ABSTRACT
Censorship in Latin America has a long history. Indeed, it is part of the cultural tradition. It was practiced from the first decades of the European conquest and continued through colonial times and most of the postindependence era. The model for the “national security state” was Brazil. There, in late March 1964, a military coup supported by the most conservative political groups ousted the civilian government of Joáo Goulart during a time of economic crisis, political polarization, and attempted government mobilization for socioeconomic reforms. Until September 11, 1973, the Latin American country with one of the strongest traditions of free discourse and an open press was Chile. Great pride was taken in the high rate of literacy, a flourishing literature that produced two Nobel Prize winners, and a sophisticated, vibrant press that expressed a broad range of cultural and political viewpoints.
