Kissinger and Chile The Myth That Will Not Die

American Enterprise Institute ^ | October 31, 2003 | By Mark Falcoff

[GoGophers]

Yeah, after a Marxist seized power with 31% of the vote and proceeded to nationalize the economy, supress dissent and invite Cuban terrorists to train in Chile.

A tyrant is a tyrant regardless of his political persuasion.

[GoGophers]

Franco's people and Pinochet's people both saw their leaders as interim, benevolent dictators.

Seventeen years is not interim and executing thousands of political prisoners is not benevolent.

[Cincinatus' Wife]

Thank you for the ping and the post.

Bookmarked for later.

[GoGophers]

Franco's people and Pinochet's people both saw their leaders as interim, benevolent dictators.

If the Chilean people saw Pinochet as a benevolent dictator, then why did hundreds of thousands of them risk their lives in a non-violent movement designed to force him out of office?

[Rodney King]

Seventeen years is not interim and executing thousands of political prisoners is not benevolent

Political prisoner is a loaded term. A marxist rebel armed by Cuba, who is essentially a foregin agent trying to take over your country is not the same as a poet who writes stuff against the government - which is what the term political prisoner brings to mind.

[GoGophers]

Political prisoner is a loaded term. A marxist rebel armed by Cuba, who is essentially a foregin agent trying to take over your country is not the same as a poet who writes stuff against the government - which is what the term political prisoner brings to mind.

And Pinochet had both types of prisoners killed.

[camas]

yes, it was really a house wife revolt.

[camas]

in time people tend to forget the past and react to the present, only.

[ChadGore]

Re:(Ask me about the connection between Socialism, Communism, Drug Warlords and Vodka.)

Interesting tag lie, care to elaborate?

[TaxRelief]

Pinochet's government executed or "disappeared" thousands of dissidents and most of them did not have the luxury of a trial.

Cite? No US press sources please.

[GoGophers]

http://www.desaparecidos.org/chile/eng.html

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/1109861.stm

http://www.lakota.clara.net/derechos/victims.htm

[TaxRelief]

I would hate to change the subject around here by explaining the connection between Socialism, Communism, Drug Warlords and Vodka.

Documenting the answer will take several posts (and days), but in a nut shell:

Drug money and drug money laundering, aided by certain Florida law firms, funds government coups (Panama for instance). Communist country acquires vast property rights, for a 'song and a dance', that affect our national security (China at Panama canal ports, for instance). Drug war can never be won because socialists want drugs available (and vodka) to keep the masses happy and the green activists stupid. Drugs remain illegal but available and fund the next communist infiltration or communist activity...and on and on. Lawyers make loads off drug warlords and are primary donors to democratic/socialist candidates who support socialist and communist infiltrated organizations (like Pal Solidarity, in US and everywhere).

Feel free to pick it apart.

[TaxRelief]

Your links proved that many disappeared. There really is little to prove that Pinochet had them executed without a trial though. Thousands and thousands were detained. Most were released. Approx. 1200 were executed.

Are you an activist for Amnesty International?

[Cacique]

General Pinochet was a man of honor. When he fixed the country he did what no leftist dictator has ever, or will ever do. Turn the country back to the constitutional process of electoral democracy.

What did he get for his troubles? Persecution, even as he has one foot in the grave.

The same can be said for the Argentine Generals who defeated a leftist insurgency insurgency when the left was being victorious everywhere else. Their reward? being hounded and arrested by leftist scumbags who just can't stand the fact that socialism has been exposed for the failed ideology that it is.

It is well to heed Simon Bolivar's warning. "El qué hace la revolucíon, ara el mar" (He who makes the revolution, ploughs the sea)

[Rodney King]

Excellent summary. The real crim of Pinochet is that he stopped communism cold. This explains the disparate treatment between him and Castro by the media.

[Rodney King]

By Chuck Morse

No one alive today is more loathed by the Communists and their fellow travelers and camp followers than Chilean General and former President Augusto Pinochet Ugarte. The reasons are two fold. Pinochet defeated the internationally armed and financed communist terrorist militias, hated by the Chilean people, and, and by doing so, ended the communists attempt to conquer Chile. Pinochet then proceeded to transform Chile into a peaceful democracy with a prosperous and stable economy. With an extraordinary record of achievement in social and economic reform, the establishment of democratic institutions, and a free election, Pinochet voluntarily relinquished the Presidency in 1990 leaving a grateful Chilean people free of communist terror.

International leftist media has banged a steady drumbeat of lies about Pinochet. The success of their atrocity propaganda is a testament to the enduring influence of the communist idea. Their big lie has gone over everywhere except in Chile. It goes without saying that the leftist media will always ignore or downplay the real atrocities committed by Stalin, Mao, Castro, Paul Pot et al who have been part of the liquidation of over 100 million people.

