The 'Blue Terror': Police Surveillance and Repression of Rock in the Southern Cone, 1960s–1980s
Keywords:
Rock, police, counterculture , dictatorships, South AmericaAbstract
The article presents a review of police surveillance of rock music and the hippie counterculture in Latin American Southern Cone between the late 1960s and the early 1980s. From a comparative perspective, it examines the context in which regional rock developed in its early stages, highlighting the key role of the police in its control and repression. We suggest that police practices were conditioned by a conservative vision of the social and political order, as well as by the National Security ideology, in response to which the musicians and their audiences appealed to different kinds of resources to express their discontent and denounce the restrictions and abuses they were subjected to. Our sources include reserved documents and police magazines, and testimonies and song lyrics from leading figures in the world of rock.
References
Alabarces, Pablo, “¿El rock resiste? Roqueros, política y rebeldía en América Latina”, Nueva Sociedad, n°314, noviembre-diciembre 2024.
Barr-Melej, Patrick, Psychedelic Chile. Youth, Counterculture and Politics on the Road to Socialism and Dictatorship, North Carolina: The University of North Carolina Press, 2017.
Calvo, Gastón, “A 38 años de ‘La grasa de las capitales’: cómo saltó la censura Charly García durante la dictadura”, Teleshow, 20 de agosto de 2017. Disponible en: https://www. infobae.com/teleshow/infoshow/2017/08/20/a-38-anos-de-la-grasa-de-las-capitales-comosalto-la-censura-charly-garcia-durante-la-dictadura-2/
Cowan, Benjamin, “Sex and the Security State: Gender, Sexuality, and «Subversion» at Brazil’s Escola Superior de Guerra, 1964-1985”, Journal of the History of Sexuality, Vol. 16, n°3, sept., 2007.
Delgado, Julián, “Resistance? Through Rituals: politics and rock culture during the last military dictatorship in Argentina (1976-1983)”, Ponencia, Universidad de Porto, 2015.
Delgado, Julián, Tu tiempo es hoy. Una historia de Almendra. Buenos Aires: Eterna Cadencia, 2017.
De Sousa, Victor Agostinho y Karla Isabel de Souza, “Raul Seixas um fenômeno cultural e antropológico para a educação”, Revista de Educação da Faculdade SESI-SP, v. 2 (2025). Disponible en: https://revistacientifica.sesisp.org.br/index.php/nee_arandu/article/view/85
Favoretto, Mara, “La dictadura argentina y el rock: enemigos íntimos”, Resonancias, Santiago: vol.18, n°34, 2014, pp.69-87.
García, Marisol, Canción valiente: tres décadas de canto social y político en Chile, Santiago: Ediciones Tácitas, 2023 (ed. revisada; original de 2013).
Gilbert, Abel y Pablo Alabarces, Historia mínima del rock en América Latina, Ciudad de México: El Colegio de México, 2025.
Grinberg, Miguel, Cómo vino la mano. Orígenes del rock argentino, Buenos Aires: Gourmet Musical Ediciones, 2020 (3ª ed. ampliada, original de 1977).
Igarzábal, Nicolás, La Máquina de Hacer Pájaros. Charly, el rock progresivo y la dictadura. Buenos Aires: Gourmet Musical Ediciones, 2024.
Iglesias, Luis Fernando, Ideación/Psiglo, Montevideo: Estuario Editora, 2018.
Kaminski, Leon, “O movimento hippie nasceu em Moscou: imaginário anticomunista, contracultura e repressão no Brasil dos anos 1970”, Antíteses, v.9, n°8, jul./dez. 2016, pp.467-493.
Lima, Norma, Ditadura no Brasil e censura nas canções de Rita Lee, Curitiba: Appris, 2019.
Manzano, Valeria, La era de la juventud en Argentina. Cultura, política y sexualidad desde Perón hasta Videla, Buenos Aires: F.C.E., 2017.
Mardones, Javier, “«De Apóstoles por la paz a Profetas del Apocalipsis social». El caso de Piedra Roja y el hippismo en Chile en 1970”. En VVAA, Seminario Simon Collier 2012, Santiago: Instituto de Historia PUC/Ril editores, 2013.
Marín, Pablo, Terra Incógnita. Congreso, Santiago: La Piedra Redonda Ediciones, 2024.
Napolitano Marcos, Juventude e contracultura, Sao Paulo: Contexto, 2023.
