AUGUSTO PINOCHET DIES

This is the most balanced article I have seen so far.

An Anagram For You

General Pinochet is dead =
A Chilean's ego-trip ended.

-- posted by db at Anagrammy.com

Generalissimo Augusto Pinochet is still dead.

Oh,well. now he gets to meet his ultimate judge.And spend eternity in the cell next to Adolph Hitler's in.....Wel,you know where.

He saved Chile from Communism and what it would have done to kill and imprison people.

The lefties hated this man with passion. I hear he's getting cremated and I guess they better hide or disperse the ashes. If he had been buried, the lefties would have desecrated his grave.

Oh,well. now he gets to meet his ultimate judge.And spend eternity in the cell next to Adolph Hitler's in.....Wel,you know where.

I can't believe some of the posts I've read on these forums regarding Pinochet... on a theoretically right wing forum!

Well, I guess you
won't be wiping any
tears off of your red
Che Guevara tee shirts...

I can see that the left's constant pillorying of one of Latin America's great heroes has even infected the ideological thought of many on a conservative forum.

Many don't know the true story of the Allende government and where it was all headed - and it was headed there very quickly after the Allende Marxists came in via the ballot box.

The Socialist experiment was spiraling rapidly out of control and headed towards disaster. Allende was resorting to increasingly desperate measures as Chile went from a food exporter to an importer (after seizing many estates), and the Commies had stolen much industry from the wealthy. Capital was fleeing the country as were the monied and entrepreneurial classes.

Allende was preparing to call martial law and was unloading Soviet weapons in Valparaiso harbor.

Pinochet could not bear to watch the further disintegration of his country. As a staunch anti-Communist, he would not allow its seizure by a Soviet armed Allende. The people were demonstrating in the streets. There was open talk of revolution. Someone had to DO SOMETHING!

Pinochet had cojones. He acted. He is castigated and reviled for it to this day.

Many clueless leftist diptards even some people on this forum equate him with Socialist killers such as Mao (+30million killed), Stalin (25million murdered) and Hitler (12 million murdered).

Pinochet was a soldier, and responded to a violent movement (Communism) - which in Chile, got its start at the ballot box but quickly descended to fighting in the streets - the same place it always ends up - as people began to feel the effects of their democratically begun folly .

The Rettig Commission established a list of the victims and could only come up with some 2095 names. Everyone pretty much agrees on this figure - except, of course - some of the hysterical left.

This was a small price to pay for the liberation of Chile from communist thugs.

We killed over a million in Vietnam and couldn't stop Communism. Nobody is calling JFK a Hitler or Stalin.

Over a million died in Korea - and we didn't give the commies the boot.

Pinochet sends 2000 violent leftist diptards, Commie thugs, and foreign Communist agitators and troublemakers to the boneyard and people are calling him a Hitler. Puhleeeease!

¡Vaya con dios General Pinochet!
Viva Pinochet!

¡Afronte combatiente contra el comunismo!

I am married to a Chilena and initially I thought badly of Pinochet because of what I read in the press. She had much respect for him for saving them from communism. As I read of what Chile was faced with and heard the stories she told. I also understand why he did what he did

I only hope if Communism overtakes this country people here will fight as hard and not be politically correct and cowardly

Well said Bon Mots.

If Pinochet hadn't acted as he did, Chile would have gone the way of Cuba. Fidel killed tens of thousands - and that was on a tiny island. Who knows what Allende's backers would have done?

Go with God, Augusto.

>>>>>>I can't believe some of the posts I've read on these forums regarding Pinochet... on a theoretically right wing forum!

Yes, it's ridiculous, just like the attacks on Francisco Franco here. But it's a natural result of letting the conservative movement in America be hijacked by leftists (neocons), who accuse anyone they dislike of being "fascists," such as "Islamofascists." Pinochet was a statesman who saved Chile from Communism and laid the groundwork for Latin America's most successful economy, but don't espect anyone obsessed with fighting "fascism" to notice that.

If you don't know anything about a given topic, you should not post.

General Augusto Pinochet - a soldier, a patriot, and above all a Christian gentleman - is, I have no doubt, reunited with His Lord and Savior Jesus Christ whom he loved so well and whom he served so unflinchingly.

