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El Golpe: US Labor, the CIA, and the Coup at Ford in Mexico
'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 labor is being outsourced to Mexico. Rumors of a violent confrontation at the Mexican Ford Assembly plant on January 8 reach the United Auto Workers (UAW) union in the 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.
It's 1990, and US labor is being outsourced to Mexico. Rumors of a violent confrontation at the Mexican Ford Assembly plant on January 8 reach the United Auto Workers (UAW) union in the 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.
272 pages, Hardcover
Published February 20, 2022
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Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
May 10, 2022
Fantastic, fantastic book. One of the best, most readable examinations of the collusion between the AFL-CIO and the CIA that I've read. The first half is an excellent summary of the involvement of US labor leadership, through the AIFLD, in the CIA overthrow of elected governments in Brazil, (then) British Guiana, the Dominican Republic, and involvement in El Salvador. The second half, the main story, is one I wasn't familiar with at all. McKenzie does a great job walking you through the events of the attack on workers at Ford in Mexico in 1990 and then covering his efforts to dig up the truth. Really looking forward to discussing the story on Work Stoppage for our listeners.
A must read for anyone who wants to understand the full picture of US labor history with the aim of preventing anything like these events from happening in the future.
A must read for anyone who wants to understand the full picture of US labor history with the aim of preventing anything like these events from happening in the future.
July 7, 2024
unions are cool except when they support the CIA enacting violence against the working class in the global south to uphold neoliberalism
also, live, love, FOIA
also, live, love, FOIA
November 29, 2022
In El Golpe: U.S. Labor, the CIA, and the Coup at Ford in Mexico, Rob McKenzie and Patrick Dunne examine and use a labor strike at the Ford Assembly Plant in Cuautitlán, Mexico, in 1990—known as El Golpe, as a microcosm of a larger and more nefarious cooperative effort between the Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI), AIFLD (American Institute for Free Labor Development), and the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), to centralize authoritarian control of the Mexican government while curbing the spread of communism in Mexico. The authors’ main argument specifically centers around the relationship between the Ford Workers Democratic Movement (FWDM)—the leading labor movement at the Ford factory, the AIFLD, and the US government. More specifically, the authors argue that “labor representatives [from the AIFLD] were an active and essential part of the foreign-policy apparatus that fought communism and workers’ organizations worldwide” (p. xvi). Their extensive use of primary sources derived mainly from archival records obtained through the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) provides credible and legitimate support for arguments that at times, seems too conspiratorial to be true. However, by expertly drawing from AIFLD internal communication records, CIA memorandums of record, and intelligence meeting minutes where AIFLD and CIA representatives discussed labor union’s role in executing US foreign policy, McKenzie and Dunne provide a narrative that fills a gap “in academic accounts of the US policy toward South and Central America [in which the role of] the AIFLD is often overlooked” (p. xvi).
On January 8, 1990 workers at the Ford Assembly Plant organized under the FWDM protested poor wages and equally inadequate working conditions and sought to run for the top posts of the Ford CTM (Confederation of Mexican Workers) to bring about much needed change. However, as the worker movement gained momentum, McKenzie and Dunne argue that the AIFLD—a non-profit organization created in 1961 to combat communist influence in foreign trade unions, heavily supported by the CIA—funded, planned, and led the execution of an assault on the workers, resulting in the death of nine people, to destroy the FWDM movement, remove alleged communist and socialist influence in the labor union, and restore corporate and governmental control of the factory.
The authors use the events that unfolded at the Ford Assembly Plant outside of Mexico City to represent a much larger issue of the United States government’s involvement in the sovereign domestic politics of countries throughout Latin America. After the Allied defeat of Nazi Germany, the United States and Soviet Union found themselves as the leaders of a bipolar international system centered around western democratic principles and a Leninist-Marxist socialist ideology, respectively. The authors argue that “the devastation caused by the war and the pre-eminent role of the communists and labor militants in the anti-Nazi resistance had helped put leftists in a strong position in post-war European unions” (p. 3). This was obviously a great threat to US interests and how it imagined the construction of post-war Europe. To counter this emerging problem, the OSS, the precursor to the CIA, calculated it needed to make “significant efforts in foreign labor unions to meet the communist challenge” (p. 3). As the Cold War grew, the US and Soviet Union increasingly began to compete in areas further away from Europe such as Latin America and controlling the labor unions was key to containing the communist threat at large.
