Remembering Anolther 9/11 [1973 Coup Ousted Chile's Red Regime]

Human Events | 9/15/2003 | James R. Whelan

[Fiji Hill]

Remembering Another 9/11

Allende's 1973 Ouster Halted Communist Rule in Chile

Henry Kissinger once quipped that Chile was a dagger pointed straight at the heart of Antarctica. That quip melted in the white heat of another 9/11--Sept. 11, 1973, when the Chilean military ousted from power the first Marxist-Leninist regime to reach power via the ballot box.

The revolution that put an end to the government of Salvador Allende Gossens would become the most successful in the history of Latin America.

It would also become the most reviled in the annals of Latin America.

Since--by comparison with other major Latin American revolutions of the 20th century--it was also the least bloody, the question is--why? Why has the man who led that revolution--Augusto Pinochet Ugarte--become one of the most vilified figures of modem times, routinely grouped (in the literature of the left, which is to say, most literature) with Adolf Hitler, Idi Amin, Francisco Franco. (Stalin, Mao, or some of the genuine African butchers, somehow don't make it into the rogue's gallery of the left).

The essence of the answer is one the left cannot--and never will--accept.

Pinochet, and those who accompanied him, stopped cold the advance of Communism in the hemisphere. Far from a dagger pointed at the heart of Antarctica, Chile would have given the Soviet Union a strategically-invaluable base from which to project power across the southern Pacific, into neighboring South American countries--greatly amplifying the significance of the base they already possessed in Castro's Cuba, greatly complicating the geopolitical security risks for the United States at a time when the Cold War was at its peak.

Halting the advance of Communism inevitably triggered an avalanche of propaganda--and outright lies--emanating from the Soviet Union and its satrapies. Within days of the coup, Radio Moscow announced that 700,000 persons had been killed, that hospitals had been destroyed, and Nobel Laureate (and lifelong Communist) Pablo Neruda murdered. Not a word of that was true, but those Big Lies provided the smokescreen for an unending procession of "little" lies.

But the attacks came not only from outright Communists. Chilean exiles--mainly Communists, socialists, radicals, Christian Democrats--were welcomed with open arms by their counterparts across Europe and Latin America, in international organizations from the United Nations on down.

Writing recently, Profi Alan Angell, Director of Latin American Studies at Oxford University--and surely, no supporter of the Pinochet government--observed that Chilean exiles found "strong and generalized support," not given the leftist exiles from the military regimes of Brazil, Argentina or Uruguay.

"It is difficult," he wrote, "to exaggerate the impact the Chilean coup had on the political conscience of a great number of countries..."

Mexico, always supportive of leftist causes, decreed three days of official mourning, as did Argentina, ruled then by Juan Domingo Peron, and Venezuela. Britain's Labor Party gave a standing ovation to Allende's last Ambassador, first time a foreigner had been invited to address the annual convention since "La Pasionaria" during the Spanish Civil War. Fidel Castro, visiting Hanoi, said the ouster of Allende made plain: "There is no longer any alternative except a revolutionary struggle."

Shrill voices were raised in the United States, as well. Sen. Edward M. Kennedy (D.-Mass.) rose on the floor of the Senate to assert that the waters of the Mapocho River--mostly, a dry gulch which traverses Santiago--were clogged with bodies of the dead. A few weeks later, he proposed a "Sense of Congress" resolution calling on the President to cut off all but humanitarian assistance to Chile.

The New York Times editorialized that even humanitarian aid ought be ended. The liberal-dominated Congress, in the thrall of the Watergate investigations, soon launched a series of investigations into what had gone "wrong" in Chile. While the overwhelming majority of Chileans celebrated their deliverance from what a former president termed "a carnival of madness," a leading U.S. academic said the military "will haul the nation back to the Stone Age, where a primitive and simplistic warrior village will be bedded down for a long sleep..."

The generals and admirals who threw out a communist-style regime now found themselves under fire not only from the left, but from the very citadel of western resistance to--Communism!

The truth is that the Big Lie did not begin on September 11. It began with the election of Salvador Allende, on Sept. 4, 1970. It was quickly overlooked that he had edged his nearest, rightist rival by a mere 40,000 votes (1.3 percentage points). It was quickly forgotten that Allende was voted in by the Congress only in return for signing a Statute of so-called "Guarantees," which he would confess just four months later he had signed purely as "a tactical necessity."

