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Rebecca Welton 11/29/13

Latin American Art and Politics Violence in Latin America

The of the aspects of modern Latin American history that most often come to mind when
it is brought up is that of revolution, guerilla warfare, and civil wars. Most of these are politically
motivated, but an aspect of them stands out in the form of violence. For almost an entire century,
violence, bloodshed, and fear engulfed Latin America, be it derived from political rivalries,
revolutionary groups, or counterinsurgency crackdowns. People lived in fear for many years, and
the violence of the many countries making up Latin America came to be reflected by the people
in the form of film, art, and literature. In these works, along with the written works of historians,
violence is represented in different ways but seems almost always prevalent and well-
documented in some form since violence was a part of life during the Latin America of the 19
th

and 20
th
centuries. How do the writers, artists, and filmmakers of the time display the violence
that was occurring? How do historians interpret the violence? Are there differences?
One of the more prominent writers of 19
th
century Latin America was Esteban
Echeverra, an Argentinian who sought to overthrow the regime of the dictator at the time, Rosas
and eventually was exiled for his protests.
1
Echeverras short story The Slaughter House
provides a grisly allegorical depiction of the violence between the Unitarians and the Federalists
in the terms of a slaughter house receiving a delivery of meat. The allegorical scene that he
presents is utterly revolting in nature, with the Federalists, the group that held power at the time,
represented as animalistic and violent, ready to blame their troubles upon the forward-thinking
Unitarians, who were heavily inspired by European ideas of government. The action takes place

1
Echeverra, Esteban The Slaughter House, The Oxford Book of Latin American Short Stories, ed. Roberto
Gonzles Echevarra. New York: Oxford University Press, 1997, pg. 59.
2

at a slaughter house and not only are several bulls killed by the savage Federalists, but a child is
killed accidentally, showing their neglect for the innocent, and eventually a Unitarian man is
humiliated and murdered, showing their supposed savagery.
2
The Federalists themselves come in
many forms, from the sadistic judge, to the violent butcher, but the most notable figures are the
black women that are described as witches, lurking like vultures over the scene and snatching up
what they can find of a fresh kill.
3
These are the lowest of the Federalists, monsters scraping up
what is left of the underbelly of Argentina for themselves. While Echeverras work is first and
foremost an allegory, it gives a reader and understanding of the sort of violence and madness that
was taking place in Argentina during the mid-1800s from the perspective of a supporter of the
noble Unitarians.
A later film, produced in 1984 also helped to bring light to the conflict between the
Federalists and the Unitarians in Argentina, once again siding against the Federalists and the
dictator Rosas. Camila is a tragic drama based on the real-life story of Camila OGorman, a
woman of high standing whose family supports the Federalist Party. Camila ends up in a steamy
affair with a priest named Ladislao and the two attempt to escape from their fate before they are
caught, imprisoned, and executed.
4
This film clearly shows the ruthlessness and the violence of
the Rosas regime during the mid-19
th
century. Within the first few minutes of the movie, a
Federalist mob murders a Unitarian supporting bookkeeper and displays his head on a gate
outside of his shop to make a statement.
5
This event, along with reading the works of the
previously discussed Esteban Echeverra causes Camila to abandon her Federalist roots and
begin to try to help the Unitarians by donating clothes and other items. Perhaps the most

2
Ibid., 72.
3
Ibid., 65
4
Camila, Mara Luisa Bemberg, dir., 1984, VHS.
5
Ibid.
3

shocking moment of the film is when Rosas and his supporters demand for the death sentence to
be carried out against Camila in spite of her pregnancy.
6
The act and the suggestion are so
heartless and cruel that even the firing squad itself only kills her after their lives are threatened
by their commanding officer and even the warden of the prison tries to get her out of being
executed by having a doctor sign a letter stating that she is pregnant. Although highly
romanticized and being directed and produced long after the events occurred, the violence of
Rosas regime was clearly evident as well as his heartlessness. Although not nearly as gut-
wrenching as Echeverras work, the film is disheartening and attempts to bring to light the sort
of tragedies that befell those who disagreed with the tyrannical Rosas.
Putting these works in a historical context is fairly simple. The Rosas regime began in
1829 when he took over as the caudillo of Argentina.
7
As many other countries in Latin America,
Argentina was struggling to create its own identity following its liberation from Spanish control,
and Rosas sought to control it on his own from his cattle frontier. He was known for being
violent against detractors, having people beaten for not wearing their red ribbon of support for
him.
8
He attempted to win the affection of the masses by describing himself as an everyman and
denouncing his opponents as foppish aristocrats.
9
Many opposed the moral corruption that Rosas
brought with him as well as his violent ways. In one instance, even his own daughter Manuela
opposed him and his supporters. She struggled and fought to save the life of her friend Camila
and ultimately failed as Camila was executed.
10
Eventually Rosas was overthrown in 1852 and a

