This provocative and wellitched book, Ariel Armony examines how the Argentine security forces exported both their ideology and counterinsurgency strategies to Central America in the late 1970s and early 1980s. Armony offers an in-depth look at the security apparatus that waged Argentina's dirty war and provides a detailed account of the complex networks linking the Argentine military and intelligence services to their counterparts in Latin America and United States.
Argentina's role in the anti-Communist Crusade in Central America emerged from ideological concerns which were deeply tied to Cold War geopolitics and the doctrine of national security. Operating on an international scale was consistent with the perception of the Argentine generals that the "Communist threat" was a global one. But it was the dramatic growth of the Argentine counterinsurgency apparatus during the dirty war and the desire of its leaders to extend their influence in the region that made these international operations possible. Contrary to earlier interpretations, the author argues that Argentina's involvement in the anti-Communist crusade in Central America was not an attempt to play up to the United States in order to buy its neutrality in the upcoming Malvinas/Falklands war, but was, rather, the result of the generals' perception that the Carter Adminstration had abandoned the fight against Communism.
Armony then moves into an examination of U.S. policy in Central America from 1977-1984. Utilizing declassified CIA files, interviews with Argentine agents working for the U.S. military, and National Security Archive documents, the author carefully details the development of the U.S.Argentine collaboration. From the watchful inaction of the Carter Administration to the covert military training activities under Reagan, the author examines changes in U.S. foreign policy to contextualize Argentina's involvement in the Central American wars. This exhaustively researched book is an important historical account of a crusade and a conspiracy which fundamentally shaped the history of Central America.