And that reminds me of the exchange student that came to my high school from Argentina in the 1970's. She had a more sympathetic view of that military government than some of the more left-leaning students in my high school.

CASTRO Y PINOCHET
James R. Whelan

Martes, 9 de mayo de 2000

Cuando Fidel Castro hizo su entrada triunfal en La Habana, el 8 de enero de 1959, Cuba era uno de los países más prósperos del mundo. Cuando Augusto Pinochet y sus colegas militares depusieron al marxista-leninista Salvador Allende, el 11 de septiembre de 1973, encontraron un país al borde del colapso económico. Lo que desde entonces ha sucedido en ambos países es imposible tapar con el dedo.
Castro gobierna una nación donde prácticamente todo está racionado, un país que Freedom House clasifica como "estado policial de un solo partido" y “sin libertad” por 40 años, caso único en nuestro hemisferio.

Por el contrario, Chile figura entre los países "libres" según Freedom House, desde que Pinochet, derrotado en un plebiscito entregó voluntariamente el poder. Pero Castro es adulado y tratado con respeto por dirigentes políticos y periodistas en todas partes del mundo. El más vergonzoso y reciente ejemplo lo dio Janet Reno, Procuradora General de Estados Unidos, postrándose ante Fidel Castro en el caso del niño Elián González.

En cambio, Pinochet es perseguido y vilipendiado por una amplia gama de observadores y analistas. La misma Janet Reno aportó los formidables recursos de su Departamento de Justicia al flagelo "legal" de Pinochet.

El contraste del muy distinto trato recibido por estos dos líderes latinoamericanos parece provenir de las páginas del libro de George Orwell, "1984", donde encontramos términos como "nuevohablar" (blanco es negro, arriba es abajo) y "doblepensar" (creer en dos ideas contradictorias a la vez). Se trata, ni más ni menos, del triunfo orwelliano de la propaganda política impulsada por la izquierda internacional y del conveniente olvido de los hechos por quienes tienen la obligación de reportarlos.

Poco antes de irrumpir Castro en el poder, el ingreso per capita de los cubanos se aproximaba al de los italianos. Cuba figuraba en el lugar 22 entre las –entonces- 122 naciones del mundo en términos de desarrollo. Más de 12 mil italianos esperaban visas para emigrar a esa isla de oportunidades. Y los indicadores sociales avanzaban paralelamente: el alfabetismo se ubicaba en 80 por ciento, una cifra bastante alta para aquellos tiempos.

Cuba tenía más médicos y dentistas per capita que Holanda, Francia, el Reino Unido y Finlandia. Los cubanos gozaban de las tasas más bajas de mortalidad infantil y las más altas de longevidad de los países latinoamericanos. En 1959, los cubanos tenían ingresos similares a los puertorriqueños, mientras que hoy ganan menos de una décima parte.

Durante años, Castro pudo esconder su incompetencia detrás de las asombrosas subvenciones soviéticas. La historiadora rusa Irina Zorina calcula que la URSS le regaló a Castro cien mil millones de dólares, es decir, cuatro veces el total del Plan Marshall, y tres veces la ayuda recibida por toda la América Latina bajo la Alianza para el Progreso.

Cuando Rusia suspendió su ayuda económica en 1992, la economía cubana se contrajo violentamente, perdiendo 50% de su capacidad productiva y 80% de sus industrias se vieron obligadas a cerrar.

La mejor prueba del inmenso fracaso de Castro es que en ningún consulado cubano alrededor del mundo hay gente haciendo cola para emigrar a Cuba. Por el contrario, más de 1,5 millones de cubanos han huido de la isla, la mayoría de ellos arriesgando sus vidas y abandonando lo que tenían.

El caso Pinochet difícilmente podría ser más diferente. El ex presidente chileno, Eduardo Frei Montalva, sintetizó la situación del país en vísperas de la Revolución de 1973: "Chile está hundido en un desastre economico, no una crisis, sino una verdadera catástrofe... peor que la inflacion, la escasez, la violencia es el odio. Hay angustia en Chile..."

