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Americas in Transition

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The Oscars® Winners & Nominees • 29m

Directed by Obie Benz • Documentary • With Ed Asner • 1982 • 29 minutes

[ 01/03/2026: Forgive us for feeling it's déjà vu all over again! So, maybe it's a good time to revisit this Oscar-nominated doc from the 80s? ]

AMERICAS IN TRANSITION provides a concise and fast-paced history of the volatile forces that rocked Chile, El Salvador, Guatemala, and Nicaragua in the 1970s and 1980s. Drawing on interviews with the Mexican writer Carlos Fuentes, former CIA director Lyman Kirkpatrick, former U.S. Ambassador to El Salvador Murat Williams, and Maryknoll missioner Peggy Healy, the film examines the roots of dictatorship, attempts at democracy, communist influences, and the U.S. role in Latin American politics.

AMERICAS IN TRANSITION remains the best introduction to U.S. relations with Latin America, and the underlying causes of unrest there.

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20th century, american, americas, americas in transition, area studies, armed, carlos fuentes, central america, chile, communism, communist, doc, documentary, dominican republic, dvd, el salvador, expository, film, government, guatemala, history, icarus films, international relations and geopolitics, intervention, involvement, latin american history, latin american studies, lyman kirkpatrick, military, murat williams, nicaragua, obie benz, oscar nominated, ovid, ovid_ca, politics and political science, revolt, revolution, s_0001, s_0158, s_0171, s_0277, s_0307, s_0327, s_0361, s_0520, s_0526, s_0533, s_0638, south america, the, title_a, title_abc, u.s., u.s. foreign policy, uprising, us, video, world history, world regions

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