Customer Reviews

Utopia Unarmed: The Latin American Left After the Cold War

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This book was originaly written in 1992. An introduction added to account for important developments in 1994 that seem to contradict the main thesis. The book itself has 2 parts arifitially glued together. The first chapters present an excellent historiography of the last 60 years of left movements in Latin America. Parallels, connections and similarities are drawn between different groups in different times and places. All this is very informative, given the numerous references for further reading. One of the main arguments is that armed movements did not succeed in changing the politics of the region (except for a very small number of cases), that the transition to social-democracy activism is much more effective and that all of the democratically elected leftist governments failed to implement workable alternatives. The events in southern Mexico during January 94 contradict the general trend, hence the need for the new introduction. The last part of the book is programatic. Castaneda presents _the_ solution to the problems that plague the continent in the form of "recommendations" for the left (since the right will never do that). The program includes democratization, socially oriented government policies, regulated free-market, etc. As a whole the program is well presented and congruent. However, the apparent intent is to show how these policies are the only alternative based on the experience drawn from the first part of the book. On the last point I find the book lacking. The connection between the different historic cases and trens and the program for the future is not clear enough. Also, some internal contradictions are pointed out but not resolved (as to how the left will be elected with a corrupt polling process, etc)

The best part of this book for me was the detailed analysis of the relationship between the Cuban Revolution and the rest of Latin America. The author is particularly good at explaining the differences in Cuban support to the various guerilla movements in the region during the 1970s and 1980s. The discussion of intellectuals in Latin America, especially their role in bridging the gap between the state and civil society, is also quite lucid.

The suggestions for where the left should head now seem dated, given that the book was written more than a decade ago, but that does not diminish the overall quality of this author's scholarship. Simply stated, it is still one of the best histories of the Latin American left.

Or should I say poor Mr. Secretary! I read this book right after it was published as someone gave it to me as a gift. The book itself represents a turning point in Castañeda's life: from a progressive Mexican academician to a disenchanted US visiting professor. It is as if the ignominious Berlin Wall fell upon his head. The book transpires the "I was so wrong!" message from the beginning. However, I must admit that on the first part there is a lot of useful raw material that can help us understand the failure of armed movements in Latin America. Particularly accurate is the piece on Montoneros, the Argentine urban guerrilleros. However, it is Castañeda's analysis what is wrong. Then his proposal for the "left" (the "left" HE has in his own confused mind) proved wrong just some months after the publication of the book with the coming of the Zapatistas onto Mexican political arena. No wonder Catañeda's posterior attempts to discredit the movement: these irreverent Zapatistas were not following HIS proposal based on well-thought academic premises, conceived in a clean professor's office away from (social) reality. His current appointment as the Secretary of Foreign Relations in a right wing administration demonstrates clearly Castañeda's solid convictions that he had already gave off in this book.