Gen. Augusto Pinochet -- hero of the Chilean people

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 hated Communist terrorist militias, the internationally armed financed, and staffed "revolutionaries" on the battlefield and by doing so, ended their attempt to communize Chile in the name of "the people". Pinochet then "transformed" Chile into a peaceful democracy with one of the most prosperous economies in the region. With an extraordinary record of achievement in social and economic reform, the establishment of democratic institutions, and a free election, Pinochet retired in 1990 leaving a grateful Chilean people free of the terror of International Socialism, probably forever.

The pro-Communist media is filled with lackeys willing to lie and prostitute their souls either for career advancement or because they are true believers in the Communist faith. That they have been effective with their "atrocity propaganda"against Pinochet is testament to the enduring influence of the Communist idea amongst the world’s power elite. They have, so far, pulled off the Big Lie with regard to Pinochet except with Chilean people. The Communist, of course, approaches atrocity dialectically rather than fundamentally. They have no problem with atrocities when governments such as those of Castro, Stalin, Mao, Paul Pot et al commit them, as these "struggles", they inform us, are for the "common good"as they liquidate tens of millions.

An excellent example of this is Willy Meyer, parliamentary spokesman for Izquerida Unida, the renamed Communist Party of Spain. Meyer, commenting on the arrest of Pinochet in Britain, stated that "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". An excellent source for further information is an article by William Jasper, New American Vol. 15 No 19 PP 23-34.

Obviously, the left has no moral or practical right to discuss atrocity since they recognize it only dialectically and not actually. Their insufferable caterwauling concerning "human rights" is the equivalent of Hitler, their National Socialist comrade, complaining about anti-Semitism.

Pinochet was at war with a force that would stop at nothing to achieve victory, which would have amounted to complete subjugation under a Communist jack-boot. This truly was, to paraphrase Meyer, a battle between good guys and bad guys. The Pinochet coup was a defensive action and a direct response to formal requests by the Judiciary, the Legislature, and prominent citizens for military intervention as the situation under Salvador Allende were rapidly deteriorating. By 1980, the Chilean people voted 68 per cent to approve a new constitution presented by the Pinochet government. This was the first step on the heroic road to the Republican democracy Chile is today.

Allende will be covered in coming weeks, however, it must be pointed out that documents and arms captured after Allende was overthrown, Sept. 11, 1973 proved that he was planning a coup of his own scheduled for Sept. 19, and to liquidate his opposition Castro style. Pinochet, who had served Allende as Army Chief of Staff during his three years in power, acted strictly out of a sense of duty and honor, and at great personal risk given Allende’s extensive Gestapo, to save his nation from catastrophe. Pinochet was the quintessential career military man and had no ambition to involve himself in civilian affairs. Due to a traditional Latin American code of honor, he felt he had no choice.

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…a civil war was being 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.

Under the guidance of University of Chicago economists, the Pinochet government cleared out economic regulations, reduced tariffs from 100 per cent to 10 per cent 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. Bill Jasper points out that in 1984 alone, 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. 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.

Chuck Morse is a syndicated talk show host on the American Freedom Network and a contributing writer to Enter Stage Right and Etherzone.

The militias clearly existed before the coup, and violent mobs of Allende supporters had allowed his United Party to run roughshod over Supreme Court rulings and the Chamber of Deputies.

Read the Declaration of the Breakdown of Chilean Democracy, passed by the Chamber of Deputies on August 22, 1973, almost 3 weeks before the coup. This body was also democratically elected and it approved the resolution by a vote of 81 to 47.

It laid out the charges against Allende, including the following:

11. That it powerfully contributes to the breakdown of the Rule of Law by providing government protection and encouragement of the creation and maintenance of a number of organizations which are subversive [to the constitutional order] in the exercise of authority granted to them by neither the Constitution nor the laws of the land, in open violation of article 10, number 16 of the Constitution. These include community commandos, peasant councils, vigilance committees, the JAP, etc.; all designed to create a so-called "popular authority" with the goal of replacing legitimately elected authority and establishing the foundation of a totalitarian dictatorship. These facts have been publicly acknowledged by the President of the Republic in his last State of the Nation address and by all government media and strategists;

12. That especially serious is the breakdown of the Rule of Law by means of the creation and development of government-protected armed groups which, in addition to threatening citizens’ security and rights as well as domestic peace, are headed towards a confrontation with the Armed Forces. Just as serious is that the police are prevented from carrying out their most important responsibilities when dealing with criminal riots perpetrated by violent groups devoted to the government. Given the extreme gravity, one cannot be silent before the public and notorious attempts to use the Armed and Police Forces for partisan ends, destroy their institutional hierarchy, and politically infiltrate their ranks;

See also: The Left killed Allende, Too by former Chilean communist Robert Ampuero; Chilean coup of 1973 at Wikipedia; and HOW ALLENDE DESTROYED DEMOCRACY IN CHILE, by renowned economist José Piñera.

