El Golpe: US Labor, the CIA, and the Coup at Ford in Mexico (Wildcat)

'Early in my research, a friend with excellent knowledge of the United Auto Workers internal operations told me, "Don't give up. They are hiding something"...' It’s 1990, and US labour is being outsourced to Mexico. Rumours of a violent confrontation at the Mexican Ford Assembly plant on January 8 reach the United Auto Workers (UAW) union in the US: nine employees had been shot by a group of drunken thugs and gangsters, in an act of political repression which changed the course of Mexican and US workers’ rights forever. Rob McKenzie was working at the Ford Twin Cities Assembly plant in Minnesota when he heard of the attack. He didn’t believe the official story, and began a years-long investigation to uncover the truth. His findings took him further than he expected – all the way to the doors of the CIA. Virtually unknown outside of Mexico, the full story of ‘El Golpe’, or ‘The Coup’, is a dark tale of political intrigue that still resonates today. McKenzie provides an exposé of US meddling in Mexico. It's 1990, and US labour is being outsourced to Mexico. Rumours of a violent confrontation at the Mexican Ford Assembly plant on January 8 reach the United Auto Workers (UAW) union in the US: nine employees had been shot by a group of drunken thugs and gangsters, in an act of political repression which changed the course of Mexican and US workers' rights forever. McKenzie was working at the Ford Twin Cities Assembly plant in Minnesota when he heard of the attack. He didn't believe the official story, and began a years-long investigation to uncover the truth. His findings took him further than he expected - all the way to the doors of the CIA. Virtually unknown outside of Mexico, the full story of 'El Golpe', or 'The Coup', is a dark tale of political intrigue that still resonates today. --From publisher description Cover 1 Contents 6 List of Photographs 7 Series Preface 8 Acknowledgements 9 Abbreviations 12 Prologue 15 Part I: US Labor’s Cold War in Latin America 20 1. The Birth of AIFLD and the Coup in British Guiana 22 2. Labor’s Foreign Policy Contested and the Military Takeover in Brazil 36 3. AIFLD and the Battle of Chile 56 4. El Salvador, Nicaragua, and AIFLD’s Agenda for Central America 77 Part II: El Golpe 104 5. Mexico in the 1980s 106 6. US Auto Companies Move South 123 7. The Coup 137 8. The Strike 156 Part III: Tracking the Assassins 174 9. Detroit 176 10. St. Paul 189 11. Washington, DC 200 Conclusion: Putting Together the Pieces of the Puzzle 214 Appendix: On the Home “Front” 222 Photographs 228 Notes 234 Index 263 True crime meets political thriller in an explosive exposé of US meddling in Mexico. True crime meets political thriller in an explosive expose of US meddling in Mexico