6
Ibid.
7
Chasteen, John C. Born in Blood and Fire: A Concise History of Latin America, New York: W.W. Norton and
Company, 2001, pg. 124.
8
Ibid.
9
Ibid.
10
Ibid., 140.
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new constitution was developed that enabled Argentina to advance into one of the most forward-
thinking highly industrialized countries of Latin America.
11

Another outbreak of violence that is so well chronicled in artwork and writing is the
Mexican Revolution. Beginning in 1910 with growing unrest in Mexico, the old leader, Daz fled
for Paris in 1911 and a brawl began between different revolutionary groups.
12
During the bloody
fighting that followed, a million people were killed before finally the Mexican Revolutionary
Party was formed.
13
During this time, many artists strove to capture the frantic nature and
violence that was born from the Revolution and eventual institution of government. One of these
artists was Diego Rivera, a painter with a background in the Mexican Communist Party and a
sympathizer of the plight of the heroes of the Mexican Revolution. His giant murals often
depicted struggles or warfare, such as his mural of the history of Mexico at the National Palace
in Mexico city, which honors not only the rebels who fought against the corrupt Mexican
government but also sympathizes with the Native population that was exploited by the
conquistadores.
14
By capturing the struggle in painting, Rivera preserved it for generations to
come, but there was also violence surrounding Riveras work itself. While working on a mural in
Rockefeller Center, Rivera was informed that his work, which featured a depiction of Lenin, was
no longer acceptable.
15
There was a mighty clash between students, art aficionados and
sympathizers that were demonstrating and protesting in the streets and the police that ended in
violence as the police rushed the crowd.
16
Riveras wife for some time, Frida Kahlo, also
depicted some violent elements in her works, although these, rather than being drawn from the

11
Ibid., 168.
12
Ibid., 224.
13
Ibid., 225.
14
Rivera, Diego The History of Mexico, 1929, mural, National Palace, Mexico City.
15
Frank, Patrick ed. Readings in Latin American Modern Art, New Haven: Yale University Press, 2004, pg.36.
16
Ibid.
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suffering and plight of Mexican Revolutionaries, are drawn from her own suffering after she was
crippled by a horrific bus accident. The violence that she suffered during her teenage years
coupled with the struggles of living during the Mexican Revolution, and fighting as part of the
indigenismo movement and the socialist movement is heavily reflected in her works. Although
not directly involved in the violence that exploded across Mexico, Kahlo and Riveras works
show both first-hand accounts of the violence as well as immortalization of its major figures.
Also set during the Mexican Revolution is Juan Rulfos Tell Them Not To Kill Me!,
which shows a very dark side of the revolution. A revenge story, this short tale involves a son
taking revenge on his fathers murderer by using his military authority as a colonel to find the
now elderly assassin and have him executed for his crime.
17
The condemned man tries to
convince his own son to have them not kill him, only to fail in the end and be shot to death.
Rulfo is described as the creator of a tragic world of violence, resentments, and hopelessness,
strongly contrasting with the hopefulness that Diego Rivera displayed in his works after the
Mexican Revolution.
18
This is because the revolution was different for different people. Some
saw it as a step in the right direction in spite of the suffering that it would bring, and others
suffered through it. The sheer hopelessness and sorrow of Rulfos work shows a different side to
the violence after the Mexican Revolution and also demonstrates that vengeance was a very
prominent force that could be acted upon with relative ease. Still, it is a work dealing with the
less fortunate and the rural, which is a contrast once more with Riveras works which celebrated
industrialism.

