1962, the day of President Kennedy’s first public speech on the crisis. White House reports discuss the briefings of French President Charles De Gaulle, British Prime Minister Macmillan, West German Chancellor Konrad Adenauer, Canadian Prime Minister John Diefenbaker, and top NATO representatives. Many of the documents focus on the early communications with the British, the NATO ally with the closest relationship to the United States (…)
Para seguir leyendo: https://nsarchive.gwu.edu/briefing-book/nuclear-vault-cuba-cuban-missile-crisis/2022-10-21/cuban-missile-crisis-60-briefing?eType=EmailBlastContent&eId=51186c6f-f796-49fd-a1c1-d2e96d17f0fb
NSA – The Coup in Chile: What Did Nixon Know and When Did He Know it?
49 Years After Pinochet’s Putsch, Presidential and CIA Documents Remain Secret
The National Security Archive Calls for Full Disclosure of Covert History as Countdown to 50th Anniversary of Military Coup Begins
Washington D.C., September 12, 2022 – One day after the violent, U.S.-backed, coup d’état in Chile, the very first item in President Richard Nixon’s September 12, 1973, CIA intelligence report—known as the President’s Daily Brief (PDB)—was the overthrow of Salvador Allende. “Chile’s President Allende is dead and the armed forces, together with the carabineros, are working to consolidate their successful coup,” stated a short summary of principal developments around the world. On page 1 of the PDB, the CIA informed Nixon that the members of the new military junta “are all respected and experienced leaders,” indicating they were not supporters of democracy. According to the PDB, “the new rulers have declared [the Chilean] Congress to be in recess.”
But, on the actual day the military moved to overthrow Salvador Allende, September 11, 1973, what the CIA informed President Nixon remains TOP SECRET. Forty-nine years after one of the most infamous military coups in Latin American history, the intelligence report in Nixon’s 9/11/1973 PDB on Chile continues to be classified as sensitive national security information. Nixon’s PDB on September 8, 1973, which is believed to contain initial CIA and Defense Intelligence Agency reporting on specific coup preparations by the Chilean military, also remains completely redacted, almost half a century later.
As the countdown to the 50th anniversary of the coup next year begins, the National Security Archive called on the Biden administration and the CIA to fully declassify the PDBs and all remaining records related to covert operations in Chile. “Secrecy over time erodes credibility, especially regarding national security,” according to John Dinges, author of The Condor Years and a member of the Archive’s advisory board. “Continuing to hide key documents from public view after half a century,” he noted, “prevents finding a credible answer to the questions about U.S. actions in Chile.”
Peter Kornbluh, who directs the Archive’s Chile Documentation Project said the Archive would use the Freedom of Information Act and all legal means to press for full disclosure of the controversial history of U.S. ties to the coup before the 50th anniversary. “There is still more to be learned about this dark and sordid episode of covert intervention,” Kornbluh stated, “in order to finalize the judgement of history on the U.S. role in Chile.”
Para seguir leyendo: https://nsarchive.gwu.edu/briefing-book/chile/2022-09-12/coup-chile-what-did-nixon-know-and-when-did-he-know-it?eType=EmailBlastContent&eId=67d93458-a525-4a80-ba9a-d2b5e41feb4e