According to historian James R. Whelan:

“Fallacy # 1: Was Pinochet a dictator?

“Was Pinochet, in fact, a "dictator?" Not if words have any meaning, he was not. According to the Oxford Encyclopedia English Dictionary, a dictator is "a ruler with (often usurped) unrestricted authority." Pinochet never possessed "unrestricted authority."

“The government Pinochet headed was "authoritarian," and, as Jeanne Kirkpatrick pointed out years ago, there is a very real and important difference between an authoritarian government and a dictatorship. In an authoritarian regime, most people are free to live their lives, unmolested by the government. “

“In a dictatorship, there is no freedom. Pinochet himself once described himself as a "dictator" but in the classic, Roman sense: A man who rescued a tottering country from collapse. That is precisely what Pinochet and his colleagues did in Chile, beginning in 1973. “

“Pinochet came to power at the head of a four-man military junta composed of the commanders of the Army, Navy, Air Force, and Carabineros (para-military national police force) who, together, staged the Sept. 11, 1973 revolution. “

“In 1980, Chileans voted in a plebiscite by a two-to-one margin to approve a new Constitution, and with it the continuance of military rule for eight more years, during a carefully phased transition back to democratic government. “

“Pinochet then became a constitutional president, under the very same constitution which has remained in force ever since, including under two democratic governments. Jose Toribio Merino Castro, head of the Chilean Navy, led the newly created legislative branch. “

“The third branch of government, the judiciary though generally favorable to the aims of the Pinochet government remained independent throughout military rule. “

“The "Pinochet Constitution" was the most carefully crafted in the country’s history. Many people, including two ex-Presidents, helped draft it. Later, following his defeat in the 1988 plebiscite which the military government planned, organized, and staged exactly as it had said it would, Pinochet agreed to negotiations with the united, center-Left opposition, which led to 54 amendments to that Constitution. He did so even though the military were still very much in power.”

“Eighty-five percent of the Chilean people voted in favor of those changes, further legitimatizing that Constitution.”

“Fallacy #2: “The Chilean military snuffed out democracy for the purpose of simply seizing power for themselves. Salvador Allende Gossens, the world’s first freely elected Marxist-Leninist President, came to power in 1970 with only 36 percent of the vote, a mere 40,000 votes (of three million cast) ahead of the candidate of the Right.”

´By mid-1973, even the Christian Democrats could see that Allende was leading their country into a long night of totalitarian rule. Former Chilean President Eduardo Frei Montalva, once a supporter of Allende and a man who played a major role in Allende’s rise to power, admitted as much: "Chile is in the throes of an economic disaster ¡ a veritable catastrophe no one could foresee would happen so swiftly nor so totally...." It was, he said, "a carnival of madness."

“In a private meeting with a top business group, 60 days before the end of Allende’s rule, Frei said: "There is nothing I or the Congress or any civilian can now do. Unfortunately, the only way out of this problem is with rifles.... I advise you to take your concerns to the commanders-in-chief of the Armed Forces...."

“By the time the end did come, the Supreme Court, the Solicitor General, and the Chamber of Deputies had all declared Allende outside the law. A million Chileans, one-third of the labor force, were on strike, demanding that Allende resign.”

“It was only then that the military acted, responding not to an appetite for power, but to the clamor of their fellow citizens. Indeed, even the Commission on Truth and Reconciliation which investigated human rights abuses with a decidedly anti-military bias said in its report: "Until their decisive intervention in September of 1973 the Armed Forces stayed aloof from the crisis." In the immediate aftermath of that "decisive intervention," all three living ex-presidents of Chile said the military had saved the country.”

“The Christian Democrats published a statement, a few days after the coup, in which they said, "to tell the truth, we admit that what has happened was, mainly, the consequence of the economic disaster, the institutional chaos, the armed violence and profound moral crisis to which the deposed Government had brought the country....”

“The evidence demonstrates that the Government of Allende, moved above all by the zeal to conquer total power, by whatever means was preparing a terribly merciless and bloody auto-coup, for the purpose of plunging the country into a communist dictatorship."

Fallacy #3: Pinochet led a "bloody coup."

“Actually, fighting during Pinochet’s intervention lasted only four hours mainly because Allende’s huge paramilitary forces ran for cover, and because of the awesome precision of the Air Force attack on the presidential palace: All 19 rockets hit the target. Allende committed suicide with an AK-47 rifle given him by Fidel Castro. Not more than 300 or 400, including attackers, died in the fighting that day, from one end of Chile to other. “

“Yet, rare is the media report which does not refer ritualistically to the "bloody coup" which overthrew Chile’s "democratic government." It was not bloody. And Allende’s government had long since ceased being "democratic" when it fell during Pinoche’s coup.”