17
Rulfo, Juan Tell Them Not To Kill Me!, The Oxford Book of Latin American Short Stories, ed. Roberto Gonzles
Echevarra. New York: Oxford University Press, 1997, pg. 284.
18
Ibid.,
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The next great explosion of violence that tore through Latin America was the Cuban
Revolution which began in the late 1950s. Stemming from a rise in Marxist ideology and
nationalism, revolutionaries sought to rid Cuba of the influence of the United States and make
themselves entirely self-sufficient.
19
Eventually, the group, led by Fidel Castro, his brother, and
Che Guevarra took over in 1958 as the then dictator Battista fled.
20
Under Castro, there was
attempted growth in economics and education, but the United States feared Castros red leanings,
in spite of no allegiance to Russia until the United States cut them off from trade.
21
Violence
took place during the revolution as well as afterwards, but first and foremost, it set off a chain of
coups and military rule across all other countries in Latin America sparked out of fear of
another Cuba by the United States.
A piece that depicts the violence and suffering present in Cuba after the Revolution is
Reinaldo Arenas The Parade Ends. A dark and dank work, The Parade Ends realistically
describes the disgusting scenario of an incident in Havana, Cuba in which people attempt to flee
the country via the Peruvian Embassy.
22
Unlike most of these other artists aside from Echeverra,
Arenas actually experienced the violence of the Revolution first-hand and suffered the
consequences of it directly. Originally a supporter of the Revolution, he was ostracized,
imprisoned, tortured, and beaten for his homosexuality.
23
The title of his work may seem ironic
or not seem to fit, but its meaning is clear when one looks closer. The Parade refers to the
pageantry and splendor that surrounded the Cuban Revolutionaries after their victory, and the
end of the Parade was marked by suffering and pain on the behalf of the many people that

19
Chasteen, John C. Born in Blood and Fire: A Concise History of Latin America, New York: W.W. Norton and
Company, 2001, pg. 270.
20
Ibid., 272.
21
Ibid., 273.
22
Arenas, Reinaldo The Parade Ends, The Oxford Book of Latin American Short Stories, ed. Roberto Gonzles
Echevarra. New York: Oxford University Press, 1997, pg. 443.
23
Ibid.
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suffered under Castro. There is an emphasis on the violence of the revolutionaries toward the
people as they kill anyone that attempts to go past the fence that is containing them like
animals.
24
However, there is also the violence that the protagonist threatens upon a woman that
betrays him and leaves him in the pit with all the other people. Another focus of this work is the
sheer disgusting state of both the people and the fence with blood and excrement everywhere.
The people are relegated to the status of animals by the Revolutionaries, and Arenas sought to
show this very clearly through this stream of consciousness work.
Finally, the last great instance of violence that erupts is that which forms out of the
establishment of military coups and dictatorships supported by the United States in order to quell
the red thoughts of the revolutionary groups. Across Latin America this fear and eventual
takeover spread, with the United States allying with the military and police forces of Latin
America and instituting the National Security Doctrine as part of their war on Communism
25

As a result of this, many insurgency groups developed, such as the Shining Path in Peru. The
Shining Path was an extremely violent group, as were many other guerilla groups and so the
military adopted a very violent and vindictive policy against anyone that might sympathize with
them, targeting and killing just as many people as the insurgency groups. The end result was
widespread violence and terror.
Although not an art piece but a historical analysis, Miguel la Sernas The Corner of the
Living: Ayacucho on the Eve of the Shining Path Insurgency provides a clear depiction of the
violence instituted by Native supporters of the Shining Path as well as the Native
counterinsurgency. The purpose of the book is not only to shed light on the events that took place

24
Ibid., 446.
25
Chasteen, John C. Born in Blood and Fire: A Concise History of Latin America, New York: W.W. Norton and
Company, 2001, pg. 286.
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in Ayacucho, but also to state that the indigenous people of both the Chuschi and the Huaychao
groups had agency in choosing whether or not to support the groups.
26
He states that the Chuschi
people, who had a very flimsy system of authority that was not often respected by the masses
initially welcomed the Shining Path because it disposed of their undesirables and created a strong
government for them.
27
In contrast, the people of Huaychao had a very strong system of
government that was respected and few dangerous criminals that preyed upon their own people
and so they began to attack the outsiders and killed many of them in resistance to their
controlling ways and policies.
28
Violence in this context is both foreign and non-foreign to the
people of Ayacucho and either inflicted by them or inflicted upon them. The groups fought
against each other and the people of Chuschi engaged in the violence of the Shining Path
whereas the Huaychao fought against the insurgency as it was a threat to their culture and
traditions. Overall the point that la Serna makes in terms of violence is that violence spread all
over Latin America and was not just restricted to the cities and towns. Along with that, the
people that are often considered victims of the conflict were able to practice their own agency in
either fighting for it or against it, rather than being passive as was originally assumed. The
different types of violence be it the gang violence of Chuschi, or the violence against gangs and
criminals of Huaychao, helped shape the reactions of these people to the Shining Path.
The Dancer Upstairs is a later film that covers the violence of the Shining Path in
shocking detail. Directed by John Malkovich and produced in 2002, the film is based on a novel
that was based on the events surrounding the Shining Paths actions in Lima. It follows the story
of a police officer who is trying to track down Presidente Ezequiel, a fictionalized version of

