I love this pic of the General.
Posted on 12/11/2009 7:05:30 PM PST by Reaganez
FOR THE first time since the end of the Pinochet dictatorship two decades ago, Chile looks set to elect a right-wing president and end 20 years of rule by the centre-left Concertación coalition.
Billionaire Sebastián Piñera is leading in all opinion polls ahead of a first round of voting tomorrow and though he is likely to face a runoff against his closest challenger he is favourite to win the presidency after a second round in January.
After a decade in which South America has been dominated by left-wing governments, such a victory would mark a significant achievement for the region’s right, though the television and airline magnate does not advocate any abrupt change in direction for what is one of South America’s most successful economies.
Should Mr Piñera (60) win, it would be the first time the Chilean right had succeeded in electing a president since 1958. His Alliance for Chile grouping was formed to support Augusto Pinochet, the hard-right nationalist army officer who seized power in a CIA-backed coup in 1973 and murdered over 3,000 political opponents.
Despite these human rights abuses, the former dictator remains a hero for many on Chile’s right, who long revered him for ejecting from power the world’s first democratically elected Marxist president, Salvador Allende.
But Pinochet’s death in 2006 and revelations that he had been involved in massive corruption have allowed Mr Piñera distance himself from the dictator’s legacy. Unlike in past campaigns the dead general’s image is not being used by the Alliance campaign.
“A Piñera victory would not signify a return to the dictatorship or a turn to the conservative right but instead the victory of a pragmatic and realistic right, like Merkel in Germany or Sarkozy in France. A Piñera victory would mark the consolidation of Chilean democracy,” says political analyst Guillermo Holzmann of the Institute of Public Affairs in Santiago.
But the shadow of Pinochet’s brutal rule still lingers over Chilean politics. On Monday a judge ruled that the father of Mr Piñera’s closest challenger, Eduardo Frei, had been murdered by Pinochet agents and ordered six arrests in the case.
Eduardo Frei snr was Allende’s predecessor as president and at the time of his death from a supposed stomach illness in 1982 was investigating human rights abuses. The judge investigating the case ruled that he was poisoned in order to silence him.
His son served as Concertación president from 1994 to 2000 and at 67 even many of the coalition’s supporters consider him an uninspiring choice, reinforcing a widespread sense that after two decades in power the coalition has run out of steam.
Despite strong backing from the current president, Michelle Bachelet, whose approval ratings near 80 per cent, Mr Frei has trailed Mr Piñera throughout the race and has had to fight off an unexpected challenge from an independent left-wing candidate, Marco Enriquez Ominami.
His father, leader of an underground resistance movement following the coup, was also killed by Pinochet’s agents, dying in a shoot-out when his son was just a year old.
Partly raised in exile in France and still just 36, the candidate known as MEO has split the Concentración vote by appealing to young voters tired of what he terms “the dinosaurs” who have ruled the country since the return of democracy. He has shaken up often stuffy Chilean politics by openly raising issues such as gay marriage, in what is still a conservative Catholic country that only legalised divorce in 2004.
I think a lot of these countries who have been toying around with Marxism and communism are starting to panic as they watch our country cruisin’ towards communism. Ain’t gonna be anyone around to bail ‘em out when they screw up.
Some good news out of Chile.
Viva Pinochet!
I love this pic of the General.
As a student of the Allende episode, I insist on being on the Chile ping list.
Allende: proving that every good leftist is a suicide just waiting to happen.
Ever since Pinochet stepped down in ‘88, the Chilean left has constantly won election by 1. Tying the Right with Pinochet’s “legacy of oppression” (while enjoying the fruits of the General’s economic reforms) and 2. Getting the milquetoast “centrist” Christian Democrats to govern in coalition. What has happened now is that you have a whole generation of young voters who barely remember Pinochet, and have NO memory of the polarized society of the early 70s. It is a similar phenomenon to what happened in Spain when the Partido Popular came to power in the 90s, as young voters who were not part of the Franco era came of age, and did not associate conservatism with dictatorship.
I don’t know who has, or if there is, a Chile ping list.
well, we’ve got one now. It annoys that the lady Prez talks about how her father died in one of Pinochet’s camps. As if he was killed by a guard or something.
He was playing basketball in the hot sun and had a heart attack.
I was rather surprised to learn a Conservative government hadn’t been elected in Chile since ‘58. Jorge Alessandri (1958-64) was considered the last “technical” Conservative, though his successor, Eduardo Frei (1964-70) was an anti-Communist Christian Democrat and initially supported the removal of the KGB-supported Allende, but came to oppose Pinochet. Had Alessandri won the 1970 Presidential election and the Christian Democrats not been duped into throwing the election to Allende, Pinochet would need not have ever had to step in to depose the Communist traitor.
