On the 5th September 1970, the socialist Salvador Allende was elected as president of Chile. For roughly 50 years, Chile enjoyed its constitutional democracy without interruption, and had little of the problems of its neighbours which one time or another, fell into dictatorships. However, the Americans saw a problem – Allende was a socialist, a Marxist even more. The US needed access to its copper and had its companies such as ITT – who would later urge the US State Department to disrupt the Allende presidency.
Allende initiated nationalisation programs of copper and healthcare, land reform, a program of free milk for children, and a welfare program targeting the impoverished of Chile. In spite of the support for Allende and his Chile Socialist party by the workers and the poor, other interests within Chile were angered, such as landowners, bankers, and the Roman Catholic Church. Allende’s government was held together by a Popular Unity front: a coalition of social democrats, socialists, communists, and MIR (The Revolutionary Left Movement) – the latter a guerilla movement turned political party. The radical faction saw this as an opportunity to smash the capitalists who were going to present problems in the future. However, Allende though a Marxist, was a reformist social democrat. He believed that the “Chilean road to Socialism” will reap is own rewards. Unfortunately, the US had long decided that they were not interested in seeing Chile’s socialist experiment play out, and began its program to destabilize the Allende government.
The coup attempts were underway within the very first year of Allende’s premiership. CIA-supported coup plotters after three attempts assassinated the Chilean Army’s commander-in-chief Rene Schneider – a ‘constitutionalist’ who would be strongly opposed to a coup if it arose. But by killing him, the plotters had overplayed their hand: The killing of Schneider drew so much outrage that organising a coup was put on hold. But they had other cards in play. The US reduced trade with Chile, it devalued the price of copper, and it supported the organising of protests against Allende to the aggrieved right-wing and middle-class members. Further political stunts involving blocking the journey of the Interior Minister Carlos Prats and creating a political scandal, led to the appointment of Augusto Pinochet as commander-in-chief of the Army. Economic pressure mounted and by June 1973, the putschists used tanks this time. It failed when the garrison caught wind of the conspiracy, and quickly mobilized to inform Carlos Prats – who mostly thwarted the coup by pulling rank.
In August 1973, the right-wing Christian Democrats presented a motion accusing Allende of violating the constitution through abuses of power, and the motion being passed in Congress effectively gave the Chilean military carte blanche to depose the government once it is felt necessary. Allende interpreted this as yet another attempt at destabilisation – one that held contempt for its own constitutional democracy.
On 11 September 1973, where previously the putschists used tanks, they were successful with fighter planes – the target was the Presidential Palace itself. All branches of the armed forces were involved in the coup attempt. Allende still believed in the personal loyalty of Pinochet, believing he was captured by the plotters and not a co-conspirator. It was only an hour in to the coup that he realised how deep the conspiracy ran. The options presented to Allende were to heed the military’s call to resign, or to escape with his allies in the Socialist Party to reorganise and launch a counter-coup. He refused both options, citing his constitutional duty. Allende, after all, was a social democrat – and stood firm to his convictions towards achieving the final victor of socialism, even if he wouldn’t live to see it. He gave a final speech informing the Chilean people of the military’s betrayal of its constitution and of his steadfast commitment to that very same constitution which meant he would never surrender the office.
Shortly after the speech – by 2pm, Allende was dead. The details of his demise is controversial. The official story is that he committed suicide – a self-inflicted gunshot to the head by AK-47, the weapon a present from Fidel Castro. However, it is also strongly believed that the coup plotters murdered him as the fought for control of the palace. Pablo Neruda subscribed to the latter theory. The latter’s appeal perhaps owing to machismo more than anything else. What followed was Chile coming to know authoritarianism and fascism again. Mass arrests soon followed – which led to detainments in the National Stadium. The stadium was home to a homegrown victory. The victory of fascism. It soon became a centre for torture and murder. Pinochet – already head of the military junta – was the supreme ruler of Chile the following year. By then thousands of Chileans had been killed or disappeared by the regime.
Because the West loved democracy and freedom – they welcomed Pinochet with open arms. He was a personal friend to Margaret Thatcher even after his arrest in 1998 on British soil when being made to answer his atrocities. Ronald Reagan was likewise friendly to him. He believed that Pinochet ‘saved Chile’. Milton Friedman – who believed free markets led to free societies, happily lectured in Chile and claimed to see no logical inconsistency between the ‘Chicago Boy’ economists trained by his principles and Pinochet’s embrace of them – who didn’t relax restrictions on the press, didn’t allow political opposition and in fact murdered scores of them – both home and abroad. He even had books burned. It was fascist by design. But so long as the markets were free – human rights in Chile was a small price to pay. Because the people of Chile democratically elected a Marxist – its liberal democracy must be wrong. The military junta that kills, tortures and throws people off of helicopters into the Pacific Ocean was much more dedicated to “freedom”. At least Karl Popper had a more consistent and less tautological commitment to the concept.
Chile was once again ripe for the multinationals upon their return, and healthcare and education went back to privatisation. Even pensions were under privatisation. Wages slowed down, school spending and other public services reduced. The junta for 17 years waged war with the leftists and the working-class, while relying on the oligarchy and the upper-middle class for support. But not even the monetarist policies could keep them happy for long – by 1983, Chile took a step back from its more extreme engagements with neoliberalism. In 1989, a referendum was held to vote on a new term for Pinochet – which was to last another eight years. Pinochet lost 56% to 44%, and within two years, democracy was restored to Chile. However, Pinochet remained the Commander-in-chief of the Army and senator-for-life : a position that prevented him from being prosecuted. In 1998, a Spanish court indicted him on human rights abuses and rewarded an extradition request to hand him over to the Chilean authorities after his arrest in London. He stayed on British soil under house arrest until 2000, where he was put in legal limbo as he continuously claimed senility making him unfit to stand trial. Two weeks before his death, he “admitted personal responsibility” for the atrocities during his regime but insisted that he did it out of devotion for his country. Pinochet died on 3 December 2006. He never stood trial for his crimes. It is estimated that well over 2,000 people were forcibly disappeared during the dictatorship. Pinochet never had to answer for a single soul.
See also:
- 9/11
- Salvador Allende (coming soon)
- Pinochet and Thatcher (coming soon)
- Cold War (coming soon)
- client state (coming soon)
- American Empire (coming soon)
Because It Doesn't Affect You 
Great post. I did my high school history project on this episode. Very few people know about it!
LikeLike