Show Notes
In this episode, we discuss Costa-Gavras’s State of Siege, a tightly constructed political thriller based on the real-life kidnapping and execution of U.S. police advisor Dan Mitrione by Uruguay’s Tupamaros guerrillas. Set in early 1970s Uruguay but filmed in Allende-era Chile just before the coup, the film dramatizes how U.S. “public safety” programs—nominally about technical assistance and crime prevention—became tools of Cold War counterinsurgency, helping repressive regimes police and suppress political dissent. With scholars Stuart Schrader (Badges Without Borders) and Alex Aviña (Specters of Revolution), we explore the intersections of U.S. empire, global policing, and revolutionary resistance in the Southern Cone, and reflect on what it means to live in a world still shaped by these Cold War legacies. Further Reading Specters of Revolution, by Alex “When NACLA Helped Shutter the U.S. Office of Public Safety,” by Stuart “From Police Reform to Police Repression,” by Stuart Twitter thread on Dan Mitrione by Stuart Badges Without Borders, by Stuart Of Light and Struggle, by Debbie Sharnak “The Long Arm of the Law,” by Lyle Latin America’s Radical Left, by Aldo Marchesi “Revolution Beyond the Sierra Maestra,” by Aldo Marchesi Becoming the Tupamaros, by Lindsey Churchill National Security Archive: The Dan Mitrione File Teaser from The Episode State of Siege Trailer
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This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.bangbangpod.com
This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.bangbangpod.com
This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.bangbangpod.com