After years of collaborative efforts between the AFL-CIO and the CIA, they created the AIFLD in 1961 and nominally organized it under the AFL-CIO. In reality, the CIA ran the AIFLD and used it to carry out US foreign policy initiatives targeting communist influences in foreign labor unions. Throughout its history, the AIFLD received most of its funding from the CIA and built over thirteen national training centers across Latin America, where its operatives trained and funded native leaders to eventually organize anti-communist unions upon their return home (p. 6). To hide its covert activities, the AIFLD hid its program under the guise of providing “programs in adult education and social projects” (p. 14).
In addition to recounting the events at the Ford Assembly Plant, McKenzie and Dunne devote three chapters to exploring the role of the AIFLD in supporting coups and attempted coups in Brazil, Chile, El Salavador, and Nicaragua. These chapters contextual El Golpe into a broader Cold War framework, showing the United States had no limits in the actions it would take in containing the communist threat and how the AIFLD supported covert government actions by stoking the flames of civil unrest in these Latin America countries. To highlight the importance of labor unions in coups, the authors depict Chilean President Salvador Allende Gossens on the day of his death and overthrow in 1973, attributing the unrest primarily to “the sedition sponsored by the professional unions” (p. 37).
My main critique of this book is that the authors give the US government and its proxy labor unions more influence than perhaps they had. This book implies a causal argument—the US government and AIFLD actions caused the overthrow of numerous Latin America governments and the atrocities that occurred at El Golpe. However, this book seems to ignore the many socioeconomic issues present in many of these countries caused by the actions of its regimes, not the Americans. The CIA and AIFLD undoubtedly played a role in many coups throughout Latin America, however overemphasizing its role takes agency away from not only Latin America governments, but the actions and desires of its people. No reasonable person would wish for a coup due to the instability, destruction, and death universal to all armed conflicts, but perhaps there a strong sentiment for change already existed in these nations and the United States provided the final push needed of a situation already teetering on the brink. To say the United States, the CIA, and the AIFLD played a central role in these historical events is specious argument or at least requires additional research into the actions of non-US actors.
Overall, this was a well-written, extensively researched book that provides a much-needed narrative into the role of the US sponsored non-governmental organizations (NGOs) and its influence in foreign-based labor organizations. This book is primarily relevant for any Latin American historian interested in diplomatic, social, and labor history, or those interested in an intradisciplinary approach including all three fields. Finally, it is important to note that Rob McKenzie is a member of the AFL-CIO and a devote supporter of organized labor. While this book provides an excellent historical account of an important event, “its purpose is not merely to recall history but to mobilize those who read it (p. xviii). McKenzie believes that labor unions are dying, and he partially wrote this book to bring awareness to the efficacy of unions in supporting workers rights. Therefore, this book would also be beneficial for union leaders and representatives who wish to better understand the history of their field.
On January 8, 1990 workers at the Ford Assembly Plant organized under the FWDM protested poor wages and equally inadequate working conditions and sought to run for the top posts of the Ford CTM (Confederation of Mexican Workers) to bring about much needed change. However, as the worker movement gained momentum, McKenzie and Dunne argue that the AIFLD—a non-profit organization created in 1961 to combat communist influence in foreign trade unions, heavily supported by the CIA—funded, planned, and led the execution of an assault on the workers, resulting in the death of nine people, to destroy the FWDM movement, remove alleged communist and socialist influence in the labor union, and restore corporate and governmental control of the factory.
