The majority of Latin American revolutionaries and guerrillas have now laid down their weapons and opted to participate in that region's democratic processes. What brought about this transformation? When the AK-47s Fall Silent brings together for the first time many of these former Latin revolutionaries from both sides of the conflicts--who tell their own stories, in their own words.

-Foreword by Cuauhtémoc Cárdenas, former mayor of Mexico City and presidential candidate in the Mexican elections of 2000
-Section 1, "Revolutionaries," presents five essays or autobiographical commentaries by former revolutionaries whose personal experiences span Central America's twentieth=century conflictst--from the rebellion of Augusto César Sandino in the 1920s to the mid-1990s resolution of the war in El Salvador
-Section 2, "Guerrillas," includes commentaries by guerrillas of the Nicaraguan Contra resistance
-Section 3, "The Dangers of Peace," features three international public servants who have dedicated their lives to trying to resolve conflicts

Some of the contributors include

-José Obidio "Pepe" Puente: from a family of revolutionaries, he is the "living link" between the original Mexican revolution and half a dozen later revolutionary movements
-Don Alejandro Pérez Bustamante: personal bodyguard to legendary Nicaraguan general Augusto César Sandino and the person to whom the namesake of Nicaragua's revolution entrusted his very life
-Plutarco Hernández: for more than a decade a national director of the Sandinista Front against Somoza
-Encarnación Baldivia: a legendary peasant guerrilla leader and a founding leader of the MILPAS guerrilla movement that was the precursor to the Contras
-Oscar Sobalvarro: the last chief of staff of the main Contra army, the FDN
-Saris Pérez: one of the best-known Contra women warriors

In addition, the book includes contributions from those who tried to resolve these conflicts and the underlying social conditions beneath them, including

-Myles Robert René Frechette: former United States ambassador to Colombia
-Major General Ian Douglas: original commander of the UN's International Observer Force in Central America
-Sergio Caramanga: representative of the secretary general of the Organization of American States office in Nicaragua

The former revolutionaries and guerrillas whose thoughts are collected here have almost 250 combined years' experience at revolution and guerrilla warfare. When the AK-47s Fall Silent is their story.

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