Historians Killed for Political Reasons in Ibero-America (1920–2020)

This essay examines the Ibero-American history producers who were
killed for political reasons during the past century. It presents sixty-one
victims from eight countries. Of these, 82% were killed by state forces,
16% by non-state forces. Dictatorships had the worst scores (57% of the
victims), while flawed democracies also saw considerable casualties
(33%), in contrast to emergent (7%) and stable democracies (3%). Much
evidence was found for the thesis that killing these history producers did
not necessarily mean the erasure of their names or achievements. Out of
the sixty-one victims, nine (15%) were killed for political reasons that were
mainly or partly related to their historical works. Six of these, however,
occurred under democracies, particularly flawed or emergent democracies,
and not under dictatorships. This finding leads to the hypothesis that
well-entrenched dictatorships, wielding ruthless power, deter and block
incriminating historical research – making the killing of history producers
for history-related reasons relatively rare – whereas freer conditions in
flawed and emergent democracies prompt or encourage such dangerous historical research. Those investigating past systemic violence or the crimes
of previous dictatorships then risk becoming targets of the military seeking
to install or restore authoritarian rule.