An excellent example of communist standards is the activities of Willy Meyer, the parliamentary spokesman for Izquerida Unida, the renamed Communist Party of Spain. Meyer, commenting on the recent arrest of Pinochet in Britain, stated, "We do not consider that Fidel Castro is a dictator We respect the Marxist-Leninist legality by whose definition political persecution, torture, and disappearances cannot exist in Cuba. We are dividing the world between good guys and bad guys there is a vacuum in the international enforcement of human rights and we realize that whoever seizes the initiative to punish violators wins the high ground."

In Chile, Pinochet dealt with a force that would stop at nothing to achieve victory. A communist victory would have, and almost did, lead to complete subjugation under a communist jack-boot. Meyer was right, this really was a battle between good guys and bad guys except Mayer was on the wrong side. Pinochet took action against the communist threat in direct response to formal requests made by the Chilean Judiciary, the Legislature, and prominent citizens who believed that a military intervention was required to save the country from Salvador Allende.

Pinochet was Army Chief of Staff to Allende during his three years in power and was the quintessential career military man with no ambition to involve himself in civilian affairs. Documents and arms captured after Allende was overthrown, Sept. 11, 1973, proved that he was planning a coup scheduled for Sept. 19, which would have involved the liquidation of his opposition by means of Castro type firing squads. At that point, much property had been expropriated, civil rights were curtailed, starvation seemed imminent, and the atmosphere was downright Stalinist. Pinochet was motivated to act out of a traditional code of military honor to save his country.

On Sept 8, days after the coup, at a ceremony at the Church of National Gratitude, three former Chilean presidents endorsed the Pinochet government. Socialist Gabriel Gonzalez Videla stated "I have no words to thank the armed forces for having freed us from the clutches of Marxism. They have saved us because the totalitarian apparatus that was prepared to destroy us has been itself destroyed" Eduardo Frei, himself a Marxist, stated, "The military has saved Chile and all of us from a civil war well prepared by the Marxists. And that is what the world does not know, refuses to know."

Pinochet, once in power, acted with amazing restraint toward those who were plotting a communist takeover. Allende declined his offer of safe passage and instead chose suicide. He deported thousands of Communist foreigners who were planning firing squads if they achieved power, and released Chilean citizens involved in treasonous activities including the dangerous KGB and Cuban agent, as well as darling of the American left establishment, Orlando Letelier. After Pinochet assumed control, 68% of Chileans would go on to vote to approve a new constitution presented by his government in a first step on the road to the democracy Chile is today.

Under the guidance of University of Chicago economist Milton Friedman, Pinochet cleared out economic regulations, reduced tariffs from 100% to 10% and returned businesses and property "expropriated" by Allende to the rightful owners. Foreign investment poured in as confidence and stability returned. Taxes and inflation were reduced, Social Security was privatized, and government bureaucrats were able to find jobs in a thriving private sector. Our American government could learn some valuable lessons from Chile.

A relentless war was waged against Pinochet and the Chilean people during the years 1973-1990. In 1984 there were 735 terrorist bombings with responsibility clamed by the Manuel Rodriguez Patriotic Front (MRPF) the Communist cadre supported by Cuba, Nicaragua, Libya, East Germany, and the Soviet Union. On Sept. 7, 1986, Pinochet and his 10-year-old grandson narrowly escaped an ambush by Communists armed with automatic rifles, rocket launchers, bazookas, and grenades. Many terrorists and their supporters were killed in this war of attrition both by Pinochet's forces and by civilians seeking vengeance and. given the situation; many of their bodies went unidentified. Writer William F. Jasper states that "we have seen no evidence to sustain the charges that Pinochet ordered, knew of, or approved of, any plan for the use of murder or torture against his political opponents."

In 1988, Pinochet called for elections and a return to civilian rule. In an unprecedented move, he retired from public life in 1990 a hero to freedom loving Chileans. Communism makes inroads during economic crisis and often employs violence and terror as well to make the argument for totalitarianism. Allende deliberately created dire economic conditions and introduced an unprecedented level of violence so as to create the right "conditions" for a Castro style takeover. His dastardly plot was dashed by the heroic efforts of General Pinochet. The bloody soaked, International Communist behemoth was defeated and for this, they will forever despise General Pinochet.

Page URL: http://www.chuckmorse.com/pinochet_hero.html

[Rodney King]

Pinochet receives a hero's welcome on his return



Alex Bellos and Jonathan Franklin in Santiago
Saturday March 4, 2000
The Guardian

As the helicopter carrying Augusto Pinochet landed on the roof of Santiago's military hospital yesterday morning, swirling gusts of wind thrust into the air thousands of pink leaflets saying "Welcome back, Chile's liberator".
Rising high above a chanting crowd waving Chilean flags and posters of the former dictator, the floating pamphlets gave the appearance of a presidential tickertape parade.

Yesterday was the day General Pinochet lived again. Almost 24 hours after his Chilean airforce plane left RAF Waddington in Lincolnshire, marking an end to 503 days of international humiliation under house arrest in a Surrey mansion, the general, 84, returned to a hero's welcome.

