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September 11, 1973 is one of those days that I remember where I was and what I was doing due to a major news event. I was backing my 1965 Chevy Impala out of a parking lot at the University of Southern California when I heard on the radio that Pinochet had overthrown Salvador Allende. I was overjoyed and saw the event as a major turning point in the Cold War.
Viva Pinochet. Lots of leftist scum in this country need some helicopter rides as well.
Even as a teenager listening to The Joshua Tree, I laughed at Bono and his lionization of commie puke Victor Jara.
They seem to be having a few hiccups at present.
Remembering a great leader on the 104th anniversary of his birth. Viva Pinochet !
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Allende was allowed to take the Presidency with conditions and had violated them. The Chilean legislature and Supreme Court had already declared Allende’s Marxism unconstitutional.
Pinochet was reluctant to lead the coup, he had to be asked to do so by members of the legislature. Chile, up to that point, had the longest history of elected governments with peaceful power handovers in South America. They were very proud of that record. It is thought that he only acted after being shown proof of the planed massacre. Cuban and other foreign troops were in the country ready to do a hard takeover. There was going to be a coup, the only question was who would lead it, the Chilean military or Allende.
The legislature was disbanded but the courts continued after the coup and operated fairly independently.
There was an election in 1980 on a rewritten constitution and to say yes or no to Pinochet having a eight year term as president. He won.
In 1988 there was a second election. He lost that one by about a percentage point. He stepped down.
“Think of the world of 1973, and consider the choices made by Central and South American leaders in those days. Soviet Communism had already murdered tens of millions of its own. The killing fields of Cambodia were still fresh in everyone’s mind”
Don’t get me wrong, I LOVE PINOCHET! I researched him in college because the Commies were screaming about him taking over. What I found then was that the Allende and his Commies were seizing private property left and right, particularly some very large foreign companies, including the one that ran their huge copper mine. That may have tipped it...you want to be a Communist and left alone, don’t be stealing from foreign companies.
Having said that, the “Killing Fields” didn’t start until 1975 (I remember that too)...the author could have looked it up.
Another cia intervention bump. We certainly need more deep state helping out the world. The date has not lost its irony over time.
*bump*
”Think of the world of 1973, and consider...The killing fields of Cambodia were still fresh in everyone’s mind.”
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In an otherwise great article about a great man (if only Kerensky had the same guts!), this glaring error sticks out. The Khmer Rouge didn’t take over and begin massacres until 1975. Unfortunately, inaccuracies of this type can discredit otherwise great works.
“Think of the world of 1973, . . . . The killing fields of Cambodia were still fresh in everyone’s mind... “
Uh, no, the killing fields had yet to occur.
Some years ago ago I had the opportunity to read a historical account of what Pinochet accomplished. The Chilean people owe the man a debt of gratitude for what he did for the country. Of course, the Leftists would never agree with that assessment and continue to this day to hate him.
Humankind has this amazing abilty to lapse into socialism,failure after failure, generation after generation. We could come back to this planet 1000 years from now and there will still be be a Chavez, Ocasio Cortez or Sanders chasing that same empty utopian redistribution dream. Look at Chile, 45 years of success after Pinochet recued the country from communist socialist Allende who drove it into poverty and created the most economically successful nation in Latin America with a constitution and free markets.Now their unions and young people are out in the streets wanting to pursue the socialist dream.Socialists have no sense of history.
The commies at Wikipedia have this blurb:
Pinochet assumed power in Chile following a United States-backed coup d'état on 11 September 1973 that overthrew the democratically elected socialist Unidad Popular government of President Salvador Allende and ended civilian rule.
Thank you for restating the facts.