Premium Episode 123 - the Tupamaros Revisited: Plan Satan, Urban Guerrilla Warfare, Wikileaks Disclosures, and A Supreme Life

Programmed to Chill

[originally published on Patreon February 9, 2024]

As if I didn't discuss the Tupamaros enough, I revisit the story in light of even more information I found. In particular, I look at a RAND report on the MLN-T and cross-reference it with several more books on the group. This leads us to the interestingly-named Plan Satán, as well as much more context for the Mitrione kidnapping. I also found more information on the Nixon administration's decisions at the time.

Then, CJ and I act out a dramatic reading of Dialogue Before Death (1971), a portion of Mitrione's interrogation tapes by Tupamaros. We also discuss the curious publisher of this book, as well as more on the calculations that went into the decision to execute him.

Then, I look at an analysis of the strengths and weaknesses of the MLN-T through the eyes of one of their inspirations - Abraham Guillén, author of Estrategia de la guerrilla urbana (1969), as well as similar assessments made in the International Journal of Intelligence and Counterintelligence. I make a major tangent looking at the "Abraham Guillen Press/Arm the Spirit" publisher.

I make a few final notes about the Tupamaros including that they confirmed Hevia was in contact with them before he defected back to Cuba. Additionally, I tell the story of Henry Engler, the Swedish Tupamaro, as well as what Wikileaks disclosures showed us of diplomatic handwringing about Uruguayan cancer center negotiations in 2007. Diplomats be lying. To close out, I mention some of the wavy stuff relating to the Tupamaros' imprisonment, and discuss the Tupamaros leadership entering Uruguayan politics, culminating with Jose 'Pepe' Mujica becoming the President of Uruguay from 2010 to 2015. [note: at some point, probably talking about Guillén, I accidentally said FIA instead of FAI. FAI meaning the Federación Anarquista Ibérica, of which he was a member] Songs: Adios by Los Tupamaros Anna was a Stool Pigeon by Laura Jane Grace En Esta Tarde Gris by Julio Sosa