El mismo Allende, a pocos días de su caída, anunció que quedaba pan sólo para cuatro días. La inflación galopaba fuera de control, acercándose a mil por ciento. Un país, antes orgulloso, se había degenerado en un verdadero infierno socialista.

A partir de 1973, el régimen militar chileno tuvo que enfrentar boicots, embargos y hostilidad generalizada, no sólo de parte de países comunistas sino de los supuestamente anticomunistas, encabezados por Estados Unidos.

El gobierno de Pinochet transformó lo que era la segunda economía más estatista de América Latina (después de Cuba) en la más libre y próspera. Sin embargo, en la prensa mundial Pinochet aparece como el villano y a Castro siempre se le da el beneficio de la duda. ¿Dónde está el George Orwell de nuestra generación capaz de desenmascarar tanta hipocresía?

According to historian James R. Whelan:

“Fallacy # 1: Was Pinochet a dictator?

“Was Pinochet, in fact, a "dictator?" Not if words have any meaning, he was not. According to the Oxford Encyclopedia English Dictionary, a dictator is "a ruler with (often usurped) unrestricted authority." Pinochet never possessed "unrestricted authority."

“The government Pinochet headed was "authoritarian," and, as Jeanne Kirkpatrick pointed out years ago, there is a very real and important difference between an authoritarian government and a dictatorship. In an authoritarian regime, most people are free to live their lives, unmolested by the government. “

“In a dictatorship, there is no freedom. Pinochet himself once described himself as a "dictator" but in the classic, Roman sense: A man who rescued a tottering country from collapse. That is precisely what Pinochet and his colleagues did in Chile, beginning in 1973. “

“Pinochet came to power at the head of a four-man military junta composed of the commanders of the Army, Navy, Air Force, and Carabineros (para-military national police force) who, together, staged the Sept. 11, 1973 revolution. “

“In 1980, Chileans voted in a plebiscite by a two-to-one margin to approve a new Constitution, and with it the continuance of military rule for eight more years, during a carefully phased transition back to democratic government. “

“Pinochet then became a constitutional president, under the very same constitution which has remained in force ever since, including under two democratic governments. Jose Toribio Merino Castro, head of the Chilean Navy, led the newly created legislative branch. “

“The third branch of government, the judiciary though generally favorable to the aims of the Pinochet government remained independent throughout military rule. “

“The "Pinochet Constitution" was the most carefully crafted in the country’s history. Many people, including two ex-Presidents, helped draft it. Later, following his defeat in the 1988 plebiscite which the military government planned, organized, and staged exactly as it had said it would, Pinochet agreed to negotiations with the united, center-Left opposition, which led to 54 amendments to that Constitution. He did so even though the military were still very much in power.”

“Eighty-five percent of the Chilean people voted in favor of those changes, further legitimatizing that Constitution.”

“Fallacy #2: “The Chilean military snuffed out democracy for the purpose of simply seizing power for themselves. Salvador Allende Gossens, the world’s first freely elected Marxist-Leninist President, came to power in 1970 with only 36 percent of the vote, a mere 40,000 votes (of three million cast) ahead of the candidate of the Right.”

´By mid-1973, even the Christian Democrats could see that Allende was leading their country into a long night of totalitarian rule. Former Chilean President Eduardo Frei Montalva, once a supporter of Allende and a man who played a major role in Allende’s rise to power, admitted as much: "Chile is in the throes of an economic disaster ¡ a veritable catastrophe no one could foresee would happen so swiftly nor so totally...." It was, he said, "a carnival of madness."

“In a private meeting with a top business group, 60 days before the end of Allende’s rule, Frei said: "There is nothing I or the Congress or any civilian can now do. Unfortunately, the only way out of this problem is with rifles.... I advise you to take your concerns to the commanders-in-chief of the Armed Forces...."

“By the time the end did come, the Supreme Court, the Solicitor General, and the Chamber of Deputies had all declared Allende outside the law. A million Chileans, one-third of the labor force, were on strike, demanding that Allende resign.”

