But...but....Pinochet was much worse don'cha know?
They always do this. Allende pulled the same stunt in Chile. Bread lines, ration cards and the whole bit. If you bought illegally you were subject to being shot out of hand.
After the coup of September 11, 1973 the army found warehouse after warehouse of food that was being held back from public and released it. Funny, Chile never had a famine after that.