The problem is that he had no electoral mandate to lead the country along any such road, and as the months wore on, he--his government--resorted ever more to lawlessness, arbitrary and frequently violent measures. By March of 1973, the man who more than any other individual was responsible for Allende's ascent to power--former President Eduardo Frei Montalva, the Christian Democrat who had preceded Allende in the presidency, would lament: "Chile is in the throes of an economic disaster; not a crisis, but a veritable catastrophe no one could foresee would happen so swiftly nor so totally... the hatred is worse than the inflation, the shortages, the economic disaster. There is anguish in Chile..." Two months later, he warned of an impending "totalitarian danger."

But the world took no note of that. Nor would the world take note of the reality that the Pinochet government inherited a wreckage.

The country the military bequeathed--when they voluntarily relinquished power on March 11, 1990--was (and is) the most dynamic, flourishing economy in all of Latin America, underpinned by the sturdiest institutions. Indeed, the Constitution that the military and their civilian colleagues painstakingly crafted, and which was overwhelmingly approved in a plebiscite in 1980 (as were reforms they agreed to in another. in 1989), remains in force today, after 13 years of democratic (but decidedly hostile to them) center-left governments.

What the world does see is human rights abuses--and abuses there unquestionably were. But the toll of dead and missing was not 700,000; or even the 25,000 or 50,000 so commonly claimed--but 2,279. And more than half of that number fell during the first three months after the revolution, months of serious fighting at first, sporadic battles thereafter.

The left, led by the Communists, has seen to it that human rights is the one and only topic--something between ironic and galling coming from the Communists, members of the political movement with more blood on its own hands than any in all of recorded history. With a socialist now once again in the Chilean presidency, it is not surprising that by now, even in Chile, human rights overshadows every other topic in this, the 30th anniversary year.

As for Pinochet, approaching 88, he lives on, ostracized ever more since his illegal arrest five years ago in London and subsequent release when a blue-ribbon medical panel found him mentally unfit to stand trial. (That was later reaffirmed by a Chilean medical panel). Meanwhile, those who served with him find themselves ever more in prison, or facing prison. Former terrorists, or those who aided and abetted them, occupy government posts, receive honors.

For the military, who did not seek power but responded reluctantly to the clamor of a desperate people, their victory, however just, was precarious from the start. And now, truly, the victors are the vanquished.

