Heather Vrana is Assistant Professor of History at the University of Florida. She is also the author of This City Belongs to You: A History of Student Activism in Guatemala, 1944-1983 (University of California Press). Her articles and reviews have appeared in the Radical History Review, Journal of Genocide Research, Ethnohistory, e-misférica, and Journal of Latin American Geography. She is co-editor of Revisiting the Guatemalan Revolution (forthcoming). Her new research is on disability in Central America.

Heather Vrana’s anthology, Anti-Colonial Texts from Central American Student Movements, 1929-1983 is an exceedingly important contribution to the scholarship and in particular the pedagogy of Central American history. The texts reveal two overarching themes across the decades. First, there is a striking coherence and continuity to anti-imperialist (or anti-colonialist) thought emanating from both students and administrators and, before 1960 from various political tendencies. That thought, often inspired by Central American nationalism, was linked, in turn, to a fierce devotion to university autonomy. Yet, as the texts make extremely clear, students made no effort to isolate the university from the struggles of workers, peasants, and marginalized sectors. Often poignantly, the students demanded their physical and moral integration into the broader society. The students’ high level of communication with relatively uneducated sectors of the citizenry was remarkable and will prove highly instructive to American and British university students. Vrana has done an excellent job of digging through a number of often difficult archives in order to present this wide array of well-translated texts from the five Central American republics.

• Notes on TranslationsNotes on SourcesIntroductionFurther Reading Chapter 1: Central American Modernities, 1929-1944Guatemala‘In Complete Tyranny,’ El Estudiante (1920)Manuel Galich, ‘The Manifesto of 1942,’ in Del pánico al ataque (1949)AEU, Manifesto (1946)El SalvadorAddress, Dr Miguel Rafael Urquia, El Estudiante (1933) Address, Br Reinaldo Galindo Pohl, La Universidad (1944)NicaraguaExcerpts, Central University of Nicaragua, Report of its Foundation (1941)David Sánchez Sánchez, ‘The Student Body as a Political Force,’ El Universitario (1945)Juan F. Gutiérrez, ‘Let’s Build the Fatherland,’ El Universitario (1946) Costa Rica‘"In Costa Rica we are proud of our freedom of thought…’ La Tribuna (1931)Excerpts, Manuel Mora Valverde, Imperialism: Our sovereignty before the State Department (1940)HondurasJorge Fidel Durón, ‘Function of the University,’ Revista de la Universidad (1949)Jorge St. Siegens, ‘Cooperativism in Honduras,’ Revista de la Universidad (1950)Chapter 2: Enduring Militarism, 1952-1959GuatemalaCommittee of Guatemalan Anticommunist University Students in Exile (CEUAGE), ‘Standing up to the Red Dictatorship in Guatemala’, Boletín de CEUAGE (1953)Committee of Anticommunist University Students (CEUA), Plan de Tegucigalpa, (1954)‘AEU Versus Discrimination,’ Informador Estudiantil (1956)Editorial, El Estudiante (1957)‘Association of Law Students contesting Decree 1215 of the Republic, declares Carlos Castillo Armas traitor to the Fatherland’ (1958)El SalvadorAGEUS, ‘Manifesto,’ Opinión Estudiantil (1956)AGEUS, ‘Solidarity with Nicaraguan exiles,’ Opinión Estudiantil (1956)‘Communiqué,’ Opinión Estudiantil (1956)Nicaragua‘Here are the murders and their Victims,’ El Universitario (1960)‘COSEC Receives Cablegram from SOMOZA,’ El Universitario (1960)Honduras‘National Constitutional Assembly of 1957,’ from Historico-Juridical Study on theAutonomy of the National Autonomous University of Honduras (1957)‘Organic Law of the University of Honduras,’ Legislative Decree 170 (1958)Chapter 3: Dependency, Development, and New Roles for Student Movements, 1960-1981Nicaragua‘Cuba and Latin America, Yes! Yankees No!’ El Universitario (1960)Excerpts, Student Centre of the National University (CUUN), Imperialism (1971)GuatemalaJaime F. Pineda S., ‘The Participation of University Students in National Life,’ TribunaEconómica (1962)USAC Rector Roberto Valdeavellano Pinot, ‘Communiqué’ (1974)Excerpts, ‘International Monetary Fund, Tentacle of Capitalism,’ 7 Días en la USAC (1980)‘Letter from a Thief to his Neighbours’ (1976)Costa RicaFEUCR, ‘History signals our position,’ El Universitario (1970)‘Why I participated in the actions on the 24th’ El Universitario (1970)Editorial, El Universitario (1970)Honduras‘Joint Declaration by the Federation of Honduran University Students (FEUH) and theGeneral Association of Salvadoran University Students (AGEUS),’ Boletin del Instituto de Investigaciones Económicas y Sociales (1974)‘The Murders of the CIA,’ Presencia Universitaria (1976)El SalvadorExcerpts, University High Council, Freedom and culture with regard to the debate about the university (1964)AGEUS, ‘On the agrarian problem,’ El Universitario (1979)Excerpts, AGEUS, Healthcare in El Salvador, another reason for the popular struggle, (1981)Chapter 4: Revolution and Civil War, 1966-1981NicaraguaCarlos Fonseca, ‘A Message to Revolutionary Students’ (1968)GuatemalaEditorial, No Nos Tientes (1966)JPT, ‘Who Will Benefit from the War in Belize?’ Juventud (1977)AEU, ‘The Guatemalan student movement in the struggle for the respect of democratic and human rights…’ (1977)Oliverio Castañeda de León, Speech to the AEU (1978)El Salvador‘Declaration of the University of El Salvador’s High Council on the National Situation,’ El Universitario (1979)Communiqué, Opinión Estudiantil (1980)‘Guatemala: In the difficult struggle for its freedom…’ Opinión Estudiantil (1980)José María Cuellar, ‘1932’ and ‘Wars in My Country’‘Poetry from a heroic woman from our pueblo,’ Opinión Estudiantil (1981)Honduras‘Honduras – Nicaragua: Form a Solidarity Committee,’ Presencia Universitaria (1976)Excerpts, Armando Valladares, ‘Achievements and Meaning of Our University Autonomy’ in Universidad y Autonomía: un encuentro del presente (1978)Chapter 5: Revolutionary Futures, 1976-1982Costa RicaR. Morua, ‘We the students say: "We want to build our tomorrow,’’’ El Universitario (1970)HondurasFederation of Honduran University Students (FEUH), ‘Public Declaration,’ Presencia Universitaria (1976)Excerpts, Enrique Astorga Lira, ‘Marginal Models of Agrarian Reform in Latin America: the Case of Honduras,’ Alcaraván (1980)Excerpts, Editorial, El tornillo sin fin: the virile Organ of the university students of Honduras (1981)GuatemalaExcerpts, ‘Bulletin No. 2 of the Huelga de Dolores’ (1980)Saúl Osorio Paz, ‘Open Letter to the University High Council’ (1980)El Salvador‘Salvadoran students facing imperialist intervention in El Salvador,’ Opinión Estudiantil (1981)AGEUS, ‘Agustín Farabundo Martí, Example of anti-imperialist struggle and of the popular war for liberation,’ Opinión Estudiantil (1982)NicaraguaDaisy Zamora, ‘Commander Two,’ ‘Report of the Demonstration in Front of the US Embassy Protesting the Pino Grande Manoeuvres,’ and ‘Song of Hope,’ from Clean Slate (1993)Jaime Wheelock, ‘The University for Economic Independence: The Militant University’ in For National Independence through Revolution: The Militant University (1983)Conclusion

Heather Vrana is Assistant Professor of History at the University of Florida. She is also the author of This City Belongs to You: A History of Student Activism in Guatemala, 1944-1983 (University of California Press). Her articles and reviews have appeared in the Radical History Review, Journal of Genocide Research, Ethnohistory, e-misférica, and Journal of Latin American Geography. She is co-editor of Revisiting the Guatemalan Revolution (forthcoming). Her new research is on disability in Central America.

Heather Vrana’s anthology, Anti-Colonial Texts from Central American Student Movements, 1929-1983 is an exceedingly important contribution to the scholarship and in particular the pedagogy of Central American history. The texts reveal two overarching themes across the decades. First, there is a striking coherence and continuity to anti-imperialist (or anti-colonialist) thought emanating from both students and administrators and, before 1960 from various political tendencies. That thought, often inspired by Central American nationalism, was linked, in turn, to a fierce devotion to university autonomy. Yet, as the texts make extremely clear, students made no effort to isolate the university from the struggles of workers, peasants, and marginalized sectors. Often poignantly, the students demanded their physical and moral integration into the broader society. The students’ high level of communication with relatively uneducated sectors of the citizenry was remarkable and will prove highly instructive to American and British university students. Vrana has done an excellent job of digging through a number of often difficult archives in order to present this wide array of well-translated texts from the five Central American republics.