At 10.39am local time, the man judged too unfit by doctors to undergo extradition procedings to Spain on torture charges was wheeled backwards out of the plane and lowered on to the tarmac of Santiago's international airport. He was helped to his feet, clasping a white stick for support.

He hugged the army chief, General Ricardo Izurieta, followed by his own daughter, Lucia. He then walked on his own, slowly but steadily, waving with a big grin to the crowd of military dignitaries, family and friends. A brass band played his favourite military marches. It was as if he had never stood down.

In central Santiago up to 5,000 supporters had gathered around the military hospital. The atmosphere was like a national jubilee. People - overwhelmingly women - wore Pinochet T-shirts and badges, and were draped in the blue, red and white of Chile's flag.

A sound system in a derelict building opposite played Chilean folk music as couples danced on the pavement. A school bus dropped off 200 pupils in uniform, who sang: "Chi-chi-chi. Le-le-le. Viva Chile Pinochet."

Many had driven hours to be there. Omar Silva, 34, a farmworker, had come 200 miles. "Pinochet is like a father to me. He made the country great. I am here to pay my respects. It is a very happy day for Chile," he said.

Fernanda Ortega, 17, had played truant from school with four other friends. "I am here so that he knows that we still love him," she said.

Minutes after landing at the military hospital, a beaming Gen Pinochet appeared at the top-floor window and waved to the crowds with both hands. He had changed out of his blue suit and purple tie and was wearing a white hospital top.

According to Raul Troncoso, the interior minister, the hospital will conduct "a thorough exam to see if Pinochet is fit to stand trial. The Chilean justice system will make its own decisions following the democratic laws of Chile."

The general is expected to stay there for three or four days before moving to one of his residences.

While he is obviously weak, the ease with which Gen Pinochet walked on the tarmac put the government on the defensive. "The fact that a person gets off a plane walking doesn't mean he is well enough to go on trial," Mr Troncoso said.

In the only violent flashpoint of the day, a group of 50 anti-Pinochet protesters near the hospital were quickly surrounded by military police with dogs, water cannon, guns and batons and forcibly escorted down a sidestreet. Pinochet supporters tried to charge them, throwing stones and plastic bottles.

The main anti-Pinochet demonstrations were around the presidential palace. A few hundred protesters - mostly relatives of those killed under the general's regime - had stayed up all night in the Plaza de la Constitucion. They waved black flags and posters of relatives who disappeared.

Gen Pinochet faces 60 civil lawsuits in Chile alleging human rights abuses, and these could lead to criminal proceedings if courts strip him of his immunity from prosecution as a life senator. But legal experts say that, despite recent human rights trials, successful court action will be difficult because of the armed forces' continuing influence.

In a national broadcast, President Eduardo Frei - who hands over to Ricardo Lagos on March 11 - said: "No Chilean citizen is above the law. The Chilean courts must say their word now. That is what a large majority of Chileans want."

But the grandiose welcome ceremony, which included the top military brass, exposed the tense relationship between the army and the government. Neither President Frei nor any of his officials were on hand; Mr Frei had left to inaugurate a dam in northern Chile.

Stark social divisions were evident. Many houses in the capital's richer neighbourhoods hoisted Chilean flags to celebrate. The wounds of his rule have not healed.

"We don't believe this story about Pinochet's illnesses. He's not just laughing at his victims - he's made fools of the whole world," said Patricia Silva, head of the group of relatives of executed political prisoners.

Carlos Reyes of the London exile group Chile Democratico said: "He was given a hero's welcome and red carpet treatment. He's fooled the doctors and fooled the British authorities... It's what we said would happen all along."

Gen Pinochet had been expected to land in the early hours at the northern desert port of Iquique. But the Boeing refuelled on the British-held island of Ascension and flew straight to Santiago.

[Skywalk]

Look at GoGophers posts, I'd say he's a Democrat or simply a contrarian. You can't post anything without a challenge from GoGophers. ANd I don't mean substantive challenge on the underlying truth--he'll nitpick you.

[GoGophers]

he'll nitpick you.

Challenging a heroic characterization of a brutal dictator is hardly nitpicking.

[Huber]

History is full of such dilemmas. Innocent people as well as criminals die during the process of "civilizing" nations. In the political chaos of the environment still to be civilized, due process is not always politically possible. The leader's focus is on eradicating the destablizing influences that prevent a civil society from taking root, and sometimes drastic measures are taken. Later, a tradition of the rule of law, property rights and participatory government reinforces the establishment of a democratic tradition, yielding a long term stable democracy. However, without a leader ferociously protecting that tradition, destablizing forces can prevent this maturation from occurring.

A number of writers have picked up on this theme in the past few years, in different ways. Hernando de Soto, Fareed Zakaria and Niell Fergusen all yield insights that perhaps justify Pinochet's heavy hand. Chile has certainly benefited as a result. The question before us now, is how far we are willing to go to ensure the evolution of civil society in the Middle East and Southern Asia.