Fiat en América Latina durante la Guerra Fría. El entramado del poder entre negocios, represión y la construcción del “Peón Latino Fiat”

Abstract

The study of the role of Western multinationals in Latin America has grown progressively in the last decade. The question of the complicity of large companies with the dictatorships of the 1970s still mobilizes courts and researchers. The goal of this article is to reconstruct the role of the Italian Fiat in Chile, Brazil and Argentina during the Cold War. We claim that the multinational implemented a model of labour relations whose objective was the transformation of its workers into "Latin Fiat Pawns", that is, non-conflict workers. At the same time, we tackle Fiat's pragmatic policies, which led to the collaboratation with both military dictatorships and popular and socialist governments in the region.