• Notes on TranslationsNotes on SourcesIntroductionFurther Reading Chapter 1: Central American Modernities, 1929-1944Guatemala‘In Complete Tyranny,’ El Estudiante (1920)Manuel Galich, ‘The Manifesto of 1942,’ in Del pánico al ataque (1949)AEU, Manifesto (1946)El SalvadorAddress, Dr Miguel Rafael Urquia, El Estudiante (1933) Address, Br Reinaldo Galindo Pohl, La Universidad (1944)NicaraguaExcerpts, Central University of Nicaragua, Report of its Foundation (1941)David Sánchez Sánchez, ‘The Student Body as a Political Force,’ El Universitario (1945)Juan F. Gutiérrez, ‘Let’s Build the Fatherland,’ El Universitario (1946) Costa Rica‘"In Costa Rica we are proud of our freedom of thought…’ La Tribuna (1931)Excerpts, Manuel Mora Valverde, Imperialism: Our sovereignty before the State Department (1940)HondurasJorge Fidel Durón, ‘Function of the University,’ Revista de la Universidad (1949)Jorge St. Siegens, ‘Cooperativism in Honduras,’ Revista de la Universidad (1950)Chapter 2: Enduring Militarism, 1952-1959GuatemalaCommittee of Guatemalan Anticommunist University Students in Exile (CEUAGE), ‘Standing up to the Red Dictatorship in Guatemala’, Boletín de CEUAGE (1953)Committee of Anticommunist University Students (CEUA), Plan de Tegucigalpa, (1954)‘AEU Versus Discrimination,’ Informador Estudiantil (1956)Editorial, El Estudiante (1957)‘Association of Law Students contesting Decree 1215 of the Republic, declares Carlos Castillo Armas traitor to the Fatherland’ (1958)El SalvadorAGEUS, ‘Manifesto,’ Opinión Estudiantil (1956)AGEUS, ‘Solidarity with Nicaraguan exiles,’ Opinión Estudiantil (1956)‘Communiqué,’ Opinión Estudiantil (1956)Nicaragua‘Here are the murders and their Victims,’ El Universitario (1960)‘COSEC Receives Cablegram from SOMOZA,’ El Universitario (1960)Honduras‘National Constitutional Assembly of 1957,’ from Historico-Juridical Study on theAutonomy of the National Autonomous University of Honduras (1957)‘Organic Law of the University of Honduras,’ Legislative Decree 170 (1958)Chapter 3: Dependency, Development, and New Roles for Student Movements, 1960-1981Nicaragua‘Cuba and Latin America, Yes! Yankees No!’ El Universitario (1960)Excerpts, Student Centre of the National University (CUUN), Imperialism (1971)GuatemalaJaime F. Pineda S., ‘The Participation of University Students in National Life,’ TribunaEconómica (1962)USAC Rector Roberto Valdeavellano Pinot, ‘Communiqué’ (1974)Excerpts, ‘International Monetary Fund, Tentacle of Capitalism,’ 7 Días en la USAC (1980)‘Letter from a Thief to his Neighbours’ (1976)Costa RicaFEUCR, ‘History signals our position,’ El Universitario (1970)‘Why I participated in the actions on the 24th’ El Universitario (1970)Editorial, El Universitario (1970)Honduras‘Joint Declaration by the Federation of Honduran University Students (FEUH) and theGeneral Association of Salvadoran University Students (AGEUS),’ Boletin del Instituto de Investigaciones Económicas y Sociales (1974)‘The Murders of the CIA,’ Presencia Universitaria (1976)El SalvadorExcerpts, University High Council, Freedom and culture with regard to the debate about the university (1964)AGEUS, ‘On the agrarian problem,’ El Universitario (1979)Excerpts, AGEUS, Healthcare in El Salvador, another reason for the popular struggle, (1981)Chapter 4: Revolution and Civil War, 1966-1981NicaraguaCarlos Fonseca, ‘A Message to Revolutionary Students’ (1968)GuatemalaEditorial, No Nos Tientes (1966)JPT, ‘Who Will Benefit from the War in Belize?’ Juventud (1977)AEU, ‘The Guatemalan student movement in the struggle for the respect of democratic and human rights…’ (1977)Oliverio Castañeda de León, Speech to the AEU (1978)El Salvador‘Declaration of the University of El Salvador’s High Council on the National Situation,’ El Universitario (1979)Communiqué, Opinión Estudiantil (1980)‘Guatemala: In the difficult struggle for its freedom…’ Opinión Estudiantil (1980)José María Cuellar, ‘1932’ and ‘Wars in My Country’‘Poetry from a heroic woman from our pueblo,’ Opinión Estudiantil (1981)Honduras‘Honduras – Nicaragua: Form a Solidarity Committee,’ Presencia Universitaria (1976)Excerpts, Armando Valladares, ‘Achievements and Meaning of Our University Autonomy’ in Universidad y Autonomía: un