Difference between revisions of "Augusto Pinochet"

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[[Image:342px-Pinochet de Civil.jpg|right|thumb|Augusto Pinochet]]
 
[[Image:342px-Pinochet de Civil.jpg|right|thumb|Augusto Pinochet]]
General '''Augusto José Ramón Pinochet Ugarte''' (1915–2006) was a [[Chile]]an [[soldier]] and [[politician]] who served as Chile's head of state from 1973 to 1990. He came to power as a member of a council of military leaders after the overthrew of the government of President [[Salvador Allende]] on 11 September 1973. Allende, a [[radical]] [[Marxist]], had gained power after getting a 36% plurality of the popular vote in 1970, but he had been accused of violating the Chilean [[constitution]] and condemned for his conduct by the Chilean legislature and by civil society organizations.
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General '''Augusto José Ramón Pinochet Ugarte''' (1915–2006) was a [[Chile]]an [[general]] who became Chile's head of state (or dictator) from 1973 to 1990. He came to power as a member of a council of military leaders after the overthrow of the democratically elected government of President [[Salvador Allende]].  
  
General Pinochet headed a military government for 16 years (1974-1990) as he fought and defeated [[communist]] opponents in Chile. Pinochet was at one time a military subordinate of [[Salvador Allende]]After the [[coup]], Pinochet saw support from [[America]].
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US intelligence reports implicated Allende in the assassination of several opponents,<ref>http://nixontapeaudio.org/chile/517-004.pdf</ref> while KGB files smuggled out of Russia by Vasily Mitrokhin indicate that Allende received funds from the Soviet Union.<ref>http://www.nationalreview.com/articles/219461/pinochet-history/nro-symposium</ref> Allende was formally condemned by Chile's parliament for systematically destroying democracy in Chile.<ref>“Declaration of the Breakdown of Chile’s Democracy,” Resolution of the Chamber of Deputies, Chile, August 22, 1973.</ref> The Chilean Chamber of Deputies Resolution of August 22, 1973, accused Allende of support of armed groups, torture, illegal arrests, muzzling the press, confiscating private property, and not allowing people to leave the country. In the infamous "Cuban Packages Scandal" that precipitated the coup, large quantities of weapons were sent from Castro's Cuba to arm pro-Allende terrorists in Chile.<ref>http://www.nationalreview.com/articles/219461/pinochet-history/nro-symposium</ref> Kissinger privately told Nixon that Allende might declare martial law.<ref>http://nixontapeaudio.org/chile/517-004.pdf</ref> By 1973, as a result of covert US aid to Chilean dissidents and financing of pro-democracy protestors, US intelligence indicated Allende would likely lose the next Chilean election if it was held.<ref>http://archive.frontpagemag.com/Printable.aspx?ArtId=15648</ref> According to ''The Wall Street Journal,'' faced with illegal seizures of farms and factories, of defiance of judicial orders, unchecked street violence and death threats against the judges themselves, the Supreme Court warned on May 26, 1973, in a unanimous and unprecedented message, that Chile faced "a peremptory or imminent breakdown of legality."<ref>http://www.lyd.com/noticias/violencia/what_really.html</ref>  Volodia Teitelboim, the chief ideologue of the Communist Party in Chile, declared that if civil war came, "it probably would signify immense loss of human lives, between half a million and one million."<ref>http://www.lyd.com/noticias/violencia/what_really.html</ref>  On September 11, 1973, Allende committed suicide during a military coup launched by Pinochet, who became President.  
  