Typical of the leftist Allendeites to claim Chile was bathed in the blood of their patriots (duped Communist scum, many brainwashed yutes). If anything, Pinochet averted Chile descending into total chaos and saving countless lives. When you look at leftist dictatorships, such as Cuba, which has caused untold damage to millions of lives, while Pinochet’s years in charge left the country in better shape than ever before, it’s quite telling.
If I remember correctly, Allende was “elected” with under 40% of the vote and center-right candidates splitting the overwhelming majority of votes because they didn’t have run-offs in Chile back then. The article mentions that Peña will likely go to a run-off against whichever of Frei and the moonbat MEO (whose initials, if pronounced out, mean “I piss” in Spanish) finish in second place, so I guess that run-offs were instituted when Pinochet brought back democracy to Chile. Had they had run-offs in Chile in 1970 Pinochet would have never been forced to depose the KGB-controlled Allende in the first place.
In the ‘70 elections, Allende won a plurality of 36.6% to (Partido Nacional) former President Jorge Alessandri’s 35.3% (a 39,000 vote difference). Because it required a majority of the vote, the election was then thrown to the Congress. The party of the outgoing administration, the Christian Democrats, placed third in the vote with 28%. Where the serious mistake was made is that the latter tried to get Allende to sign a document that he wouldn’t do anything extremist (where have we heard that before ?), in exchange, the Christian Democrats in the body would support Allende’s election. Presumably, had they known Allende was a Soviet puppet and traitor to the people of Chile, his election would never have occurred. The Christian Democrats joined with the Nationalists to support the ‘73 ouster (I would still ultimately hold the CD responsible, they should’ve known better).
So failing to get a majority used to result in a legislative election (as in VT to this day), and now it’s a run-off. The run-off is much better—no way that Allende would have beaten Alessandri one-on-one in an actual election.
That was actually the second time the two of them met. Allende also ran in the 1958 election that Alessandri won (which was also decided by the Congress), with the 3rd candidate being Eduardo Frei (CD) who would win 6 years later. Alessandri received 32% to Allende’s 29% (Frei got 21%). Congress overwhelmingly gave it to Alessandri, 147-26.
What was astonishing in the ‘70 race was the overwhelming Congressional vote for Allende, 153-35. One theory for the overwhelming margin had to do with the considerable American pressure being brought to bear (and reacting against it) with the tipping point being the action of General Roberto Viaux in launching an ill-advised preemptive coup (his second attempt apparently - the first one under Frei the prior year, but it wasn’t serious) which resulted in the death of Army Commander-in-Chief Gen. René Schneider (an abortive kidnapping, allegedly with CIA approval). The military turned on Viaux in wanting to try to stand with “Constitutional” government (and not trying to interfere or act in a political capacity) and apparently gave the signal it was “alright” for Congress to vote in Allende. Had that not occurred, the vote might’ve been closer, but still Allende would’ve likely been voted in, as it was usual policy for the winner of the popular vote, even if by a narrow plurality, would be rubberstamped by Congress (going back to the ‘20s).
I think Pinochet was quietly watching the mistakes and errors of Viaux’s abortive fiascos, learning from them, and moving at a critical time that the two of three major political parties were prepared to support the maneuver in ‘73. Another real hatred from the left towards Pinochet stems from the fact that it was believed he was following the Schneider Doctrine of complete loyalty to the government in power, he was Carlos Prats second-in-command (Prats was loyal to Allende, served as his Vice-President). When Prats resigned, Pinochet moved quickly in his capacity as Commander-in-Chief to oust Allende (took all of about three weeks from the time he succeeded Prats). Prats would be assassinated a year later.
The world turns right as the USA turns left. Look to see Conservatives winning out over leftists all over. Next to go Conservative will be England—Mark my words. Go Tories!
btt
Well, the UK may go Tory, but that doesn’t necessarily mean Conservative. The UK needs Thatcherites, not a bunch of CINOs (our RINOs) replacing Libs/Labour. They’d be better off going with the UKIP.
It couldn’t get much worse for them than Gordon Browne and his super corrupt cronies. I’d rather take a chance on the wobbly “wet tory” Cameron if I was a Brit.
If my local Tory candidate was good or at least decent I’d vote for him.
But if it was one of those liberal Obama and democrat lovers I’d vote UKIP.
Cameron is dead set on keeping Scotland in the union. A mistake in my opinion, especially for English taxpayers who sent them pounds and get back nothing but socialist Labour MPs. I read many English Tories are fed up and say let them leave. The Tories may drift a bit back to the right if they didn’t have to worry about “offending” Scottish voters who aren’t gonna vote for them anyway.
Good news in Chile, I hope Piñera pulls it off, he lost the last election by 7 points. Chile is one of the most (if not the most) economically successful countries in SA.
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