PHOTO (BLACK & WHITE): Former Marxist Chilean President Salvador Allende (right) speaks with Cuban Dictator Fidel Castro in Valparaiso, Chile during Castro's state visit Nov. 30, 1971. Gen. Augusto Pinochet ousted Allende in a coup Sept. 11,1973, which saved his nation from a Communist dictatorship and thwarted further Soviet encroachment in Latin America and the Western hemisphere.

~~~~~~~~

By James R. Whelan

Mr. Whelan is the author of seven books, two of them on Chile, including a widely acclaimed history of that country, Out of the Ashes: Life, Death and Transfiguration of Democracy in Chile, 1833-1988 (Regnery). He served as Visiting Professor at the University of Chile, 1993-1995, and is now at work on a biography of Gen. Pinochet.

[Fiji Hill]

General Pinochet is a Cold War hero.

[Admin Moderator]

Do you have a link for this?
Thanks.

[Calvin Coollidge]

Augusto Pinochet

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Augusto Pinochet Ugarte

30th President of Chile
In office
September 11, 1973 – March 11, 1990
Preceded by	Salvador Allende
Succeeded by	Patricio Aylwin
Born	November 25, 1915 Valparaíso
Political party	none (military)
Spouse	Lucía Hiriart Rodríguez
President of Government Junta
In office
September 11, 1973 – March 11, 1981
Preceded by	None
Succeeded by	José Toribio Merino

General Augusto José Ramón Pinochet Ugarte^[1] (born November 25, 1915) was head of the military dictatorship that ruled Chile from 1973 to 1990, and which came to power in a violent coup which deposed the Socialist President Salvador Allende. His regime has been accused of human rights violations, both at home and abroad. He has also been accused of using his position to pursue personal enrichment. In the last decade, Pinochet has been indicted by the Spanish government, arrested and released by the British government and, finally, arrested and prosecuted by the Chilean government itself. His poor health has led the latter two governments to dismiss the idea of prosecution.

Contents

[]

• 1 Early career
• 2 Military coup of 1973
  • 2.1 Military Junta
• 3 Administration
  • 3.1 Economic policy
  • 3.2 Suppression of opposition
  • 3.3 Chilean foreign relations under Pinochet
• 4 End of the Pinochet regime
  • 4.1 Lost referendum and return to civilian rule
  • 4.2 Arrest and trial
• 5 Legacy
• 6 Footnotes and references
• 7 See also
• 8 External links

[edit]

Early career

Pinochet was born in Valparaíso on November 25, 1915, the son of Augusto Pinochet Vera (descendant of Breton immigrants who arrived in Chile during the 18th century) and Avelina Ugarte Martínez. He went to primary and secondary school at the San Rafael Seminary of Valparaíso, the Rafael Ariztía Institute (Marist Brothers) in Quillota, the French Fathers' School of Valparaíso, and in the Military School, which he entered in 1933. After four years of study, in 1937 he graduated with the rank of alférez (Second Lieutenant) in the infantry.

In September 1937, he was assigned to the "Chacabuco" Regiment, in Concepción. Two years later, in 1939, then with the rank of sub-lieutenant, he moved to the "Maipo" Regiment, garrisoned in Valparaíso. He returned to Infantry School in 1940. On January 30, 1943, he married Lucía Hiriart Rodríguez, with whom he had five children: three daughters (Inés Lucía, María Verónica, Jacqueline Marie) and two sons (Augusto Osvaldo and Marco Antonio).

At the end of 1945, he was assigned to the "Carampangue" Regiment in the northern city of Iquique. In 1948, he entered the War Academy, but he had to postpone his studies, because, being the youngest officer, he had to carry out a service mission in the coal zone of Lota. The following year, he returned to his studies in the Academy.

After obtaining the title of Officer Chief of Staff, in 1951, he returned to teach at the Military School. At the same time, he worked as a teachers' aide at the War Academy, giving military geography and geopolitics classes. In addition to this, he was active as editor of the institutional magazine Cien Águilas ("One Hundred Eagles").

At the beginning of 1953, with the rank of major, he was sent for two years to the "Rancagua" Regiment in Arica. While there, he was appointed professor of the War Academy, and he returned to Santiago to take up his new position. He also obtained a baccalaureate, and with this degree, he entered the University of Chile's Law School.

Pinochet (left) and Allende in 1973

In 1956, Pinochet was chosen, together with a group of other young officers, to form a military mission that would collaborate in the organization of the War Academy of Ecuador in Quito, which forced him to suspend his law studies. He remained with the Quito mission for three-and-a-half years, during which time he dedicated himself to the study of geopolitics, military geography and intelligence.

At the end of 1959, he returned to Chile and was sent to General Headquarters of the I Army Division, based in Antofagasta. The following year, he was appointed Commander of the "Esmeralda" Regiment. Due to his success in this position, he was appointed Sub-director of the War Academy in 1963.

In 1968, he was named Chief of Staff of the II Army Division, based in Santiago, and at the end of that year, he was promoted to Brigadier General and Commander in Chief of the VI Division, garrisoned in Iquique. In his new function, he was also appointed Intendant of the Tarapacá Province.