encuentro del presente (1978)Chapter 5: Revolutionary Futures, 1976-1982Costa RicaR. Morua, ‘We the students say: "We want to build our tomorrow,’’’ El Universitario (1970)HondurasFederation of Honduran University Students (FEUH), ‘Public Declaration,’ Presencia Universitaria (1976)Excerpts, Enrique Astorga Lira, ‘Marginal Models of Agrarian Reform in Latin America: the Case of Honduras,’ Alcaraván (1980)Excerpts, Editorial, El tornillo sin fin: the virile Organ of the university students of Honduras (1981)GuatemalaExcerpts, ‘Bulletin No. 2 of the Huelga de Dolores’ (1980)Saúl Osorio Paz, ‘Open Letter to the University High Council’ (1980)El Salvador‘Salvadoran students facing imperialist intervention in El Salvador,’ Opinión Estudiantil (1981)AGEUS, ‘Agustín Farabundo Martí, Example of anti-imperialist struggle and of the popular war for liberation,’ Opinión Estudiantil (1982)NicaraguaDaisy Zamora, ‘Commander Two,’ ‘Report of the Demonstration in Front of the US Embassy Protesting the Pino Grande Manoeuvres,’ and ‘Song of Hope,’ from Clean Slate (1993)Jaime Wheelock, ‘The University for Economic Independence: The Militant University’ in For National Independence through Revolution: The Militant University (1983)Conclusion

Heather Vrana is Assistant Professor of History at the University of Florida. She is also the author of This City Belongs to You: A History of Student Activism in Guatemala, 1944-1983 (University of California Press). Her articles and reviews have appeared in the Radical History Review, Journal of Genocide Research, Ethnohistory, e-misférica, and Journal of Latin American Geography. She is co-editor of Revisiting the Guatemalan Revolution (forthcoming). Her new research is on disability in Central America.

Heather Vrana’s anthology, Anti-Colonial Texts from Central American Student Movements, 1929-1983 is an exceedingly important contribution to the scholarship and in particular the pedagogy of Central American history. The texts reveal two overarching themes across the decades. First, there is a striking coherence and continuity to anti-imperialist (or anti-colonialist) thought emanating from both students and administrators and, before 1960 from various political tendencies. That thought, often inspired by Central American nationalism, was linked, in turn, to a fierce devotion to university autonomy. Yet, as the texts make extremely clear, students made no effort to isolate the university from the struggles of workers, peasants, and marginalized sectors. Often poignantly, the students demanded their physical and moral integration into the broader society. The students’ high level of communication with relatively uneducated sectors of the citizenry was remarkable and will prove highly instructive to American and British university students. Vrana has done an excellent job of digging through a number of often difficult archives in order to present this wide array of well-translated texts from the five Central American republics.

• Notes on TranslationsNotes on SourcesIntroductionFurther Reading Chapter 1: Central American Modernities, 1929-1944Guatemala‘In Complete Tyranny,’ El Estudiante (1920)Manuel Galich, ‘The Manifesto of 1942,’ in Del pánico al ataque (1949)AEU, Manifesto (1946)El SalvadorAddress, Dr Miguel Rafael Urquia, El Estudiante (1933) Address, Br Reinaldo Galindo Pohl, La Universidad (1944)NicaraguaExcerpts, Central University of Nicaragua, Report of its Foundation (1941)David Sánchez Sánchez, ‘The Student Body as a Political Force,’ El Universitario (1945)Juan F. Gutiérrez, ‘Let’s Build the Fatherland,’ El Universitario (1946) Costa Rica‘"In Costa Rica we are proud of our freedom of thought…’ La Tribuna (1931)Excerpts, Manuel Mora Valverde, Imperialism: Our sovereignty before the State Department (1940)HondurasJorge Fidel Durón, ‘Function of the University,’ Revista de la Universidad (1949)Jorge St. Siegens, ‘Cooperativism in Honduras,’ Revista de la Universidad (1950)Chapter 2: Enduring Militarism, 1952-1959GuatemalaCommittee of Guatemalan Anticommunist University Students in Exile (CEUAGE), ‘Standing up to the Red Dictatorship in Guatemala’, Boletín de CEUAGE (1953)Committee of Anticommunist University Students (CEUA), Plan