26
La Serna, Miguel The Corner of the Living: Ayacucho on the Eve of the Shining Path Insurgency Chapel Hill:
University of North Carolina Press, 2012, pg. 10.
27
Ibid., 149.
28
Ibid., 175.
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Guzmn, the actual leader of the Shining Path. Strongly based on true events, the man finds that
his daughters dance teacher is sheltering Ezequiel above her apartment and the two of them are
arrested with her remaining loyal to the Presidente in spite of her apparent love for the police
officer.
29
The violence depicted in this picture is very gritty and overt, with every aspect of it
being on display for the audience to cringe at and be disturbed by. However, this film would not
have been nearly as effective had it not shown the violence on full display. The Shining Path was
all about a violent cleansing of all ideas that they deemed evil, and to cover that up would be to
cover up the true cause of the movement. Still, the shocking nature really comes out in this
picture, particularly in a scene in which a dance group shoots a group of volunteers they pull on
stage, or when a child blows himself and an entire building to bits while shouting Viva el
Presidente Ezequiel!
30
Aside from bringing the violence of the Shining Path to the forefront, the
film also brings those commonly considered innocent into the violence as many of the acts of
violence are committed either by children or by young adults, which are generally not considered
to be threats, creating an atmosphere of fear in which one never really knows who the killers are
until it is too late. A moving, vibrant, and violent piece, The Dancer Upstairs captures what the
days of the Shining Path were for Lima in a clear and shocking way.
Unlike The Dancer Upstairs, The Official Story does not show any extreme violence
overtly, however, it shows the effects of violence and cruelty upon life. The story follows the
plight of an upper-class woman named Alicia once she realizes the horror that families faced
after the last military dictatorship in Argentina when their children were taken away, and then
her attempts to find the girls real family to return her to them.
31
Although violence is not on

29
The Dancer Upstairs, John Malkovich, dir., 2002, DVD.
30
Ibid.
31
The Official Story, Luis Puenzo, dir., 1985, VHS.
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screen, aside from the husbands eventual lashing out at his wife when she wants to return their
daughter to her family, it is strongly implied. Aside from the children being taken away from
their families, there is also Alicias friend who was tortured by the military as a possible traitor,
although she knew nothing.
32
The film does not have to show her being tortured to cement that
her experience was tragic and heartbreaking as she pours her soul out to Alicia. There is also the
sad fact that Alicias daughters real parents were disappeared, murdered by the government
for their involvement in radical groups.
33
The film would not have benefited from overt
depictions of violence as they would take away from the sad and morose tone of the picture. The
Official Story is not a story of violence itself; it is a story of the aftermath of violence and its
effect on ordinary people, rich and poor.
Violence in Latin America was politically motivated, brought on by revolution,
insurgency, counterinsurgency, or political unrest. The authors, painters, and filmmakers of then
and now sought to capture the feeling of a state of violence in their works focused on different
locations and different time periods, however, common trends can be found in many of the
works. Violence is commonly represented as a threat that looms over the common folk, instituted
by some force that seems unstoppable, and even works that deal with the end of violent outbursts
such as Tell Them Not To Kill Me! and The Official Story deal with the mark that such
atrocities have left upon people as well as the unrest from uncertainty after they are defeated.
Violence is also understood in terms of its devastation on people, which is not often evident in
history books as they gloss over event after event. Overall, these works also deal with ordinary
people rather than major political figures, guerilla leaders, or other prominent people, with these
figures taking more of a sideline role. It is no doubt that violence was a part of Latin America

32
Ibid.
33
Ibid.
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from the 1800s to the 1900s and beyond, and the culture represents that in its own unique way
that also represents the common nationalistic beliefs of Latin Americans. It is represented in
terms of its effects on the people, whether they be common or not, as it is the people that are the
creators and subjects of these works and in turn the creators of historical memory.