Chile is a free society today in spite of Pinochet, not because of him. He ruled as an autocrat for 17 years, are you suggesting that the threat of a commie takeover lasted all those years? His loss in the plebiscite was a rejection of his heavy-handed rule.
Simply because the Chilean people voiced their opposition to Pinochet in the plebiscite does not mean that they made the correct choice nor does it mean that democracy in the answer in Latin America.
Just like slavery was ended and the Union saved in spite of Lincoln, not because of him, hmm ? You have a very strange mindset, sir.
The threat of a communist-totalitarian (throw in Islamofascism under that aegis, all leftist evils) takeover remains a clear and present danger, not just then, but still today, and not just in South America.