General Pinochet instituted free market reforms in Chile in the 1970s that resulted in lower [[inflation]] and an economic boom from 1976 to 1979. He held a [[plebiscite]] on his rule and 75% of the people affirmed their support for him.  However, the plebiscite is widely regarded as fraudulent.  The Pinochet government is alleged to be one of the most repressive in the Americas.  During his time in power over 3,000 people were killed or vanished.<ref>BBC profile http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/6167237.stm</ref> This includes treasonous Marxist revolutionaries and people who died in private disputes. In addition, over a quarter million Chileans were arrested. Universities were purged, books burned, and rival political parties banned.  Thousands fled the country out of fear of the [[secret police]], which routinely tortured citizens.<ref>Augusto Pinochet Biography http://www.moreorless.au.com/killers/pinochet.html</ref>
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General Pinochet headed a military government for 17 years (1973-1990) which suppressed [[communist]] revolutionaries in Chile.  Pinochet's military government drafted and imposed a new Constitution (1980) that established a gradual and legal path for the return to full democracy and introduced a new binomial electoral system. The constitution introduced an amnesty law for all military officials, and Pinochet granted himself the title of senator for life (''Senador vitalicio'') that would be enacted once he left the post of Commander in Chief of the Chilean Armed Forces. 
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General Pinochet instituted free market reforms in Chile in the 1970s that resulted in lower [[inflation]] and an economic boom. During this period, he held a [[plebiscite]] on his rule and 75% of the people affirmed their support for his emergency government.   
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During his time in power, including the 1973 coup, at least 1,200 people were killed or vanished. The most common estimate is that 3,000 were killed,<ref>BBC profile http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/6167237.stm</ref> while other estimates go as high as 10,000. In addition, over a quarter million Chileans were arrested. Universities were purged of terrorist sympathizers, Marxist books were burned, and rival political parties banned.  Thousands of members of the Socialist Party of Chile and the Communist Party of Chile fled the country out of fear of the [[secret police]], which allegedly tortured citizens.<ref>Augusto Pinochet Biography http://www.moreorless.au.com/killers/pinochet.html</ref>
  
 
A new constitution was adopted in Chile in 1981, which authorized General Pinochet to serve as president for another eight-year term, to be followed by a plebiscite on his presidency.
 
A new constitution was adopted in Chile in 1981, which authorized General Pinochet to serve as president for another eight-year term, to be followed by a plebiscite on his presidency.
  
 
Pinochet moved Chile into a market economy, privatizing many inefficient government businesses, and opening the country to foreign investment. The stability that his government gave encouraged foreign investors to come to Chile. He also started one of the first [[private pension accounts]] pension systems in the world, which has been highly successful.  
 
Pinochet moved Chile into a market economy, privatizing many inefficient government businesses, and opening the country to foreign investment. The stability that his government gave encouraged foreign investors to come to Chile. He also started one of the first [[private pension accounts]] pension systems in the world, which has been highly successful.  
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Using its leverage over Pinochet to curtail Chilean human rights abuses, the US simultaneously pressured Chile to introduce a series of economic reforms, a process that escalated sharply in the eighties.  This led to a period of rapid economic expansion and development without precedent in Latin America, in which growth averaged 7% annually, that came to be known as the "''miracle of Chile''" (it also included the region's greatest reductions in infant mortality<ref>Nick Eberstadt, The Poverty of Communism (Transaction Publishers, 1990), pp188,
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196-206, 240-6, in which he discusses living standards in [[Communist]] [[Cuba]] versus Pinochet's Chile.</ref>).  In turn, this allowed Chile to make a long-term transition to sustainable democratic rule that would likely have been otherwise inconceivable.<ref>http://www.lyd.com/noticias/violencia/what_really.html</ref>
  
 
As promised, President Pinochet held another plebiscite in October 1988 on the issue of whether he should continue as president. He was defeated by a vote of 55-43%, and subsequent free elections were won by the [[Christian]] Democrat Patricio Aylwin, who was installed as president on March 11, 1990.
 
As promised, President Pinochet held another plebiscite in October 1988 on the issue of whether he should continue as president. He was defeated by a vote of 55-43%, and subsequent free elections were won by the [[Christian]] Democrat Patricio Aylwin, who was installed as president on March 11, 1990.
  
