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In the 1960s, Uruguay endured an economic crisis that quickly turned into a conflict between the National Liberation Movement-Tupamaros (MLN-T) and the state then ruled by Juan María Bordaberry of the Colorado Party. The radicalization of the MLN-T and the rise of State repression granted growing power to the Armed Forces, leading to the coup d'État of June 27, 1973 followed by the establishment of a civic-military dictatorship. The next twelve years were marked by repression, censorship, violence and numerous disappearances. Like other Latin American Cold War dictatorships, Uruguay joined Operation Condor: a South American network led by the United States with the goal of tracking down and annihilating political opponents. The 1985 elections marked the end of the dictatorship and return of democracy. However, in the aftermath of the victory of Julio María Sanguinetti of the Colorado party, a struggle erupted in the heart of society over who was to blame for the country’s fall into authoritarianism, state repression and violence. On the one hand, the Armed Forces were accused of abuse of power and crimes against humanity. On the other, some defended the military as though they had saved the country from the “subversive” threat. This study analyzes Uruguay’s transitional process which, unlike its Latin American counterparts, has not included a formal mechanism for the search for truth upon the return of democracy. Uruguay rather chose to amnesty the Tupamaros detained during the dictatorship, all the while promulgating the Law of Caducity which granted impunity to the military. By collecting different perspectives on the recent past through art and cultural productions produced by civil society after le return du democracy, this thesis studies the evolution of memorial speeches as they are expressed in public spaces. Our goal is to better understand how memorial discourses emerge in a country where democratic remedies have confirmed impunity.

Throughout the twentieth century, the Peruvian mining industry has undergone a series of transformations that have had profound economical, social and political impact on the nation and its citizens. These changes, however, were not without opposition. In fact, studying recent Peruvian history from a resistance point of view, three different periods come to the foreground. From 1901 to 1930, workers were mostly Andean peasants coerced to work in mines by means of a debt-peonage system called enganche. Their means of resistance, having no union at this time, were mostly individual and short-termed, such as leaving their workplace without completing their contract. One non-governmental organization (NGO) concerned about miners' working conditions was the Asociación Pro-Indígena, composed of progressive Peruvian intellectuals such as Dora Mayer, who studied the practice and impact of the enganche system. The second – spanning from 1930 to 1980 – is both the longest and most important period for studying the transformation of the mining industry and its impact. It is during this period that unions were created and expanded, despite facing serious state oppression. In 1969, the Federación Nacional de los Trabajadores Mineros y Metalúrgicos del Perú (FNTMMP) was created and was the first successful attempt to unite all mining industry workers into one organization. This federation was a prominent actor in the social movement of the seventies, and was one of the organizations that contributed to General Bermúdez's resignation and the presidential elections of 1980 which signaled Peru’s return to democracy after over a decade of military rule. Parallel to this return to representative democracy was the launching of Sendero Luminoso's armed struggle, and the subsequent civil war. This period affected greatly unions of all sectors, who were caught between Sendero Luminoso's purges and the Army's repression. The third period begins with Alberto Fujimori's presidential election in 1990. This president is known for his victory against Sendero Luminoso and the neoliberal reforms he pushed forward by way of quasi-authoritarian practices (such as the suspension of congress in 1992). These reforms mainly consisted in the government changing legislation in order to help foreign companies, such as mining firms, to benefit from Peru's primary resources. Resisting this new paradigm are the communities organized through the Confederación Nacional de las Comunidades Afectadas por la Minería (CONACAMI). Finally, although each period demonstrates distinct means to battle against transnational mining companies and to circumscribe and seek repair for abuses committed, there is a continuity across them: the subalterns' will to be heard.

If the signature of the Peace Accords in 1996 ended the thirty-six-year internal armed conflict between the State and the guerrillas, the peace in Guatemala remains nonetheless quite relative. After the genocide and the counterinsurgency campaigns, numerous Mayan peoples today are facing new threats related to the arrival of natural resource projects in the country. For many, they are the expression of a war by other means. This M.A. thesis looks into the resorts to the past used by activists mobilized to recover their lands and to protect their territory in the post-conflict period. Indeed, the renewal and the transformation of the violence in times of peace brought some inhabitants of the Ixil area to reflect differently on the recent and distant past. This investigation explores the narratives formulated by these militants and the functions of historical memory as a tool for political advocacy which enables to confront past and present violence. In order to do so, this study first analyzes a book originating from a process for the recovering of historical memory by a group of survivors of the internal armed conflict, then, the resort to historical memory by the inhabitants mobilized for the defense of their lands, and, finally, the role of the new generations within the memory and territorial activism in the Ixil area.

En 2003, la Commission de vérité et de réconciliation du Pérou (CVR) publie un rapport sur la période de guerre interne et de violence qui a déchiré le pays entre 1980 et 2000. Ce rapport étudie ces deux décennies pour faire la lumière sur les événements et évaluer la position de divers secteurs de la société afin que les Péruviens puissent se réconcilier avec un pan de leur histoire. Dans son rapport, la CVR consacre une section aux médias, notamment la presse écrite, et salue le rôle « important » qu’ils ont joué, tout en notant au passage que leur couverture du conflit n’a pas favorisé la pacification du pays et a même pu la compromettre par moments. Ce mémoire vise à étudier la couverture de la guerre interne par les trois quotidiens péruviens les plus importants pour le tirage, Expreso, El Comercio, et La República. Il porte surtout sur la période comprise entre le début des hostilités, le 17 mai 1980, et le massacre de huit journalistes dans le village andin d’Uchuraccay, le 26 janvier 1983. Un regard est également jeté sur l’évolution du journalisme au Pérou depuis les années 1960, marquées par l’élection d’un gouvernement démocratique et aussi par l’instauration d’un régime militaire qui se maintiendra au pouvoir pendant 12 ans. Les bouleversements au cours de cette période difficile expliquent, au moins en partie, le désintérêt initialement manifesté par ces quotidiens, au-delà des différences idéologiques manifestes, à l’endroit des premiers pas du Sentier Lumineux et de sa « guerre populaire ».

Le 11 septembre 1973, un coup d’État orchestré par les Forces Armées chiliennes met fin à trois années de gouvernement socialiste dirigé par Salvador Allende. Augusto Pinochet, à la tête du putsch, installe au pouvoir une violente dictature militaire pour dix-sept ans. Événement synonyme de trauma et instigateur d’une période répressive, ou sauvetage national venant freiner la descente aux enfers socialistes? La mémoire de la société chilienne demeure fragmentée vis-à-vis de son passé récent. Cette étude cherche à définir la transmission intergénérationnelle de la mémoire du passé répressif. Menée sur deux fronts, soit à Santiago et à Montréal, la présente recherche s’applique à établir quelles sont les interprétations du passé récent de la génération « postmémoire », c’est-à-dire des personnes nées peu avant ou durant la dictature. Les représentations, les perceptions, ainsi que les canaux d’apprentissage seront mis en perspective selon le territoire, afin de dégager les discours communs et antagonistes. Prenant assise sur des sources orales, ce mémoire présentera les différentes versions du passé selon vingt-huit témoignages.