When the Ak-47s Fall Silent: Revolutionaries, Guerrillas, and the Dangers of Peace

By Timothy C. Brown

The majority of Latin American revolutionaries and guerrillas have now laid down their weapons and opted to participate in that region's democratic processes. What brought about this transformation? When the AK-47s Fall Silent brings together for the first time many of these former Latin revolutionaries from both sides of the conflicts--who tell their own stories, in their own words.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 081799842X
• ISBN13: 9780817998424
• Release Date: October 2000
• Publisher: Hoover Institution Press
• Length: 328 Pages
• Weight: 1.45 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.7" x 6.0" x 9.0"

Customer Reviews

The truth about Latin America revolution

I read this book in my college library and just had to get a copy for myself. The book reminds me so much of my parents who were also Marxist who joined the Vietminh to fight against the French and build a better Vietnam, only to be betrayed by the Marxist-Stalinist.Leftist will not like this book because it contradicts their closed minded view about what happen in Latin America. Some of the leftist complaint about this book seems reasonable at first glance but upon closer examination it falls flat. One complaint about this book is that Celia Sanchez, died of cancer in 1980 and did not commit suicide, that is if you believed in the Cuban government propaganda, the same propaganda that claimed that all the Bay of Pigs leader were killed and then released them to Miami years later, the same propaganda machine that claimed Cuban troops were not fight in Africa. Another criticism is that it was president Arbenz who was being deposed by the CIA in the 1950's not Arevalo.The person being interviewed did not make that claim, he was merely saying that president Juan Jose Arevalo overthrow Ubico and introduces social-democratic reforms, including setting up a social security system and redistributing land to landless peasants, thereby incurring the wrath of the CIA and the United Fruit company, the CIA plan to deposed Arevalo, but since Colonel Jacobo Arbenz Guzman took over from Arevalo, the plan is then directed at Arevalo. Another criticism of the book is that the Committees in Defense of the Revolution were founded in September 1960, not April 1960. Again, this same critic extol Cuban propaganda as the ONLY beacon of truth and anything contradict this propaganda is false, the same Cuban propaganda that have been shown to be as truthful as Nazi propaganda. Cuban propaganda and Vietnamese propaganda claimed that in 1960, the North Vietnamese established the National Liberation Front of Vietnam to fight against the Diem government and the Americans, that the NLF was an independent organization and do not receive support from the North Vietnamese. Recently, the Vietnamese government in their official history book called "Duoi Mot Bong Co" [Under the same flag], admits that the formation of the NLF was done in 1959 NOT 1960 as their propaganda have claimed.

When the AK-47s Fall Silent

Comments by the AuthorWhen the AK-47s Fall Silent is a study of the transformation of warriors into participants in peace as told by combatants from several of the armed irregular forces that fought on all sides of Central America's recent wars. It is the product of the first ever face-to-face meeting between Marxist revolutionaries and Nicaraguan Contras, a unique dialogue between fighters. The first section of AK-47s is by revolutionaries, mostly Marxists, the second by former Nicaraguan Contras, the final one by international peacemakers. Those who speak here are the warriors who actually fought those wars, not politicans who talked or academics who wrote, so even experts may recognize only a few of them. They were to busy making war on the battlefields in Central America to write articles, give speeches, or make the news in Washington, or Havana. These are then the real experts on what actually happened, not spin-doctors. Together they have more than 250 years hands-on experience at war, revolution and peacemaking, and in AK-47s for the very first time they share with the rest of us the wisdom they amassed during those centuries of risking their lives. Surprisingly, even as they rewrite important passages of history what they have to say carries a message of hope for the future. Hope because these men and women of war who once preferred to speak not in words but out of the barrels of their AK-47 assault rifles have all today abandon the route of armed struggle in favor of participating in the democratic process. And each not only describes in his or her own words their personal passages from war to peace but also invites urges others to follow that path.Make no mistake. Those who speak here were not bit players. They were at the heart of events that cost a half-million lives. One, a second generation Marxist-Leninist revolutionary, was a key KGB and Cuban Intelligence link to many Central American revolutionary movements, especially the Sandinistas. Another was a National Director of the Sandinista Front educated in Moscow and trained as a guerrilla in Cuba and North Korea. Yet another was the top military commander of El Salvador's Faribundo Marti Liberation Front. Another was both an original 1979 founder of the Contra movement and in 1990 the last Chief of Staff of their biggest Army. Three marginalized groups are also represented. A woman comando [as the Contras called themselves] and Ranger with eight years infantry combat experience explains why women can and do make excellent front line infantry soldiers. A Miskito Indian who led into battle the largest Indian army of the 20th century after Emiliano Zapata explains why indigenous peoples can no longer be ignored. A peasant considered by many as the best natural guerrilla leader of the last century says in the plainwords of a simple farmer why free and independent peasants will always fight to defend their way of life. Rounding out AK-47s are three major essays on the process of pea