Soccer Violence in Latin America

Resurgent Soccer violence throughout the Latin American Countries of Paraguay, Argentina, Uruguay, Mexico, and Chile has become a major concern and is threatening the integrity of the sport and health of spectators. President Nicolas Leoz, of the South American Soccer federation, COMNEBOL states that the federation is highly concerned by the problem, "We are worried about these incidents in Latin America. This violence has nothing whatsoever to do with genuine soccer." The authorities are developing plans on how to stop the violence. The stadiums are primarily hiring military and off duty police as a security force to patrol and safeguard million dollar stadiums, filled with fanatical fans. Many of the times these fanatical fans use sticks and stones during these fights which can lead to more serious injuries. Often this fanaticism leads to fights and brawls, which can ultimately lead to serious injury or death.
This unrest comes from fan trouble in Europe which has been prevalent for nearly a century. Argentina has developed a reputation for having the most violent hooligans, whose ages vary from as young as fifteen to as old as fifty. At lease 149 people in Argentina have died since 1939 in violent outbreaks linked to the sport and fan incidents. Much of this violence stems from the barras bravas, groups of soccer hooligans, similar to their European counterpart's, ultras. Javier Castrilli, a top regulator of the sport in Argentina said team executives can no longer cast a blind eye on the barra brava, saying it was time to crack down on such scum.
Soccer has become a part of national past time in many Latin American Countries, the people are very serious about the sport, and fans are fanatical about their teams. This violence first and foremost effects the younger fans, introducing them to such severe violence at a young age. Soccer clubs are also penalized by the Soccer federation for injuries and damages done during fan violence at matches.




Links for Further reading:
http://www.usatoday.com/sports/soccer/world/2007-02-22-latin-america-violence_x.htm
http://www.originaldissent.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1726
http://wais.stanford.edu/Sports/sports_laandsoccer11101.html
http://www.amnesty.org/

Augusto Pinochet: A Reign of Violence

Augusto Pinochet was the president of Chile from 1973 until 1990. His rule was initiated by a military coup in 1973 which influenced his rise to power. This coup began when the major armed forces in Chile, fed up with the current Allende administration, decided to overthrow his government and shell the presidential palace, killing Allende in the assault. Although Pinochet's actual interest and involvement in the coup was questioned, as commander-in-chief of the Chilean army his significance could not be questioned. The coup was started on September 11, 1973 and very quickly dissolved the reigning governmental regime.

By September 13, a military junta had been established as the new government in Chile. Pinochet represented the army, while José Merino represented the Navy, Gustavo Leigh represented the Air Force, and César Mendoza represented the national police. Working together, the junta quickly threw out the existing Constitution and Congress, imposed censorship and a curfew on inhabitants, and halted all political activity within the country. From this point, the junta functioned as a governing body until December of 1974. The junta had originally decided to rotate control of Chile among the 4 branches, but Pinochet used his power to take absolute control of Chile and declared himself president.

After assuming control, Pinochet used the power of the junta to violently suppress all political opposition to his regime. All other political parties were eventually banned with some 2,500 people exectued and tens of thousands of others tortured during this time period. He also instituted Operation Condor, a military movement which banded together several South American countries to track down and eliminate all threats to Chile's government. Several former officials of Allende's government were killed in this manner. Several scandals occurred under this operation, however, including some cases in which Pinochet assassinated Un officials and Chilean ambassadors to the US, leading to strained ties between the two countries. Other scandals included the assassination of three members of the Communist party, which led Mendoza to resign, and two protesters being burned alive in 1986.

Ultimately, Pinochet's reign of violence changed the scope of Chile's government as well as the lives of its citizens. However, also ascribed to the Chilean president's credit is the beneficial effect of his economic policy. He began a systematic deregulation and privatization of business practices which helped spur forward the Chilean economy in the 1980s at a time when other countries in Latin America were experiencing difficulty. Despite his malevolent effect on the Chilean people and the suppression of political opposition, Pinochet's reign also helped Chile by strengthening its economic foundation.

Links for further reading:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Augusto_Pinochet
http://www.mundoandino.com/Chile/History-pinochet
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/6289209.stm

Military Dictatorship in Argentina: 1976-1983

At the end of World War II, a multitude of peoples sought refuge from the Allied governments, especially former Nazis and communists. They found this refuge in the country of Argentina, where they mixed with other groups who followed communist or other left-wing doctrines and helped instill the Peronism movement. This movement, named after Juan Perón, was an influential impetus among the people to pursue a more populist form of government. Perón returned from 20 years exile in 1973 to spearhead this movement. His return marked a period of extreme civil unrest within the country, and his election was made by a very divided group of Peronists. Perón himself allied with the right-wing group after his election, which led the left-wing group to oppose his rule.
On July 1, 1974 Perón died and was succeeded by his wife, Isabel. Isabel's reign saw the signing of several decrees, known as annihilation decrees, which gave the military the power to eliminate and subdue any left-wing existence. In turn, this sparked more unrest with the left-wing polities who opposed Perón's rule over them. They were powerless against the military forces, however. These forces, led by Jorge Rafael Videla, conducted raids of suspected Communist peoples, often capturing and torturing their suspects as a means of exerting their influence over Argentina.
This influence was even more apparent when on March 24, 1976 Videla, Emilio Eduardo Massera, and Orlando Agosti overthrew Isabel Perón as president and began a miliatristic government regime. This regime, which lasted the period from 1976-1983, was responsible for organizing the illegal arrests, torture, killing, disappearance, and other such crimes of thousands of suspected left-wing people. Estimates have put numbers as high as 30,0000 for the number of people that disappeared during this time, which does not include known deaths or other crimes propagated against the Argentinian people. The regime finally came to an end in late 1983 when the military government attempted an invasion of the Falkland islands, which the British held a highly contested claim to. The British army decimated the Argentinian army in the Falklands, which led to the decline of the military power reign in Argentina. During its tenure, however, its vast genocidal effects were felt by tens of thousands of people.


Links for further reading:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dirty_war
http://www.onwar.com/aced/nation/all/argentina/fargentina1976.htm
http://www.google.com/url?sa=t&source=web&ct=res&cd=5&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.cnn.com%2FWORLD%2F9803%2F02%2Fargentina.dirty.war%2F&ei=cyvISLyiMJy28ATur4GDDA&usg=AFQjCNEaCMVFZ8euLSxvIhDqrg6rNYN2lQ&sig2=-d0OA0CxtgbjbB1L2g9QOA