Chapter 12 Self-assessment

. The United States and the Soviet Union demanded greater ideological and operational conformity from the movements and organizations they funded in the Third World in the late 1970s and 1980s than they had previously.

True

False

. The core of "liberation theology" was

Raising the Christian consciousness of ordinary people in order to empower them address the injustices and challenges of their daily lives.

Freeing the Catholic Church from the restrictions imposed on it during the Liberal era.

Reforming Catholic teaching to make it a more effective bulwark against Marxism

Freeing people from the pursuit of wealth in this world in order to help them refocus their lives on preparing for salvation in the afterlife.

. Which statement is FALSE?

Most Latin American bishops and cardinals (the highest authorities in the Church below the Pope) did not support liberation theology.

Archbishop Óscar Romero of El Salvador was assassinated for his activism against state violence and injustice while celebrating Mass.

After ascending to the Papacy in 1978, Pope John Paul II put the full institutional support of the global Church behind liberation theology.

Father Ernesto Cardenal, founder of Nicaragua's most important CBE, served as Minister of Culture for eight years in the Sandinista government.

. All of the following contributed to the erosion of support for the Somoza regime in Nicaragua EXCEPT

The murder of an American television reporter by the National Guard.

The assassination of a prominent Nicaraguan newspaper editor.

The regime's response to the 1972 earthquake.

"Tachito" Somoza's decision to shift to a non-aligned stance in the Cold War.

. All of the following contributed to the erosion of support for the Sandinista government in Nicaragua EXCEPT

The government's first land reform program

The government's implementation of a military draft

The Sandinistas' reception of Pope John Paul II

The government's turn to the Soviet Union and Cuba for support.

. Which of the following statements about the end of the Sandinista government in 1990 is TRUE?

The Sandinistas defeated the Contras militarily but agreed to step down as part of a power-sharing agreement.

The Contras drove Sandinista forces out of the capital and imposed a new government.

The Sandinista president surprisingly lost a free election to a former Sandinista ally and opponent of the Somoza dictatorship.

The Soviet and American governments negotiated a transition of power to an interim government.

. During the Salvadoran civil war of 1979-1992, the military government and the left-wing FMLN both committed kidnapping, disappearances, murders, and atrocities, but the government perpetrated up to 95% of the violence.

True.

False.

. Which of the following events proved to be the turning point in bringing about the end of the Reagan administration's support for the Salvadoran military government?

The assassination of Archbishop Romero by a government-linked paramilitary assassin.

The rape and murder of four American churchwomen by the Salvadoran National Guard.

The murder of six Jesuit priests by the US-trained Atlacatl Battalion.

The Reagan administration never stopped supporting the Salvadoran military government.

. Which of the following statements about Guatemala's President Efraín Ríos Montt is FALSE?

His evangelical Christianity won him many supporters among religious and political conservatives in the United States.

He put an end to government corruption and to state support for paramilitary death-squad activity.

He directed the Guatemalan armed forces to carry out a scorched-earth counterinsurgency policy in the countryside.

He was convicted of genocide and crimes against humanity in a Guatemalan court and is now serving an 80-year prison sentence.

. The Esquipulas Accords were brokered by Costa Rica, and helped Guatemala and El Salvador transition from armed conflict to free elections.

True.

False.

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