Napolitano, Marcos, Coraçao Civil. A vida cultural brasileira sob o regime militar (1964-1985), São Paulo: Intermeios, 2017.
Peláez, Fernando, De las cuevas al Solís. 1960-1975. Cronología del rock en Uruguay (2 vols.), Montevideo: Perro Andaluz, 2002 y 2004.
Piñeiro, Elena, “Paz, amor y rock and roll. Cultura y contracultura juvenil en la década del ‘60”, Ponencia presentada en XII Jornadas Interescuelas Departamentos de Historia. Universidad Nacional del Comahue, 2009. Disponible en: http://bibliotecadigital.uca.edu.ar/repositorio/contribuciones/paz-amor-rock-and-roll-cultura.pdf
Planet, Gonzalo (2013). Se oyen los pasos. La historia de los primeros años del rock en Chile (1964-1973). Santiago: La Tienda Nacional (original de 2004).
Ponce, David, Prueba de sonido. Primeras historias del rock en Chile (1956-1984). Santiago: Ediciones B, 2008.
Pujol, Sergio, “De la Nueva Ola a la Contestación: Memoria e historia de la música joven argentina entre 1963 y 1973”, MusiMid 1, no. 2, 2020, pp.66-83.
Pujol Sergio, El año de Artaud. Rock y política en 1973, Buenos Aires: Planeta, 2019.
Pujol, Sergio, Rock y dictadura. Crónica de una generación 1976-1983, Buenos Aires: Emecé, 2005.
Saggiorato, Alexandre, “Rock brasileiro na década de 1970: contracultura e filosofia hippie”, História: Debates e Tendências, v.12, n°2, julio-diciembre 2012, pp.293-302.
Saggiorato, Alexandre, Anos de chumbo: rock e repressao durante o AI-5, Tesis de Magíster en Historia, Universidade de Passo Fundo, 2008.
Sánchez Trolliet, Ana, “Entre la Manzana Loca y el Greenwich Village. El surgimiento del rock contracultural en Buenos Aires”, Revista Aisthesis, n°63, Santiago, 2018, pp.115-144.
Sierra, Daniel, “Cierta efervescencia rebelde: conciertos y festivales de rock en Santiago durante la dictadura, 1973-1983”. Revista Neuma, Año 15, Volumen 2, 2022, pp.70-115.
Sierra, Daniel, “Sin excesos y auténticamente chileno: discurso y práctica de la dictadura sobre el rock entre 1973 y 1983”, Última Década, n°41, 2014, pp.125-149.
Vallejos, Camilo, “Carabineros de Chile y el orden público durante el gobierno de Eduardo Frei Montalva (1964-1970): especialización contrainsurgente y “mano dura” contra la protesta social”, Revista Divergencia, N°24, Valparaíso, I semestre 2025, pp.94-112.-
Vergara, Claudio, “Un Jaiva en la cárcel: los dramáticos días de Eduardo Parra prisionero en Argentina”, La Tercera, 7 de agosto de 2023. Disponible en: https://www.latercera.com/culto/2023/08/07/un-jaiva-en-la-carcel-los-dramaticos-dias-de-eduardo-parra-prisionero-en-argentina/
Vila, Pablo, “Rock argentino: The Struggle for Meaning”, Latin American Music Review, Vol. 10, n°1, 1989, pp. 1-28.
Downloads
Published
How to Cite
Issue
Section
License
Copyright (c) 2025 Revueltas. Revista chilena de Historia Social Popular
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.
Revueltas. Revista Chilena de Historia Social Popular publishes exclusively under the Creative Commons CC BY NC SA 4.0 license, which requires:
- Attribution: The authorship of each material must be acknowledged, meaning the author's name must be displayed in a visible location. Likewise, the source must be cited, indicating an electronic address.
- Non-commercial: All materials published by the journal are distributed free of charge. The journal does not allow third parties to use the material for commercial purposes. Many of the publications are funded by public resources, and the journal publishes them free of charge to ensure wide distribution. Any commercial use of the publications is strictly prohibited.
- Share alike: Anyone is guaranteed the rights described in the "Open Access Policy" section, but must always respect the license under which the material is published. This requires that any use of our material must follow the same license.
- International: Our license ensures that the material is available without regional restrictions.
The copyright of each article acknowledges the authorship of its writers, who may use the material under the terms established by the license.