General Pinochet was a graduate of the [[School of the Americas]] at Ft. Benning, [[Georgia]].
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General Pinochet was a graduate of the [[School of the Americas]] at Fort Benning, [[Georgia]].
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In 1998, the [[leftists]] who had long hated Pinochet arranged for his arrest while he was in [[London]] receiving medical treatment.  An unprecedented arrest warrant was issued in [[Spain]] for alleged [[human rights]] violations that occurred in Chile  while he was president.  The stunt failed, and Pinochet was subsequently returned to Chile due to his ill health.  He was later indicted and charged with [[kidnapping]] 19 supporters of Salvador Allende during the 1973 coup in which Pinochet took power.  The Chilean [[Supreme Court]] suspended the prosecution in July 2002, again due to Pinochet's continuing poor health.
  
 
Pinochet died of a heart attack on December 10, 2006.<ref>http://www.nytimes.com/2006/12/10/world/americas/10cnd-pinochet-timeline.html?ex=1174449600&en=7b24f9d3e63ff60a&ei=5070 NYTimes</ref>
 
Pinochet died of a heart attack on December 10, 2006.<ref>http://www.nytimes.com/2006/12/10/world/americas/10cnd-pinochet-timeline.html?ex=1174449600&en=7b24f9d3e63ff60a&ei=5070 NYTimes</ref>
  
In 1998, Pinochet was arrested in [[London]] pursuant to a warrant issued in [[Spain]] for [[human rights]] violations during his time as Chilean president. Pinochet was subsequently returned to Chile on grounds of ill health, where he was indicted and charged with [[kidnapping]] 19 supporters of Salvador Allende during the 1973 coup in which Pinochet took power. The Chilean [[Supreme Court]] suspended the prosecution in July 2002 due to Pinochet's continuing poor health. [1]
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== See also ==
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*[[Right-wing dictatorship]]
  
== References ==
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== References ==  
 
<references />
 
<references />
  
 
{{DEFAULTSORT:Pinochet, Augusto}}
 
{{DEFAULTSORT:Pinochet, Augusto}}
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[[Category:Heads of State]]
 
[[Category:Heads of State]]
[[Category:Dictators]]
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[[Category:Conservatives]]
[[Category:Mass Murderers]]
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Revision as of 18:27, October 30, 2015

Augusto Pinochet

General Augusto José Ramón Pinochet Ugarte (1915–2006) was a Chilean general who became Chile's head of state (or dictator) from 1973 to 1990. He came to power as a member of a council of military leaders after the overthrow of the democratically elected government of President Salvador Allende.

US intelligence reports implicated Allende in the assassination of several opponents,[1] while KGB files smuggled out of Russia by Vasily Mitrokhin indicate that Allende received funds from the Soviet Union.[2] Allende was formally condemned by Chile's parliament for systematically destroying democracy in Chile.[3] The Chilean Chamber of Deputies Resolution of August 22, 1973, accused Allende of support of armed groups, torture, illegal arrests, muzzling the press, confiscating private property, and not allowing people to leave the country. In the infamous "Cuban Packages Scandal" that precipitated the coup, large quantities of weapons were sent from Castro's Cuba to arm pro-Allende terrorists in Chile.[4] Kissinger privately told Nixon that Allende might declare martial law.[5] By 1973, as a result of covert US aid to Chilean dissidents and financing of pro-democracy protestors, US intelligence indicated Allende would likely lose the next Chilean election if it was held.[6] According to The Wall Street Journal, faced with illegal seizures of farms and factories, of defiance of judicial orders, unchecked street violence and death threats against the judges themselves, the Supreme Court warned on May 26, 1973, in a unanimous and unprecedented message, that Chile faced "a peremptory or imminent breakdown of legality."[7] Volodia Teitelboim, the chief ideologue of the Communist Party in Chile, declared that if civil war came, "it probably would signify immense loss of human lives, between half a million and one million."[8] On September 11, 1973, Allende committed suicide during a military coup launched by Pinochet, who became President.