“Fallacy #4: Hundreds of thousands of victims were arrested and tortured in the days after the September coup.”

“In truth, Pinochet moved to rid the country of armed terrorist organizations, including many trained by two dozen East German Stasi agents who arrived in Chile only two weeks after Allende took power and who were joined soon after by Soviet and Soviet-bloc experts in murder and mayhem.”

“Pinochet moved to rid the country of a growing paramilitary force, including many trained by Cuban General Patricio de la Guardia Font, who bragged about his role in training Chilean paramilitary groups during his 1988 show trial in Havana. Pinochet also moved to rid the country of 15,000 men and women who were in Chile illegally, many of whom were detached from underground Communist organizations operating in other South American countries.”

“The groups removed by Pinochet were not lacking in firepower. Former president Eduardo Frei spoke after the coup of the discovery of "armament superior in number and quality to that of the Army, armament for 30,000 men...."

Frei also noted the boast of a Communist Party leader: "the generals have found only a small part of the arms we had...."

“In 1974, a self styled "International Commission of Jurists," which was sent by the World Council of Churches and was strongly biased against the Pinochet government, reported that only a third of the supposed 180,000 were actually arrested, mostly from the ranks of those described above. Of those arrested, most were quickly released.”

Fallacy #6: The "dictatorial" Pinochet was "ousted" by free elections.

“Pinochet was not "ousted" any more than any other candidate in free and open elections is "ousted." Pinochet voluntarily relinquished power in 1990. The 1988 plebiscite ending military rule was an explicit part of the planned and systematic return to democratic government a plan designed and executed by Pinochet’s military government.”

“Fallacy #7: Pinochet has life-long immunity from prosecution in Chile by virtue of his position as senator-for-life and is covered by an amnesty for crimes committed before 1978. “

“Senatorial immunity does not shield Pinochet from prosecution, and indeed, a move is already underway in Chilean courts to lift Pinochet’s immunity. Such a move would allow the ex-president to respond to the 61 (at last count) charges already filed against him. As for the famous amnesty, of the 2,053 persons pardoned under it, 1,475 were Leftist extremists while only 578 were military men. “

“Fallacy #8: Pinochet and the military epitomized evil. From the very beginning, the mainstream media echoing the chorus of vilification emanating from academics, churchmen, entertainers, and politicos around the world divided those in the Chilean drama into those who walked in darkness and those who walked in light. “

“Those who walked in darkness were the military and anyone associated with them. The anointed were those who opposed Pinochet no matter how much blood they might have on their own hands, no matter how much guilt they bore for the failed attempt to convert Chile into a second Cuba. “

“British writer Robert Moss, an expert on Chile (and author of one of the best books on the Allende years), put it this way: "It was boy scoutish of them, but the soldiers who overthrew Salvador Allende thought that they had earned the gratitude of the American people, and of the West in general. For one thing, they had prevented the transformation of Chile into a sort of Latin American Czechoslovakia, complete with Soviet bases.... Alas, how little these soldiers understood the mood of the times in Washington or London...."

“Another British author, David Holden, wrote: "Salvador Allende died a lucky man. In life he was a failure. Both his policies and his country were shattered long before the end. But in death, he achieved success beyond his dreams. Instantly canonized as the Western world’ s newest left-wing martyr, he became overnight the most potent cult figure since his old friend, Che Guevara...."

“In the spirit of the times, a "distinguished" American professor predicted: "the Chilean 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, awaiting the fantasied attacks coming from every direction." The attacks did come, but the military led their battered nation, not into a Stone Age, but into a Golden Age a Golden Age never before witnessed in Chile, and perhaps not, either, in all of Latin America.”

“Nor did the attacks ever let up. Not even as Pinochet helped Chile create the most successful economy in Latin America while leading the country back to democratic rule. “

“Henry Kissinger, no "right-wing extremist," observed nine years after the coup: “

“No radical revolution, no matter how bloody one thinks of Cuba, Iraq, Algeria, many African states, Vietnam’s occupation of Indochina, Khomeini’s Iran has confronted the worldwide press campaign and the global indignation evoked by the clumsy authoritarians of Santiago.”

“Was its crime in its methods, or in its position on the political spectrum? Was its sin the lack of civil freedom, or the abandonment of the leftist embrace? Why is the argument so widespread that left-wing governments are supposed to be moderated by economic assistance while conservative governments like Chile’s must be reformed by ostracism?”

“The Socialist government of Sweden cut off aid to Chile on September 13, within forty-eight hours of the coup, before its implications could possibly be known. Had it ever acted with such alacrity, or at all, against left-wing tyrants? Indeed, it had lavished aid on Hanoi through the Vietnam war and afterward.... “

“The systematic demonization of Pinochet that began immediately following his removal of Allende in 1973 prepared the way for his midnight arrest in England a few decades later. By then, the world was willing to believe just about anything about this man.”

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