de Tegucigalpa, (1954)‘AEU Versus Discrimination,’ Informador Estudiantil (1956)Editorial, El Estudiante (1957)‘Association of Law Students contesting Decree 1215 of the Republic, declares Carlos Castillo Armas traitor to the Fatherland’ (1958)El SalvadorAGEUS, ‘Manifesto,’ Opinión Estudiantil (1956)AGEUS, ‘Solidarity with Nicaraguan exiles,’ Opinión Estudiantil (1956)‘Communiqué,’ Opinión Estudiantil (1956)Nicaragua‘Here are the murders and their Victims,’ El Universitario (1960)‘COSEC Receives Cablegram from SOMOZA,’ El Universitario (1960)Honduras‘National Constitutional Assembly of 1957,’ from Historico-Juridical Study on theAutonomy of the National Autonomous University of Honduras (1957)‘Organic Law of the University of Honduras,’ Legislative Decree 170 (1958)Chapter 3: Dependency, Development, and New Roles for Student Movements, 1960-1981Nicaragua‘Cuba and Latin America, Yes! Yankees No!’ El Universitario (1960)Excerpts, Student Centre of the National University (CUUN), Imperialism (1971)GuatemalaJaime F. Pineda S., ‘The Participation of University Students in National Life,’ TribunaEconómica (1962)USAC Rector Roberto Valdeavellano Pinot, ‘Communiqué’ (1974)Excerpts, ‘International Monetary Fund, Tentacle of Capitalism,’ 7 Días en la USAC (1980)‘Letter from a Thief to his Neighbours’ (1976)Costa RicaFEUCR, ‘History signals our position,’ El Universitario (1970)‘Why I participated in the actions on the 24th’ El Universitario (1970)Editorial, El Universitario (1970)Honduras‘Joint Declaration by the Federation of Honduran University Students (FEUH) and theGeneral Association of Salvadoran University Students (AGEUS),’ Boletin del Instituto de Investigaciones Económicas y Sociales (1974)‘The Murders of the CIA,’ Presencia Universitaria (1976)El SalvadorExcerpts, University High Council, Freedom and culture with regard to the debate about the university (1964)AGEUS, ‘On the agrarian problem,’ El Universitario (1979)Excerpts, AGEUS, Healthcare in El Salvador, another reason for the popular struggle, (1981)Chapter 4: Revolution and Civil War, 1966-1981NicaraguaCarlos Fonseca, ‘A Message to Revolutionary Students’ (1968)GuatemalaEditorial, No Nos Tientes (1966)JPT, ‘Who Will Benefit from the War in Belize?’ Juventud (1977)AEU, ‘The Guatemalan student movement in the struggle for the respect of democratic and human rights…’ (1977)Oliverio Castañeda de León, Speech to the AEU (1978)El Salvador‘Declaration of the University of El Salvador’s High Council on the National Situation,’ El Universitario (1979)Communiqué, Opinión Estudiantil (1980)‘Guatemala: In the difficult struggle for its freedom…’ Opinión Estudiantil (1980)José María Cuellar, ‘1932’ and ‘Wars in My Country’‘Poetry from a heroic woman from our pueblo,’ Opinión Estudiantil (1981)Honduras‘Honduras – Nicaragua: Form a Solidarity Committee,’ Presencia Universitaria (1976)Excerpts, Armando Valladares, ‘Achievements and Meaning of Our University Autonomy’ in Universidad y Autonomía: un encuentro del presente (1978)Chapter 5: Revolutionary Futures, 1976-1982Costa RicaR. Morua, ‘We the students say: "We want to build our tomorrow,’’’ El Universitario (1970)HondurasFederation of Honduran University Students (FEUH), ‘Public Declaration,’ Presencia Universitaria (1976)Excerpts, Enrique Astorga Lira, ‘Marginal Models of Agrarian Reform in Latin America: the Case of Honduras,’ Alcaraván (1980)Excerpts, Editorial, El tornillo sin fin: the virile Organ of the university students of Honduras (1981)GuatemalaExcerpts, ‘Bulletin No. 2 of the Huelga de Dolores’ (1980)Saúl Osorio Paz, ‘Open Letter to the University High Council’ (1980)El Salvador‘Salvadoran students facing imperialist intervention in El Salvador,’ Opinión Estudiantil (1981)AGEUS, ‘Agustín Farabundo Martí, Example of anti-imperialist struggle and of the popular war for liberation,’ Opinión Estudiantil (1982)NicaraguaDaisy Zamora, ‘Commander Two,’ ‘Report of the Demonstration in Front of the US Embassy Protesting the Pino Grande Manoeuvres,’ and ‘Song of Hope,’ from Clean Slate (1993)Jaime Wheelock, ‘The University for Economic Independence: The Militant University’ in For National Independence through Revolution: The Militant University (1983)Conclusion