General Pinochet headed a military government for 17 years (1973-1990) which suppressed communist revolutionaries in Chile. Pinochet's military government drafted and imposed a new Constitution (1980) that established a gradual and legal path for the return to full democracy and introduced a new binomial electoral system. The constitution introduced an amnesty law for all military officials, and Pinochet granted himself the title of senator for life (Senador vitalicio) that would be enacted once he left the post of Commander in Chief of the Chilean Armed Forces.

General Pinochet instituted free market reforms in Chile in the 1970s that resulted in lower inflation and an economic boom. During this period, he held a plebiscite on his rule and 75% of the people affirmed their support for his emergency government.

During his time in power, including the 1973 coup, at least 1,200 people were killed or vanished. The most common estimate is that 3,000 were killed,[9] while other estimates go as high as 10,000. In addition, over a quarter million Chileans were arrested. Universities were purged of terrorist sympathizers, Marxist books were burned, and rival political parties banned. Thousands of members of the Socialist Party of Chile and the Communist Party of Chile fled the country out of fear of the secret police, which allegedly tortured citizens.[10]

A new constitution was adopted in Chile in 1981, which authorized General Pinochet to serve as president for another eight-year term, to be followed by a plebiscite on his presidency.

Pinochet moved Chile into a market economy, privatizing many inefficient government businesses, and opening the country to foreign investment. The stability that his government gave encouraged foreign investors to come to Chile. He also started one of the first private pension accounts pension systems in the world, which has been highly successful.

Using its leverage over Pinochet to curtail Chilean human rights abuses, the US simultaneously pressured Chile to introduce a series of economic reforms, a process that escalated sharply in the eighties. This led to a period of rapid economic expansion and development without precedent in Latin America, in which growth averaged 7% annually, that came to be known as the "miracle of Chile" (it also included the region's greatest reductions in infant mortality[11]). In turn, this allowed Chile to make a long-term transition to sustainable democratic rule that would likely have been otherwise inconceivable.[12]

As promised, President Pinochet held another plebiscite in October 1988 on the issue of whether he should continue as president. He was defeated by a vote of 55-43%, and subsequent free elections were won by the Christian Democrat Patricio Aylwin, who was installed as president on March 11, 1990.

General Pinochet was a graduate of the School of the Americas at Fort Benning, Georgia.

In 1998, the leftists who had long hated Pinochet arranged for his arrest while he was in London receiving medical treatment. An unprecedented arrest warrant was issued in Spain for alleged human rights violations that occurred in Chile while he was president. The stunt failed, and Pinochet was subsequently returned to Chile due to his ill health. He was later indicted and charged with kidnapping 19 supporters of Salvador Allende during the 1973 coup in which Pinochet took power. The Chilean Supreme Court suspended the prosecution in July 2002, again due to Pinochet's continuing poor health.

Pinochet died of a heart attack on December 10, 2006.[13]

See also

References

  1. http://nixontapeaudio.org/chile/517-004.pdf
  2. http://www.nationalreview.com/articles/219461/pinochet-history/nro-symposium
  3. “Declaration of the Breakdown of Chile’s Democracy,” Resolution of the Chamber of Deputies, Chile, August 22, 1973.
  4. http://www.nationalreview.com/articles/219461/pinochet-history/nro-symposium
  5. http://nixontapeaudio.org/chile/517-004.pdf
  6. http://archive.frontpagemag.com/Printable.aspx?ArtId=15648
  7. http://www.lyd.com/noticias/violencia/what_really.html
  8. http://www.lyd.com/noticias/violencia/what_really.html
  9. BBC profile http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/6167237.stm
  10. Augusto Pinochet Biography http://www.moreorless.au.com/killers/pinochet.html
  11. Nick Eberstadt, The Poverty of Communism (Transaction Publishers, 1990), pp188, 196-206, 240-6, in which he discusses living standards in Communist Cuba versus Pinochet's Chile.
  12. http://www.lyd.com/noticias/violencia/what_really.html
  13. http://www.nytimes.com/2006/12/10/world/americas/10cnd-pinochet-timeline.html?ex=1174449600&en=7b24f9d3e63ff60a&ei=5070 NYTimes