Utopia Unarmed: The Latin American Left After the Cold War

Castros Cuba is isolated; the guerrillas who once spread havoc through Uruguay and Argentina are dead, dispersed, or running for office as moderates. And in 1990, Nicaraguas Sandinistas were rejected at the polls by their own constituents. Are these symptoms of the fall of the Latin American left? Or are they merely temporary lulls in an ongoing revolution that may yet transform our hemisphere?This perceptive and richly eventful study by one of Mexicos most distinguished political scientists tells the story behind the failed movements of the past thirty years while suggesting that the left has a continuing relevance in a continent that suffers from destitution and social inequality. Combining insiders accounts of intrigue and armed struggle with a clearsighted analysis of the mechanisms of daytoday power, Utopia Unarmed is an indispensable work of scholarship, reportage, and political prognosis.