Allende and Pinochet in Chile

Augusto Pinochet, also known as Augusto Pinochet Ugarte, was the leader of the military junta that overthrew President Salvador Allende's socialist government in Chile on September 11, 1973. He was born in Valparaiso, Chile, on November 25, 1915, and died in Santiago on December 10, 2006. Pinochet led Chile's military government from 1974 to 1990. Thousands of opponents of his regime were tortured throughout his reign.

There is no apt Pinochet meaning. But by the name of Pinochet, we always understand the former Chilean President. Now let us look at more on who was Pinochet and the Chile genocide from this article.

Overview of Pinochet and his Rule

President Allende appointed Pinochet as army commander-in-chief 18 days before the revolution, which he planned and directed. In 1936, he graduated from Santiago's military academy. Pinochet was chosen head of the victorious junta's governing council, and he quickly went to work destroying allende and pinochet in Chile's liberal opposition; in its first three years, the regime detained almost 130,000 people, many of whom were tortured. Pinochet became president on his own in June 1974, with the rest of the junta acting as advisors.

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Pinochet was determined about putting an end to leftism in Chile and returning free-market policies to the country's economy. Although his junta's reversal of the Allende government's socialist policies resulted in a lower rate of inflation and an economic boom between 1976 and 1979, his junta was widely condemned for its severe suppression of dissent. After the regime reported that 75 percent of the electorate had backed Pinochet's rule in a plebiscite, a modest political liberalization began in 1978.

Pinochet was to serve an eight-year term as president under a new constitution established in March 1981, until 1989, when a national referendum would determine whether he would serve another eight-year term. Despite a severe recession in 1980–83, Pinochet's free-market policies were credited with keeping inflation low and economic growth acceptable in the 1980s.

Pinochet did not allow any substantial political opposition, although he completed his constitutional obligation to hold a plebiscite in October 1988, despite the fact that it was held earlier than needed. The result was a 55 percent "no" vote and a 43 percent "yes" vote. Despite popular opposition, Pinochet stayed in power until March 11, 1990, when a new president, Christian Democrat Patricio Aylwin, was elected in free elections.

Pinochet’s Armed Forces

Pinochet often prevented human rights prosecutions against members of the security forces as leader of the armed forces until 1998. Following his departure, he was appointed to the Senate for life, a position designated for former presidents under the 1981 constitution. He was held by British officials in 1998 while visiting London after Spain requested his extradition in connection with the torture of Spanish citizens in Chile during his rule.

This was related to international criticism and galvanized human rights organizations in Chile. Formerly classified records about Chileans who had "disappeared"— kidnapped and possibly killed by the Pinochet regime—were made public by the United States and other countries. Details of Operation Colombo, in which over 100 Chilean leftists disappeared in 1975, and Operation Condor, in which various South American military governments coordinated their efforts to systematically kill opponents in the 1970s and 1980s, were revealed.

After a British court concluded that Pinochet was physically unfit to stand trial, he was allowed to return home in January 2000. Despite this, Chilean authorities continued to investigate him.

Pinochet's immunity from prosecution, which he had enjoyed as president, was withdrawn in 2000, and he was ordered to stand trial on charges of violations of human rights (in Chile, immunity is lifted on a case-by-case basis). Allende and Pinochet in Chile, after Chile's Supreme Court upheld a ruling that he was mentally incapable of defending himself in court, the charges were withdrawn in 2002. Pinochet resigned as a senator for life shortly afterwards. The National Commission on Political Imprisonment and Torture released its report near the end of 2004, verifying more than 35,000 cases of torture committed under the Pinochet regime.

Pinochet's immunity was removed in 2005 by the Chilean Supreme Court for illegal financial dealings and a case involving the disappearance and killing of at least 119 political dissidents whose bodies were discovered in neighboring Argentina in 1975. For those crimes, he was found fit to face trial. Pinochet, on the other hand, died the following year without ever being convicted for the human rights violations he committed during his time in power.

Pinochet in Chile

Augusto Pinochet was a Francoist who despised Communists, just like the original model. If Pinochet had to choose between being a Communist and being a pond scum, he would choose the pond scum. When we consider that he was a patriotic Chilean Nationalist (chile genocide) who believed that the Allende regime was endangering his country's national sovereignty, he had even more reason to act.

Chilean Marxists, according to Pinochet, were traitors who followed a violent ideology and were trying to destroy his country. (He was interested in debating the merits of that point of view; it was what he believed.) Do you think someone with such a mindset would worry if his followers took Communists into the air and then threw them out? No. The only good Communist, like Pinochet, was a dead Communist.

Pinochet would have thought it was a great idea even if no Communists were ever thrown out of helicopters in Chile, and he certainly allowed Communists to be killed in other ways.

Did You Know?

Pinochet held on to power for 17 years. Let us look at how he has achieved that here.

Fear is a very effective tool, and Pinochet made good use of it. There was no Congress, no freedom of the press, no habeas corpus, and no right to dissent because he controlled the military and the judiciary. He imposed an economic system that appeared to be successful at first, even though it rewarded capitalists while keeping the labour force under strict control. In Chile, the gap between the rich and poor remains to be still shameful.

Pinochet's popularity eroded over time, and the opposition eventually defeated him in the polls. But we cannot forget that at his funeral, thousands of people cried for him!