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On September 11, 1973, Chile experienced one of the darkest episodes in its history. General Augusto Pinochet decided to carry out a coup together with the Army against the government of the leftist Salvador Allende, who, seeing himself cornered by the troops, decided to commit suicide that same day. A violent event that would cause thousands of deaths and torture and plunge the southern country into a bloody dictatorship until 1989.
50 years after the events experienced in Chile during the coup led by Augusto Pinochet, this event is still remembered as one of the most bitter chapters for democracy in Latin America. One day, September 11, 1973in which the bulk of the Chilean Armed Forces decided to rise up against the democratically elected Government of Salvador Allende and establish a dictatorial regime that would repress Chile until 1989 through arbitrary murders, torture of political dissidents and unlimited repression.
To understand how Chile got to this situation, it is necessary to go back to the year 1970, when, historically —and almost surprisingly— the leftist leader Salvador Allende managed to prevail in that year’s elections with a relative majority.
An unprecedented government at a global level
His victory was unprecedented globally, as he became the first openly Marxist politician to come to power through democracy and free elections. A fact that made him a benchmark for the global left. Something that he did that, in the middle of the Cold War, he was seen as a threat by the United States and, specifically, by the Administration of former President Richard Nixon.
Allende formed a progressive government that prioritized increasing the role of the State in the economy and improving the rights of workers, both in the countryside and in the city.
More than a revolutionary, he was a reformist who even had the support of the Christian Democracy and the center-right at the beginning, since they shared with him the need for change in Chile. However, this support was diluted among the upper-middle class because the Chilean economy was progressively worsening during the years of his government.
This economic crisis began to be especially evident after 1972, when high inflation and shortages began to hit Chileans. Behind this situation there were government errors, such as the excessive printing of banknotes —something that led to superinflation—, however, the decisions made by Washington also had to do with it. Henry Kissinger, US Secretary of State at the time, came to recognize years later that it was a “priority” for the United States that the Chilean economy suffer as many problems as possible and that they contributed to it.
The US objective sought to stop what was experienced in Cuba. An example like that of Salvador Allende could be counterproductive for Washington’s interests in Latin America, as it represents a “kinder” way of democratic socialism.
The United States tried at all costs to stop the rise of progressive leaders and movements in the region through the promotion of military dictatorships and geopolitical strategies such as the Condor Plan. And Chile, probably, is the best example of this bet: since the beginning of the Allende government far-right opposition groups were financed and a possible military coup was encouraged.
These groups of radicals destabilized the Executive with constant terrorist attacks on infrastructures and increased social tension to the extreme. It was a kind of plot that could favor a change of government —or even regime— by force.
Pinochet, a military man trusted by Allende who betrayed the Chilean president
The key moment would come on August 21, 1973, when General Carlos Prats, who had defended the institution, was forced to resign due to pressure from the military. His replacement as chief of staff would be his second-in-command, a general who had a reputation for being apolitical and a theoretically clean record: Augusto Pinochet.
Unlike what would happen later, his figure was trusted by Allende because he seemed distant from the climate of rebellion existing among some military establishments. However, when the time came, Pinochet joined the rebellion and led it.
This is how on September 11, 1973, the military took up positions throughout the country and efficiently controlled the media and surrounded the Palacio de la Moneda, the presidential headquarters where Allende was located. The president tried to resist in the compound along with other of his colleagues and took advantage of that moment to broadcast on Radio Magallanes, which was not yet under Pinochet’s control, his last speech. A few parting words that went down in history.
Workers of my country: I have faith in Chile and its destiny. Other men will overcome this gray and bitter moment, where betrayal tries to prevail. You continue to know that, much sooner rather than later, the great boulevards will open again where the free man passes to build a better society. Long live Chile! Long live the people! Long live the workers!
A few minutes later the military troops entered the Palacio de la Moneda and before being arrested, Allende decided to shoot himself. But his death and the end of his government did not stop the military, who continued with the repression during the following days until they had total control and took over the country and the State forces.
The Chilean armed forces outlawed all political parties and began arresting anyone suspected of being a leftist militant. In Santiago these people were taken to the National Stadium, where they endured constant torture for weeks and many of them were killed. Those days of terror took the lives of hundreds of young people, some of them referents in Chilean culture, such as the singer Víctor Jara.
On the basis of this torture, a regime led by Pinochet was cemented. This dictatorship lasted for 17 years thanks to a combination of strong repression against political dissidents and a series of neoliberal structural reforms in economic matters. In those years, the Chilean Truth and Reconciliation Commission estimates that 28,459 people were victims of torture and that 3,227 were murdered or disappeared.
Democracy would not return to Chile until 1990, when, surprisingly, an opposition coalition won a referendum in which they asked about Pinochet’s continuity and Patricio Aylwin took office as president. However, the dictator’s shadow would continue for decades and persists to this day.
Pinochet could never be tried for his crimes, and although he was persecuted by Justice thanks to an investigation by the Spanish judge Baltasar Garzón, he could never be taken to prison. The dictatorship continues to have a large number of Chileans who adulate it and the reforms carried out during the regime are still present in Chile, such as the neoliberal health system or the pension system. All this without taking into account that, 33 years after the arrival of democracy, the Chilean Constitution continues to be the one inherited from the dictator’s military regime.
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