Chile is a democracy that fell into dictatorship for nearly two decades. What were the warning signs? (via OnPointRadio)
former minister of mining under President Salvador Allende in 1973. He was detained under the dictatorship of Augusto Pinochet, imprisoned in Dawson Island, and then forced into exile until 1984. MEGHNA CHAKRABARTI: The January 6th, 2021 attack on Congress was a massive and organized attempt to disrupt the regular transfer of power in America's democracy. Some call it the first attempted coup in this nation's modern history. Democracy survived, for now.
CHAKRABARTI: Allende died later that day in the presidential palace. That evening, September 11, 1973, the junta's leader, General Augusto Pinochet, declared victory. FUNK: I guess in these cases, it always depends on where you start. And you can begin with the election of Salvador Allende in 1970, and the campaign leading up to that. But you can go back even further. You know, you can go back to the early '60s when the Alliance for Progress, when John F.
SIAVELIS: Yeah. I think it's important to have some context here. I mean, going even further back, I mean, the one thing that I would want to stress is that, you know, we're not talking about when people have certain visions of Latin America, we're not talking about some banana republic here. We're talking about a country with almost 150 years of uninterrupted democracy.
CHAKRABARTI: So, Professor Funk, do you see those same divisions within Chile in, let's say, the decade before Allende's election in 1970? Do you see similar sort of patterns of polarization and divides? And during the sixties, the center, particularly the Christian Democratic Party, which had taken over from the Radical Party in the 1960s as the representative of the political center, started shifting to the left, in an effort to stop the far left from coming to power, stopping Allende. And so the Christian Democratic government of Eduardo Frei, for example, they engage in very, very needed and necessary land reform. But what that did was it outraged the right and outraged the elites.
CHAKRABARTI: Just to jump in, because I'm sure a phrase that I wrote down and underscored on my notes here was when Professor Funk said in Chile, there was a period where he would describe it more as a democracy of the elite. And so I'm wondering if that has some sort of echoes to you here in the United States.
CHAKRABARTI: Well, Professor Funk, I want to bring in the issue of Chile's economy prior to 1973, as well. And fold that into the picture here, because we had talked a little bit before about, you know, in the 1960s that the United States was pouring money in, for specific reasons, into the Chilean political process. But also, wasn't the United States sort of key in squeezing the Chilean economy regarding investment, credit, etc.
He was a Democrat, he had a left flank that he needed to keep happy. And he kept talking about revolution, which really annoyed the right. And he didn't go far enough in terms of policy and that really annoyed the left. And so he was really stuck in terms of policy. But economically, he started increasing wages. Eventually, it led to severe inflation.
But I point that out because that means that 60% of people who cast a vote in Chile in 1970 did not vote for Allende. And did he govern in a way that recognized that fact, essentially? CHAKRABARTI: Well, Professor Funk, I've got to let you go here in another minute or two. So let me ask you, as you had said a moment ago, no one expected a coup to last 17 years. It actually is quite shocking to the ear to hear that the expectation at that time was just a couple of weeks.
CHAKRABARTI: Well, Professor Funk talked about members of the Chilean government at the time that he has subsequently spoken with. Let's recall that that coup happened on September 11th, 1973. And it was members of Salvador Allende's cabinet that became immediate targets of Pinochet's junta. And at the time, Sergio Bitar was the minister of mining and one of Allende's top economic advisers.
CHAKRABARTI: They were sent to Dawson's Island, which Pinochet had turned into a concentration camp for political prisoners. They were taken by plane in the middle of the night, hands tied, no information about where they were going or why. CHAKRABARTI: Then one day the prisoners were told that they had half an hour to pack up their belongings. They were moved to another concentration camp inland, but international pressure at the same time was also mounting. So on November 14th, 1973, Bitar was released from Dawson's Island. He left Chile, seemingly forever.
CHAKRABARTI: Today, we are taking a look at the modern history of Chile, particularly what led to the 1973 military coup in Chile that collapsed Chilean democracy. And then what happened later in 1990 to rebuild Chilean democracy and what lessons the United States can learn? If you were on a bus, you wouldn't comment to your friend or your partner anything critical of the dictatorship, because there would be a fear of being denounced to the secret police. So what followed was political disappearances, executions, exile, torture, the elimination of Congress, the elimination of all political parties, and basically the elimination of rule of law. What the dictator decided was what was the rule in the country.
Even though they not all, but most of the party had supported the coup. But then they were the object of repression, as well. So nobody was safe. The idea of being vulnerable was for all Chileans. And that began changing only after the massive mobilizations in the 1980s, where we came out into the open to oppose the regime. But even then, the repression continued. There were assassinations in the 1980s.
CHAKRABARTI: And then the other thing that I've heard a couple of times is that there was a sense of surprise among those who allied themselves behind Pinochet, that the dictatorship lasted as long as it did. I heard a little earlier, Professor Funk saying, Well, you know, a lot of people thought it was just going to be a couple of weeks and then things would normalize and it would be fine.
MUÑOZ: Well, let me pick up on your previous question before tackling this one. Because, I mean, we sense a crushing loss of innocence in Chile because we felt it couldn't happen in our country. We have such a long tradition of democratic rule in Chile, could not turn into a dictatorship. And turning to the most brutal dictatorship the hemisphere has seen, and that we could implement structural changes through the ballot and have won in a democratic election. So it can happen anywhere.
Indonesia Berita Terbaru, Indonesia Berita utama
Similar News:Anda juga dapat membaca berita serupa dengan ini yang kami kumpulkan dari sumber berita lain.
Reader: Santiago's Breakfast Burrito Is the Gold StandardSantiago's didn't make our best green chile list, and fans are stirred up.
Baca lebih lajut »
Spiced Tamarind Chutney RecipeThis homemade chutney gets its body and mellow sweetness from chewy dates and earthy palm sugar, while ground ginger and Kashmiri red chile powder add subtle spice.
Baca lebih lajut »
Corps to conduct further testing at contaminated schoolThe U.S. Army Corps of Engineers will conduct new testing at a Missouri grade school to learn more about the level of radioactive contamination in the school and on its playground, U.S. Rep. Cori Bush said.
Baca lebih lajut »
Austin at Large: The Most Serious Time of the YearWhat do we really want these people to do for the people who might elect them?
Baca lebih lajut »