Miristas and Tupamaros. Urban guerrillas facing Chilean and Uruguayan elections in the early 70s, a comparative approach

Abstract

In 1965, the creation of both, the Left Revolutionary Movement (MIR) in Chile and the National Liberation Movement - Tupamaros (MLN-T) in Uruguay, was yet another episode of the process of radicalization of the Latin American leftwing, after the triumph of the Cuban Revolution, in 1959. By rejecting the democratic way and the elections as forms of access to power, these groups opted to take up arms, as the only alternative for the construction of socialism. However, before the national elections of 1970 in Chile and 1971 in Uruguay, both organizations proclaimed a truce, so that the electoral processes could develop normally and, after raising many objections, they supported the candidacies of Salvador Allende (Popular Unity) in Chile and Liber Seregni (Broad Front) in Uruguay. This article intends to comparatively discuss the relationship between guerrillas and the legal leftwing, pointing out proximities and distances between the different sectors at that juncture.