In January 1971, he rose to Division General, and was named General Commander of the Santiago Army Garrison. At the beginning of 1972, he was appointed General Chief of Staff of the Army. With rising domestic strife in Chile, Pinochet was appointed Army Commander in Chief on August 23, 1973 by President Salvador Allende, his masonic brother of the same lodge, just the day after Parliament voted a resolution calling Allende's removal, by force if necessary.

[edit]

Military coup of 1973

Main article: Chilean coup of 1973

Pinochet (sitting) as head of the newly established military junta.

On August 22, 1973 the Chamber of Deputies of Chile passed, by a vote of 81 to 47, a resolution calling for Allende's removal, by force if necessary. The measure failed to obtain the two-thirds vote in the Senate constitutionally required to convict the president of abuse of power, but represented a dramatic challenge to the Marxist head of state.

A few weeks later, Pinochet came to power in a coup d'état on September 11, 1973, in which the military surrounded and attacked the presidential palace while the air force bombed the Presidential Palace. President Allende died before being captured. The exact circumstances of his death are disputed. According to the junta's official version, he committed suicide with a machine gun^[2] which bore a golden plate engraved "To my good friend Salvador Allende from Fidel Castro, whom by different means try to achieve the same goals." At the time and for many years after, his supporters nearly uniformly presumed that he was killed by the forces staging the coup. Another version says that Allende was killed in combat on the steps outside the Presidential Palace. An autopsy in 1990 found that Allende's wounds were consistent with the suicide account.

In his memoirs, Pinochet affirms that he was the leading plotter of the coup, and used his position as Commander of the Army to coordinate a far-reaching scheme with the other two branches of the military and the national police. In recent years, however, high military officials from the time have said that Pinochet reluctantly got involved in the coup only a few days before it was scheduled to occur and followed the lead of other branches (especially the Navy) as they triggered the coup.

[edit]

Military Junta

Main article: Government Junta of Chile (1973)

A junta was established inmediately following the coup, made up of General Pinochet representing the Army, Admiral José Toribio Merino representing the Navy, General Gustavo Leigh representing the Air Force, and General César Mendoza representing the Carabineros (uniformed police).

[edit]

Administration

Main article: Chile under Pinochet

Once the Junta was in power, Pinochet soon consolidated his control, first retaining sole chairmanship of the junta, and then being proclaimed President on June 27, 1974. General Leigh, head of the Air Force, became increasingly opposed to Pinochet's policies and was forced into retirement on July 24, 1978. He was replaced by General Fernando Matthei.

During 1977 and 1978, Chile was on the brink of war with Argentina (also ruled by a military government) over a disagreement regarding the ownership of the strategic Picton, Lennox and Nueva islands at the southern tip of South America. Antonio Samoré, a representative of Pope John Paul II, successfully prevented full-scale war. The conflict was finally resolved on 1984, with the Treaty of Peace and Friendship (Tratado de Paz y Amistad). Chilean sovereignty over the islands and Argentinian over the surrounding sea is now undisputed.

In 1981, he promoted himself to the supreme army rank of Capitán General (literally Captain General), previously borne by colonial governors and by Bernardo O'Higgins, a hero of Chile's war of independence. The ranks was reserved only for those who were, at the same time, heads of Government and of the Army.

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Economic policy

By mid 1975, Pinochet set about making economic reforms variously called "neoliberal" or sometimes "free market" by its supporters. He declared that he wanted "to make Chile not a nation of proletarians, but a nation of proprietors." To formulate his economic policy, Pinochet relied on the so-called Chicago Boys, who were economists trained at the University of Chicago and heavily influenced by the monetarist policies of Milton Friedman.

Pinochet launched an era of deregulation of business and privatization. To accomplish his objectives, he abolished the minimum wage, rescinded trade union rights, privatized the pension system, state industries, and banks, and lowered taxes on income and profits. Supporters of these policies (most notably Milton Friedman himself) have dubbed them "The Miracle of Chile", due to the country's sustained economic growth since the late 1980s.

[edit]

Suppression of opposition

Pinochet as President