The authors use the events that unfolded at the Ford Assembly Plant outside of Mexico City to represent a much larger issue of the United States government’s involvement in the sovereign domestic politics of countries throughout Latin America. After the Allied defeat of Nazi Germany, the United States and Soviet Union found themselves as the leaders of a bipolar international system centered around western democratic principles and a Leninist-Marxist socialist ideology, respectively. The authors argue that “the devastation caused by the war and the pre-eminent role of the communists and labor militants in the anti-Nazi resistance had helped put leftists in a strong position in post-war European unions” (p. 3). This was obviously a great threat to US interests and how it imagined the construction of post-war Europe. To counter this emerging problem, the OSS, the precursor to the CIA, calculated it needed to make “significant efforts in foreign labor unions to meet the communist challenge” (p. 3). As the Cold War grew, the US and Soviet Union increasingly began to compete in areas further away from Europe such as Latin America and controlling the labor unions was key to containing the communist threat at large.
After years of collaborative efforts between the AFL-CIO and the CIA, they created the AIFLD in 1961 and nominally organized it under the AFL-CIO. In reality, the CIA ran the AIFLD and used it to carry out US foreign policy initiatives targeting communist influences in foreign labor unions. Throughout its history, the AIFLD received most of its funding from the CIA and built over thirteen national training centers across Latin America, where its operatives trained and funded native leaders to eventually organize anti-communist unions upon their return home (p. 6). To hide its covert activities, the AIFLD hid its program under the guise of providing “programs in adult education and social projects” (p. 14).
In addition to recounting the events at the Ford Assembly Plant, McKenzie and Dunne devote three chapters to exploring the role of the AIFLD in supporting coups and attempted coups in Brazil, Chile, El Salavador, and Nicaragua. These chapters contextual El Golpe into a broader Cold War framework, showing the United States had no limits in the actions it would take in containing the communist threat and how the AIFLD supported covert government actions by stoking the flames of civil unrest in these Latin America countries. To highlight the importance of labor unions in coups, the authors depict Chilean President Salvador Allende Gossens on the day of his death and overthrow in 1973, attributing the unrest primarily to “the sedition sponsored by the professional unions” (p. 37).
My main critique of this book is that the authors give the US government and its proxy labor unions more influence than perhaps they had. This book implies a causal argument—the US government and AIFLD actions caused the overthrow of numerous Latin America governments and the atrocities that occurred at El Golpe. However, this book seems to ignore the many socioeconomic issues present in many of these countries caused by the actions of its regimes, not the Americans. The CIA and AIFLD undoubtedly played a role in many coups throughout Latin America, however overemphasizing its role takes agency away from not only Latin America governments, but the actions and desires of its people. No reasonable person would wish for a coup due to the instability, destruction, and death universal to all armed conflicts, but perhaps there a strong sentiment for change already existed in these nations and the United States provided the final push needed of a situation already teetering on the brink. To say the United States, the CIA, and the AIFLD played a central role in these historical events is specious argument or at least requires additional research into the actions of non-US actors.
Overall, this was a well-written, extensively researched book that provides a much-needed narrative into the role of the US sponsored non-governmental organizations (NGOs) and its influence in foreign-based labor organizations. This book is primarily relevant for any Latin American historian interested in diplomatic, social, and labor history, or those interested in an intradisciplinary approach including all three fields. Finally, it is important to note that Rob McKenzie is a member of the AFL-CIO and a devote supporter of organized labor. While this book provides an excellent historical account of an important event, “its purpose is not merely to recall history but to mobilize those who read it (p. xviii). McKenzie believes that labor unions are dying, and he partially wrote this book to bring awareness to the efficacy of unions in supporting workers rights. Therefore, this book would also be beneficial for union leaders and representatives who wish to better understand the history of their field.
June 16, 2025
I was first unenthused by Part I of the book, for it solely contained information about the AFL-CIA covert overseas operations that I read in Jeff Schurhke’s Blue-Collar Empire. However, I quickly became more fascinated in Part II with the bizarre and cruel anti-union tactics deployed against the brave Mexican Ford workers. McKenzie then takes his audience with him on his personal efforts to uncover information about the AFL-CIO and UAW’s complicity in the CIA’s international anti-communist and anti-union covert affairs. Additionally, I appreciated how the Mckenzie highlighted NAFTA’s debilitating effects on the North American working class.
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews