Americas in Transition provides a concise and fast-paced history of the volatile forces that rocked Chile, El Salvador, Guatemala, and Nicaragua in the 1970s and 1980s. Drawing on interviews with the Mexican writer Carlos Fuentes, former CIA director Lyman Kirkpatrick, former U.S. Ambassador to El Salvador Murat Williams, and Maryknoll missioner Peggy Healy, the film examines the roots of dictatorship, attempts at democracy, communist influences, and the U.S. role in Latin American politics. Americas in Transition remains the best introduction to U.S. relations with Latin America, and the underlying causes of unrest there. 1981 Academy Award Nominee, Best Short Documentary.