After the military's seizure of power, Pinochet engaged in brutal political repression, aiming to destroy all remaining support for the defeated Popular Unity (PU) government. In October 1973, at least 70 people were killed by the Caravan of Death. Almost immediately, the junta banned all the leftist parties that had constituted Allende's UP coalition. Much of the regime's violence was directed toward those it viewed as socialist or Marxist sympathizers, though dissidents who spoke out against the government were also persecuted. Those murdered during Pinochet's 17 years in power are said to have "been disappeared." It is not known exactly how many people were killed by government and military forces during the 17 years that he was in power, but the Rettig Commission listed 2,095 deaths and 1,102 "disappearances.", with the vast majority of victims coming from the opposition to Pinochet at the hands of the state security apparatus. Torture was also commonly used against dissidents. Thousands of Chileans were expelled from and fled the country to escape the regime. In 2004, the National Commission on Political Prisoners and Torture produced the Valech Report after interviewing an estimated 35,000 people who claimed to have been abused by the regime. About 28,000 of those testimonies were regarded as legitimate. According to the Commission, more than half of the arrests occurred in the months immediately following the coup (approximately 18,000 of those testifying claimed they were detained between September and December of 1973).

Pinochet's rule was frequently made unstable by protests and isolated violent attacks. Isolated attacks by armed groups opposed to the regime allowed the dictatorship to justify what they termed the "cycle" of oppression.

In contrast to most other nations in Latin America, prior to the coup Chile had a long tradition of democratic civilian rule; military intervention in politics had been rare. Some political scientists have ascribed the relative bloodiness of the coup to the stability of the existing democratic system, which required extreme action to overturn.

The situation in Chile came to international attention in September 1976, when Orlando Letelier, a former Chilean ambassador to the United States and minister in Allende's cabinet, was assassinated in Washington, D.C. by a bomb in his car. General Carlos Prats, Pinochet's predecessor and army commander under Allende, who had resigned rather than support the moves against the democratic system, was assassinated under similar circumstances in Buenos Aires, Argentina, two years earlier.

[edit]

Chilean foreign relations under Pinochet

The new junta quickly broke off the diplomatic relations with Cuba that had been established under the Allende government. Having come to power with the self-proclaimed mission of fighting communism, Pinochet found common cause with the military dictatorships of Bolivia, Brazil, Paraguay, Uruguay, and later, Argentina. The six countries eventually formulated a plan that became known as Operation Condor, in which one country's security forces would target suspected "Marxist subversives", guerrillas, and their sympathizers in the allied countries.

Under Pinochet, Chile along with Colombia, were the only countries in Latin America not to support Argentina in its war with the U.K. over the Falkland Islands in 1982, after having almost started a war over a confrontation on some strategic islands.

Pinochet's government received tacit approval and material support from the United States. The exact nature and extent of this support is disputed. (See U.S. role in 1973 Coup, U.S. intervention in Chile and Operation Condor for more details.)

[edit]

End of the Pinochet regime

In 1980, a new constitution was approved, which prescribed a single-candidate presidential plebiscite in 1988, and a return to civilian rule in 1990. In May 1983, the opposition and labor movements began to organize demonstrations and strikes against the regime, provoking violent responses from government officials. In 1986, security forces discovered 80 tons of weapons smuggled into the country by the Manuel Rodríguez Patriotic Front (FPMR), the armed branch of the outlawed Communist Party. The shipment of Carrizal Bajo included C-4 plastic explosives, RPG-7 and M72 LAW rocket launchers as well as more than three thousand M-16 rifles. The operation was overseen by Cuban intelligence, and also involved East Germany and the Soviet Union.

In September, weapons from the same source were used in an unsuccessful assassination attempt against Pinochet by the FPMR. Pinochet suffered only minor injuries, but five of his military bodyguards were killed. The beheading of leftist professor José Manuel Parada, and journalist Manuel Guerrero, and Santiago Nattino by the uniformed police (carabineros) led to the resignation of junta member General César Mendoza in 1985.

[edit]

Lost referendum and return to civilian rule

According to the transitional provisions of the 1980 Constitution, approved by 75% of voters in what has been said to be "a highly irregular and undemocratic plebiscite.",^[3] a plebiscite was scheduled for October 5, 1988, to vote on a new eight-year presidential term for Pinochet. The Constitutional Tribunal ruled that the plebiscite should be carried out as stipulated by the Law of Elections. That included an "Electoral Space" during which all positions, in this case two, Sí (yes), and No, would have two free slots of equal and uninterrupted TV time, simultaneously broadcast by all TV channels, with no political advertising outside those spots. The allotment was scheduled in two off-prime time slots: one before the afternoon news and the other before the late-night news, from 22:45 to 23:15 each night (the evening news was from 20:30 to 21:30, and prime time from 21:30 to 22:30). The opposition No campaign, headed by Ricardo Lagos, produced colorful, upbeat programs, telling the Chilean people to vote against the extension of the presidential term. Lagos, in an interview, called on Pinochet to account for all the "disappeared" persons. The Sí campaign did not argue for the advantages of extension, but was instead negative, claiming that voting "no" was equivalent to voting for a return to the chaos of the UP government.

