261. Uruguay: The Tupamaros

In 1963, with the influence of the Cuban Revolution strong in South America, the left wing guerrilla group the Tupamaros emerged. Listen to tales of kidnappings, shootings, imprisonment and torture in the Tupamaros' quest for political power.
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[@Martijn_Steinpatz]

For one moment I feared that every time Dominic mentioned the word Tupamaros we'd hear the pan pipe music.

[@euge.sosa.b]

You do have a Uruguayan listener! One of my grandfathers fought against the Tupamaros (before the coup), while my other one was able to feed his family because of their redistribution of wealth. Mujica did some terrible things, but is also a great patriot. It is evidence that history is not black and white, and that any group with unchecked political power will go too far. But also, let's not call Uruguay a little Argentina.

[@toptester301]

That music sounded like a coast to coast bumper song.

[@avotaran]

By the way, I was living in Uruguay at the time Mujica became president and I vote for him!

[@susanastephens7156]

So why didn't you stay to live out your socialist dream?

[@susanastephens7156]

This is a very simplstic account of what led to the events of the time. I have just finished watching an excellent unbiased documentary on this very subject.... Would also like to point out that although the indigenous Charrua population was greatly diminished it was not totally eradicated & there are still many people with mixed origins... Although the dominant make up of Uruguayans is Spanish & Italian there's a multitude of other Europeans in the mix, including English. Uruguay like other parts of the Americas had African slaves, not in great numbers like others, but they're also an important part of Uruguayan society ...

[@euge.sosa.b]

I would like to add that slavery in Uruguay was very different than it was in the United States.

[@Terinije]

.... is he serious about his lack of geography knowledge? Yikes, that was a bad opening....

[@watcherofthewest8597]

Thanks Brits!

[@avotaran]

Hilarious, but very nice tell of our history, i heard from my parents and family when I was younger, I born in 1974 in Uruguay (lucky me) in democracy, and i live there until I moved to Canada in 2002. This reminds me those amazing stories of how smart Tupamaros were at that time, that keep us awake all night listening after parties

[@BrianYoung-u6l]

if you guys ever get fed up with History, comedy will always be an option worth considering!

[@mb3503-o4e]

Wonderful documentary. I had previously heard of Jose Mujica. Some years ago, I was a tourist in Salento Colombia and a lady asked if I was him because I look just like him. She seemed disappointed when I said that I was not. She then told me what a wonderful president he had been.

[@diggz35]

You guys are literally hilarious and I’m such a history buff already it just makes it even better please don’t ever stop 😂

[@gosiachaaban2484]

Wonderful start of the show, including music

[@gpeterson2900]

What a great story that I most likely would not have heard of. Thank you!

[@bookaufman9643]

Though the spelling is kind of strange Sendic could easily be a Jewish name. It's not far from Maurice Sendak the very famous children's author. There are pretty decent-sized Jewish communities in that whole part of South America.

[@joejohnson6327]

Both he & his wife were of Croatian descent.

[@bookaufman9643]

@@joejohnson6327 I didn't say he was Jewish I just said it was the name that could be. Also being of Croatian to son doesn't mean that you're not Jewish Croatian. Before World War II there were millions of Jewish Poles and Jewish Russians. My background on my father's side is Russian/ Romanian Jewish. I have no Russian or Romanian in my ancestry but 100% Jewish from that region. My mother was 100% Irish descent but my grandmother lived in England. I'm just trying to show how ethnicity and religion can all get intertwined.

[@joejohnson6327]

​@@bookaufman9643 I'm Croatian & I saw a documentary about Sendic(h) & his wife, Violeta Setelich, a couple of years ago. They were raised Catholic. Trust me, no Jewish people lived among the illiterate, superstitiously Catholic Croatian fishermen & subsistence farmers who emigrated to South America from their isolated, poverty-stricken Dalmatian islands.

[@bookaufman9643]

@@joejohnson6327 like I said before I didn't say that they were Jewish but that it was a name that could be. Many Jews lived among the illiterate, superstitious, hyper Catholic Polish but unfortunately many of them paid with lives. Every few years there would be a pogrom and some crazy rumor would get thousands of Jews murdered. It was probably worse in Russia especially before the revolution.

[@bookaufman9643]

I can't see a police sheriff from Indiana as the lead torture for the CIA or other conservative paramilitary groups. He wouldn't have a background in torture, so are we guessing that it's something that just came natural to him? I would think that it would be some trained CIA agent who would be in charge of that. You never know though. This guy could have been just a horrific and horrible person and maybe he perfectly fit the role as a torture instructor. It doesn't quite work for me but there must have been a reason that they thought he was the guy to kidnap.

[@euge.sosa.b]

I don't know about Mitrione specifically, but my parents lived through it and said everyone knew it was the United States/CIA behind the "disappearing" of left leaning citizens-- the police only spoke American English and rode in Ford automobiles

[@bookaufman9643]

@@euge.sosa.b 100 percent the CIA worked with right-wing governments to disappear people that they thought might bring on a more liberal government or even a fair government. Heaven forbid there would be a politician who wanted to see all the people in this country do well and not just the richest. To some extent we still have that problem in the United States but without the massive disappearing of citizens. The alignment with horrible dictators is definitely America's shame..

[@brotherbuzz1070]

Dominic is not funny.