This is a list of questions to help you identify important concepts and themes from the reading.

In order to help you organize your thoughts and contribute to our discussion, I strongly encourage you to take reading notes. Write down the ideas you think are important, as well as any interesting facts or observations. Write down words you are unfamiliar with, as well as their definition. In particular, pay attention to and make a note of anything that you react strongly to - are you surprised by something that you learned here? Does it change the way you think about Latin America and its past?

In order to complete the assignment, you must write ONE paragraph in response to one of the following questions.

1. What role did Soviet Russia have in Latin America during the Cold War?

2. What was the purpose of the School of the Americas?

3. Which events ignited the Alliance of Progress? What was its main goal?

4. Why do you think the military forces in Latin America felt under siege during the 1960s and 1970s?

5. What was "the dirty war"? Who were the "disappeared"?

6. Who was Salvador Allende?

7. How did the Peruvian military dictatorship differ from others in South America?

8. Who were the Somozas? What was their relationship to the United States?

9. What was the Sandinista National Liberation Front (FSLN)?

10. Who were the Contras? Which countries supported them?

11. Compare the Farabundo Martí National Liberation Front (FMLN) with the Sandinista National Liberation Front (FSLN).

12. What happened in 1981 at El Mozote? What does this incident illustrate?