Pinochet lost the 1988 referendum, where 55% of the votes rejected the extension of the presidential term, against 42% for "Sí", and, though a plebiscite is technically non-binding, this one triggered multi-candidate presidential elections in 1989 to choose his replacement. open presidential elections were held the next year, at the same time as congressional elections that would have taken place in either case. Pinochet left the presidency on March 11, 1990 and transferred power to Patricio Aylwin, the new democratically elected president.

Due to the transitional provisions of the constitution, Pinochet remained as Commander-in-Chief of the Army, until March 1998. He was then sworn in as a senator-for-life, a privilege first granted to former presidents with at least six years in office by the 1980 constitution. His senatorship and consequent immunity from prosecution protected him, and legal challenges began only after Pinochet had been arrested in the United Kingdom.

[edit]

Arrest and trial

Main article: Augusto Pinochet's arrest and trial

[edit]

Legacy

Chileans remain deeply divided on his legacy. Many see him as a brutal dictator who ended democracy and led a regime characterized by torture and favoritism towards the rich, while others believe that he saved the country from communism, safeguarded Chilean democracy and led the transformation of the Chilean economy into Latin America's most stable and fastest growing economy.

This debate was revisited after Pinochet's arrest in 1998. At that time, the General said of the 1973 coup, “We only set ourselves the task of transforming Chile into a democratic society of free men and women." [1]. His supporters made similar claims. Former Prime Minister Thatcher, for example, thanked the General for "bringing democracy to Chile". [2]. When in power, however, Pinochet gave a series of speeches that rather clearly indicated that the 1973 coup targeted not only Allende's Popular Unity government, but Chilean democracy itself, which the General saw as hopelessly flawed. In wording that Pinochet repeated several times in various speeches, he claimed that Chile had been “slave and victim of the Congress since 1925, and slave and victim of the political parties.” Arguing for an "organic" type of democracy, Pinochet argued “Merely formal democracy dissolves itself, victim of a demagogy that substitutes simple, unattainable promises for social justice and economic prosperity.” Democracy would inevitably result in a marxist dictatorship, according to his analysis. Chilean democracy, therefore, was “progressively socializing in its economic experiments.... Those who thought they could detain or control this evolution... were given proof under the Marxist regime of their impotence and incomprehensible lack of vision.” (Pinochet, “Patria y Democracia”, 1983, Santiago, Andres Bello)

There have been several detailed reports which describe the human rights abuses carried out by the Pinochet regime. In January 2005, the Chilean Army accepted institutional responsibility for past abuses. Other institutions also accept that abuses took place, but blame them on individuals, rather than official policy. Lucía Pinochet Hiriart, Augusto Pinochet's eldest daughter, said the use of torture during his 1973–90 regime was "barbaric and without justification", after seeing the Valech Report.

Preceded by: Salvador Allende	President of Chile 1974-1990	Succeeded by: Patricio Aylwin
Preceded by: None	President of Government Junta 1973-1981	Succeeded by: José Toribio Merino
Preceded by: Carlos Prats	Army Commander-in-chief 1973-1998	Succeeded by: Ricardo Izurieta

Presidents of Chile
Blanco Encalada | Freire | Pinto Díaz | Prieto | Bulnes | Montt Torres | Pérez | Errázuriz Zañartu | Pinto Garmendia | Santa María | Balmaceda | Montt Álvarez | Errázuriz Echaurren | Riesco | Montt Montt | Barros Luco | Sanfuentes | Alessandri Palma | Figueroa | Ibáñez del Campo | Montero | Aguirre Cerda | Ríos | González Videla | Alessandri Rodríguez | Frei Montalva | Allende | Pinochet | Aylwin | Frei Ruiz-Tagle | Lagos | Bachelet

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Footnotes and references

1. ^ Pronunciation (IPA): /aw'gusto/ or a'gusto/, /pino'ʧεt/ or /pino'ʧε/. (i.e. "Pih-noh-CHET" is correct rather than the common mispronunciation "Pih-noh-SHAY").
2. ^ Salvador Allende Gossens. Presidencia de la República de Chile. Retrieved on 2006-04-08.
3. ^ Hudson, Rex A., ed. "Chile: A Country Study." GPO for the Library of Congress. 1995. March 20, 2005 http://lcweb2.loc.gov/frd/cs/cltoc.html

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See also

• History of Chile
• 1970 Chilean presidential election
• Government Junta of Chile (1973)
• Chile under Pinochet
• Operation Condor
• Augusto Pinochet's arrest and trial
• U.S. intervention in Chile
• Missing, film based on the life of U.S. journalist Charles Horman, who disappeared in the aftermath of the Pinochet coup.

[edit]

External links

• Official Government Biography
• TRAIL: Pinochet's trials
• Pinochet's Chile (Washington Post)
• Timeline of Pinochet Prosecution (Amnesty International)
• (Spanish)Augusto Pinochet Ugarte Foundation
• (Spanish)Pinochet Real – For Supporters of General Pinochet
• "The crimes of Augusto Pinochet" (several case studies)
• BBC coverage (special report)
• Article: "Doubts Remain over Pinochet's Fate: Chile's 'antiquated penal code' could be his undoing"
• Pinochet Timeline: Human Rights in Chile The Chile Information Project
• Reconcile Chile
• Fidel, Pinochet & Me by David Horowitz
• Article: "Persistent Persecution of Pinochet" (The New American)
• (Spanish)Valech report on political imprisonment and torture, November 2004
• BBC News report: "Banks accused over Pinochet cash"
• Amnesty International
• Remember Chile Inside
• Remember Chile Begins
• George Washington University article
• Pinochet and Me by Allende's US translator Marc Cooper, ISBN 1-85984-360-3
• "Killer File" entry on Pinochet includes timeline and links
• Genealogy of Augusto Pinochet
• Spanish-language Flash presentation depicting the September 1986 assassination attempt.

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[dfwgator]

We need another Pinochet in Venezuela.

[Dqban22]

CALGARYSUN.COM

Tue, May 11, 2004


Augusto Pinochet rescued Chile from sins of Marxist dictator

By Paul Jackson -- Calgary Sun

Former British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher regarded General Augusto Pinochet as a great man of heroic stature who halted the total enslavement of the people of Chile under a brutal Communist regime.

Now, any individual Thatcher admires surely deserves the admiration of others who believe modern-day Stalinists shouldn't be allowed to trample on people's rights and freedoms.

Yet Premier Ralph Klein has got himself in some hot water by suggesting there was something positive in Pinochet cleaning up the chaos left by Marxist Salvador Allende after the reckless and ruthless leader had been in power just three years.

Klein was right and anyone who has read the carefully-assessed and critically acclaimed works Allende: Death of a Marxist Dream and Out of the Ashes: Life, Death and the Transformation of Democracy in Chile 1883-1988 by famed historian James R. Whelan (Winner of the prestigious
Nieman Fellowship at Harvard) will attest to that.

My only surprise at Klein's comments was that, after making his initial assessment of Pinochet, he then tempered his stance somewhat by suggesting Pinochet committed no worse sins than Allende. Actually, Pinochet
committed no sins, but simply rescued his countrymen from the sins of Allende, and deserves the praise of every Chilean for his courage and accomplishments.

President Richard Nixon himself saw the havoc Allende would wreak on Chile and authorized the funding of attempts to prevent him from coming to power in 1970 and backed Pinochet's coup d'etat against the Marxist
politician in 1973. Nixon has been much maligned by his enemies in the lib-left, but he beat them at their game by dying with the reputation of a honourable statesman.

During the three years Allende was in power, he ruined his nation's economy with massive state takeovers of huge sectors of industry and confiscated the assets of U.S. companies in that nation. Shortages of basic commodities were commonplace, and massive strikes erupted in protest.

Within the same period of time Pinochet, with the help of world renowned economists such as the University of Chicago's Milton Friedman, turned the nation's economy around so dramatically observers dubbed it the "Miracle
of Chile."

Allende had pledged to follow the disastrous economic, political and social policies of Cuban dictator Fidel Castro -- who turned his nation into an impoverished slave state -- and Pinochet, a true patriot, felt he
had to act for his own people's sake. He wanted, he proclaimed, "to make Chile not a nation of proletarians, but a nation of entrepreneurs."

That, as evidenced by Chile's revival, he certainly did. Naturally, there's nothing the lib-left and their Stalinist allies like better than to distort history and demean the achievements of their opponents.

The campaign against Pinochet never ceases, but never succeeds either.

Revisionist history tells us Pinochet was a dictator, but he was the first dictator to hold a democratic plebiscite and oust himself out of power.

He did that in 1988, when he felt the woes and corruption left by Allende were finally gone.

Following that plebiscite, in which he still won more votes than Allende had in 1970, Pinochet accepted defeat, staying in power only until 1990 when his term legally expired. After that, he was appointed Commander-in-Chief of Chile's armed forces, and later a senator. Hardly
actions that showed he was hated by the new democratic government of Chile or the Chilean people.

In 1998, while on a visit to Britain, a renegade judge in Spain used an obscure law to order his extradition to Spain to face charges of rights abuses. The free government of Chile itself opposed this bogus move.
Indeed, even Prime Minister Tony Blair's (socialist, at that) government refused to extradite the retired right-wing politician to face a sham showcase trial. Again, hardly a condemnation of Pinochet.

Pinochet returned to Chile and, in 2002, the Supreme Court of his country refused to prosecute Pinochet on any number of phoney charges.

Assess the actions of Allende and of Pinochet and the scales of justice and truth are weighted heavily in favour of Pinochet. The rewriting of history by unrepentant supporters of Allende and continuing attempts to impose the discredited theories of Marxism on society simply must be countered.