CHILE: Reflecting on the Revolutionary Left

Half a century after its founding, Chile’s Movement of the Revolutionary Left (MIR) is still not widely understood. Historian Marian Schlotterbeck shares personal stories she encountered from former MIR members.

Four years ago, in October 2011, I was sitting on a park bench in the southern Chilean town of Tomé, enjoying the warm spring day and talking to retired textile worker Juan Reyes. I had met Reyes in the context of my dissertation research on the rise of Chile’s revolutionary left, the Movement of the Revolutionary Left (Movimiento de Izquierda Revolucionaria, MIR). Over the past months, Reyes had arranged and often accompanied me on interviews with former members of the MIR and its student and labor fronts...