Laying the foundations for rapprochement with the Third World. The Chilean Left on the Cusp of the Triumph of the Cuban Revolution
When addressing the relationship between Latin America, Chile, and the Third World in the second half of the 20th century, there is a historiographical assumption that establishes the Cuban Revolution as playing an essential role as a cultural translator in bringing these two spatialities together. This article addresses the unresolved historiographical issue of understanding the relationship between Chilean politics and the Third World during the long 1960s, taking into account the plural nature of the left. In doing so, it brings to light the nuances behind the political actions of the parties under study, as well as the local conditions that shaped different forms of engagement between Chilean politics and the diverse experiences of the Third World. This article examines the process of rapprochement by the Chilean Communist Party and the Chilean Socialist Party toward the Third World on the eve of the Cuban Revolution’s triumph, proposing the existence of spaces for approximation and the construction of meaning around the Third World. These encounters and contacts demonstrate the agency of local actors in their own processes of internationalization during the long 1960s, establishing degrees of autonomy with respect to other processes, references, and influences shaping Latin America’s relationship with Africa and Asia.
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