Transpacific revolutionaries: The Chinese revolution in Latin America

Thousands of Latin American Maoists went to China for political and military training during the 1949-1976 period. Often, foreign Maoists attended six month long courses which included both classroom instruction and trips around China so that the visitors could witness Chinese socialism first hand and sometimes participate in agricultural or factory work alongside Chinese peasants and workers. Latin Americans who traveled to China and attended these training courses were often able to use their trips to China as a basis for claiming authoritative knowledge about making revolutionary change. These China travelers played a major role in leading Latin American Maoist initiatives and in deciding what aspects of the Chinese experience would be most relevant to their home countries.;The movement of Chinese communist ideas to Latin America was the product of a highly organized effort that involved formal connections between Latin American activists and the People's Republic of China. While efforts to domesticate Chinese ideas to Latin America yielded different results in each particular country, the process of transmission of these ideas was remarkably similar. Key individuals traveled to China and, upon their returns to Latin America, disseminated their understandings of the lessons or the Chinese Revolution via party meetings, public forums, and in articles and books. Parties and organized networks of activists worked assiduously to distribute Maoist propaganda, much of which was produced in China. The spread of Maoist ideology led to different outcomes in the Mexican, Peruvian and Bolivian cases examined below. The Peruvian case is particularly notable, as Latin American Maoists who had traveled to China for political training led the Shining Path, a major insurrectionary movement.