Fracchia, Antonio Luis Araguaia War. Volume 2: Counterinsurgency Operations Against the Communist Guerilla in Brazil, 1967-1974

Counterinsurgency and Legacy: The Struggle for Control in Araguaia

Volume 46 in the series Latin America @ War. The Guerrilha do Araguaia (Araguaia Guerrilla) was an armed conflict that took place between 1967 and 1974 in Brazil in the Araguaia river basin in the states of Maranhao, Pará and Goiás, deep in the Amazon region in an area called Bico do Papagaio (Parrot's Beak). The movement was founded by activists of the Brazilian Communist Party (PCdoB) at the time the Maoist faction of the Brazilian Communist Party (PCB) with the aim of establishing a rural stronghold from which to wage a people's war against the military regime that had been ruling Brazil since the 1964 coup d'état. Their strategy was inspired by the successful tactics employed by the 26th of July Movement during the Cuban Revolution and by the Chinese Communist Party during the final stages of the Chinese Civil War in 1949. Volume 2 of this miniseries is divided into two chapters. Chapter 1 examines the armed insurgency and counterinsurgency operations conducted by the Brazilian armed forces against the guerrillas. Chapter 2 focuses on the events that followed the insurgents' defeat. The appendices include an extensive interview with Colonel Pedro Correa Cabral, a pilot who flew the Cessna O-1 Bird Dog observation plane and the Bell UH-1D and UH-1H helicopters during the campaign. As usual in the Latin America @ War series, this book is richly illustrated with authentic photos, maps and specially created colour profiles.