Revista del CESLA. International Latin American Studies Review

Trajectories of women in authoritarian regimes in Latin America (20th and 21st centuries)

2025-09-14T14:01:27+00:00

Via Crucis: Prison, torture and female solidarity in the trajectory of Vera Silvia Magalhães

2024-08-14T10:41:25+00:00

This article aims to analyze the trajectory of Vera Silvia Magalhães, a militant of the armed struggle against the Brazilian civil-military dictatorship, during her imprisonment in 1970. Based on the premise that individual trajectories can illuminate broader social phenomena, the study seeks to shed light on the experience of imprisonment and torture endured by women who fought to overthrow the dictatorship and carry out the Brazilian revolution. The analysis highlights how torture took on gender-specific dimensions, manifesting itself differently in case of women; how female solidarity networks emerged as mechanisms of collective resistance; how legal strategies were mobilized to safeguard detainees’ integrity in the face of biased judicial processes; in what ways repression was structured through the articulation of different state apparatuses—such as the police, medical, and judicial systems; and, finally, what the physical and psychological consequences of torture were for political militants.

Two women, two countries: stories of women’s everyday lives under the civil-military dictatorship

2025-03-21T12:48:19+00:00

This article aims to analyze the trajectories of two women who lived part of their lives under the same context, the Brazilian civil-military dictatorship, but despite numerous similarities, had divergent paths: Iara Iavelberg and Josefa Maria Marques de Souza. The first, although “anonymous” for most of her life, gained prominence in the political scene after joining the resistance against the dictatorship. The second, on the other hand, lived “reclusively” in the private sphere, responsible for taking care of her children, grandchildren, husband, and home. Using oral history and through the perspective of everyday history, the text aims to challenge the hegemonic memory discourse that all civil society resisted the dictatorship, demonstrating that there were multiple ways in which “ordinary citizens” found to cope with the authoritarian regime.

The persecution of teachers by the military dictatorship: Analysis of the case brought against Ada Natal Rodrigues in the seventies

2025-04-16T16:00:56+00:00

This paper aims to discuss the persecution suffered by teachers during the military dictatorship in Brazil, between 1964 and 1985, based on the analysis of the lawsuit filed against teacher Ada Natal Rodrigues in the Military Justice courts. The methodology used includes a bibliographical discussion on the mobilization of the Judiciary for repression, the analysis of the documents that make up criminal action 41/70 filed against Ada, as well as other records relevant to the case studied. Among the authors of the theoretical framework, we highlight the contributions of political scientist Anthony Pereira on the actions of the Judiciary in dictatorial contexts. Finally, when analyzing the persecution against teacher Ada, we conclude that the consequences of judicial repression were not limited to the penalties imposed, but rather that the very existence of the criminal action already had a punitive effect, since it allowed the accused to be removed from their professional activities, including through compulsory retirement, as occurred with Ada.

VANIA BAMBIRRA˸ EXILE AND LATIN AMERICAN CROSS-BORDER THINKING.

2025-04-30T20:27:21+00:00

Abstract

This paper analyzes the exile of Vania Bambirra in Chile (1966-1973) as a consequence of the coup d'état in Brazil in 1964. From concepts such as “foquismo”, transition to socialism, dependent capitalism and feminism, the Brazilian scientist critically analyzed the Latin American reality and its contradictions. She joined the Center for Socioeconomic Studies - CESO, where, together with Latin American intellectuals and those from other latitudes, she carried out studies on the crisis of developmentalism and the insurrectional processes in the region. Her exile coincided with the reformist government of Eduardo Frei (1964-1970) and, later, with the socialist government of Salvador Allende (1970-1973) and the “Chilean way to socialism”, in which she participated in the elaboration of the Basic Program of the Popular Unity. Based on a review of the literature, Vania Bambirra's exile and her role as a militant left-wing intellectual within the CESO and the agitated Chilean political environment of the time are analyzed. It is argued that the atmosphere of democratic freedom in Chile and the transition to socialism contributed to the intellectual debate by providing subsidies for her critical studies on the revolution and dependence, as well as questioning the invisibility of women and their role in society and in the Chilean left-wing. Her valuable contribution to the understanding of the steps and counter-steps of the region in the political and economic sphere was cut short by the coup d'état in Chile in 1973, which forced her to go into a second exile, first to Panama and then to Mexico.

Key words: exile, foquismo, revolution, feminism, Chilean way to socialism, coup d'état.

Body and nature in feminist publications in exile (1974-1979)

2025-04-28T15:50:28+00:00

This article examines how Brazilian women exiled between 1974 and 1979 produced images that articulated the female body and nature from a perspective critical of the traditional androcentric gaze. In contexts of repression and forced displacement during the Military Dictatorship, these women found in exile—especially in Paris—a fertile ground for the exchange of experiences, the formation of consciousness-raising groups, and the production of political and artistic materials. In publications such as “Nosotras” and “Agora é que são elas”, images were developed that established a symbolic fusion between body and nature. These representations of the feminine seek to affirm the body as an active element of expression and political resistance, constituting forms of countervisuality and contributing to the construction of a transnational feminist imaginary.

“It is impossible to speak of the resistance towards the dictatorship without remembering it" – authoritarianism, human rights, and memory in Paraguay

2025-05-14T00:36:44+00:00

This article examines the trajectory of Carmen de Lara Castro in the resistance against the Stroessner dictatorship in Paraguay, focusing on her role within the Liberal Party and her advocacy for human rights. The study draws on biographical literature, interviews conducted for specific research projects, and documents from the Archivo del Terror. The methodology employed a critical analysis of these materials to reconstruct the history of individuals and acts of resistance. Through this approach, the text highlights the significance of both individual and collective efforts in exposing the regime’s crimes and defending freedoms. The study concludes that Carmen de Lara Castro, despite being under constant police surveillance, played a pivotal role in establishing the Comisión de Defensa de los Derechos Humanos del Paraguay (CODEHUP) and supporting imprisoned individuals. Her trajectory remains essential to contemporary democratic memory, which still bears gaps regarding women’s participation in the resistance.

Voices Between the Lines: Women's Literature in the Dictatorships of Argentina and Brazil

2025-05-19T00:40:47+00:00

This article critically analyses the recent landscape of academic scholarship in Argentina and Brazil on the diverse forms of female resistance during the military dictatorships. To do so, the study is structured around three central analytical axes: (1) the conceptual approach to female agency and resistance in the selected works; (2) the methodological function of testimonial narratives as a rupture with hegemonic historiography; and (3) the dynamics of inclusion and silencing, identifying which voices are represented and which are notably absent. The objective is to value the “voices between the lines”, understanding how their emergence as a “broken silence” challenges repression and gender-based violence. The analysis reveals that resistance is presented not only as political action but also as an interpretive key to understanding experiences marked by state violence, the reconstruction of memory, and the ongoing affirmation of female agency. By applying this analytical framework, the article seeks to enrich the historiography, granting greater visibility and complexity to the role of women in the struggle against the dictatorships in the Southern Cone and placing their struggles at the centre of academic debate.