Historical Dictionary of Terrorism Third Edition

CONTEMPORARY TERRORISMINTRODUCTION • lixIn the 1960s, “terror from below” continued as a new generation ofrevolutionaries attempted to overthrow what they regarded as repressiveregimes. In Latin America, the use of terror as part of insurgent movementswas accelerated by the Cuban revolution and the attempt to exportit to Central and South America. Ernesto “Che” Guevara perhaps bestembodied the mystique that surrounded the new revolutionaries. Guevaraemphasized the need to employ terror tactics in an essentially rural guerrillawar. He emphasized the importance of the foco—a small, clandestinegroup of rebels who could ignite the fires of revolution. Guevara, however,overlooked the importance of slowly developing a foundation of supportamong the indigenous peasantry. His failure to rally the peasants led tohis capture and death in Bolivia. Despite Guevara’s failure, his mystiquewould influence other real and self-styled revolutionary terrorists.In contrast to Guevara’s rural-based approach, Carlos Marighella emphasizedthe importance of employing terrorism in the cities as a meansof dramatizing the rebels’ cause and provoking the government to overreact.In turn this overreaction was supposed to antagonize the generalpopulation, either neutralizing their support for the established order orprompting them to join the revolutionary cause. Marighella’s Manual ofthe Urban Guerrilla provided a tactical guide instructing future urbanterrorists on how to finance their operations through bank robberies,among other things. 14 In the United States the Symbionese LiberationArmy would follow Marighella’s approach, even using the kidnappedheiress Patty Hearst in its short-lived and violent history. During thisperiod groups such as the Red Army Faction in Germany (then betterknown as the Baader-Meinhof Gang), the Red Brigades in Italy, andthe Weather Underground in the United States revived and renewed theanarchistic tradition even though they conceived of themselves as bonafide internationalist socialist revolutionaries.During the late 1960s, the scope and impact of terrorism was greatlyexpanded, as was earlier noted, as a result of the large-scale globalintroduction of jet aircraft. The Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine(PFLP) engaged in a number of highly dramatic operations in theperiod from 1968 to 1970 that would be copied by numerous terroristgroups in the following decades.With the seizure of 53 American hostages at the U.S. embassy inTehran in November 1979, another chapter in modern terrorism was