Southern Cone Cities as Political Laboratories of the Global Sixties: Montevideo (1962-1968); Santiago de Chile (1969-1973); Buenos Aires (1973-1976)

Abstract

The article reviews the political dynamics that fostered a transnational political culture among leftist activists in the Southern Cone. This culture resulted from the coming together of various different ways in which activists experienced local political events and reinterpreted global processes. Certain cities at specific moments had a crucial role in the development of these exchanges. In this article, I will briefly review three different periods during which militants from various countries met in a particular city: Montevideo in the mid-sixties; Santiago from 1970 to 1973; and Buenos Aires from 1973 to 1976. The article argues that each experience furthered the expansion of a network of militants and the development of a common political culture that had impacts beyond the region.