“It was only then that the military acted, responding not to an appetite for power, but to the clamor of their fellow citizens. Indeed, even the Commission on Truth and Reconciliation which investigated human rights abuses with a decidedly anti-military bias said in its report: "Until their decisive intervention in September of 1973 the Armed Forces stayed aloof from the crisis." In the immediate aftermath of that "decisive intervention," all three living ex-presidents of Chile said the military had saved the country.”

“The Christian Democrats published a statement, a few days after the coup, in which they said, "to tell the truth, we admit that what has happened was, mainly, the consequence of the economic disaster, the institutional chaos, the armed violence and profound moral crisis to which the deposed Government had brought the country....”

“The evidence demonstrates that the Government of Allende, moved above all by the zeal to conquer total power, by whatever means was preparing a terribly merciless and bloody auto-coup, for the purpose of plunging the country into a communist dictatorship."

Fallacy #3: Pinochet led a "bloody coup."

“Actually, fighting during Pinochet’s intervention lasted only four hours mainly because Allende’s huge paramilitary forces ran for cover, and because of the awesome precision of the Air Force attack on the presidential palace: All 19 rockets hit the target. Allende committed suicide with an AK-47 rifle given him by Fidel Castro. Not more than 300 or 400, including attackers, died in the fighting that day, from one end of Chile to other. “

“Yet, rare is the media report which does not refer ritualistically to the "bloody coup" which overthrew Chile’s "democratic government." It was not bloody. And Allende’s government had long since ceased being "democratic" when it fell during Pinoche’s coup.”

“Fallacy #4: Hundreds of thousands of victims were arrested and tortured in the days after the September coup.”

“In truth, Pinochet moved to rid the country of armed terrorist organizations, including many trained by two dozen East German Stasi agents who arrived in Chile only two weeks after Allende took power and who were joined soon after by Soviet and Soviet-bloc experts in murder and mayhem.”

“Pinochet moved to rid the country of a growing paramilitary force, including many trained by Cuban General Patricio de la Guardia Font, who bragged about his role in training Chilean paramilitary groups during his 1988 show trial in Havana. Pinochet also moved to rid the country of 15,000 men and women who were in Chile illegally, many of whom were detached from underground Communist organizations operating in other South American countries.”

“The groups removed by Pinochet were not lacking in firepower. Former president Eduardo Frei spoke after the coup of the discovery of "armament superior in number and quality to that of the Army, armament for 30,000 men...."

Frei also noted the boast of a Communist Party leader: "the generals have found only a small part of the arms we had...."

“In 1974, a self styled "International Commission of Jurists," which was sent by the World Council of Churches and was strongly biased against the Pinochet government, reported that only a third of the supposed 180,000 were actually arrested, mostly from the ranks of those described above. Of those arrested, most were quickly released.”

Fallacy #6: The "dictatorial" Pinochet was "ousted" by free elections.

“Pinochet was not "ousted" any more than any other candidate in free and open elections is "ousted." Pinochet voluntarily relinquished power in 1990. The 1988 plebiscite ending military rule was an explicit part of the planned and systematic return to democratic government a plan designed and executed by Pinochet’s military government.”

“Fallacy #7: Pinochet has life-long immunity from prosecution in Chile by virtue of his position as senator-for-life and is covered by an amnesty for crimes committed before 1978. “

“Senatorial immunity does not shield Pinochet from prosecution, and indeed, a move is already underway in Chilean courts to lift Pinochet’s immunity. Such a move would allow the ex-president to respond to the 61 (at last count) charges already filed against him. As for the famous amnesty, of the 2,053 persons pardoned under it, 1,475 were Leftist extremists while only 578 were military men. “

“Fallacy #8: Pinochet and the military epitomized evil. From the very beginning, the mainstream media echoing the chorus of vilification emanating from academics, churchmen, entertainers, and politicos around the world divided those in the Chilean drama into those who walked in darkness and those who walked in light. “

“Those who walked in darkness were the military and anyone associated with them. The anointed were those who opposed Pinochet no matter how much blood they might have on their own hands, no matter how much guilt they bore for the failed attempt to convert Chile into a second Cuba. “

“British writer Robert Moss, an expert on Chile (and author of one of the best books on the Allende years), put it this way: "It was boy scoutish of them, but the soldiers who overthrew Salvador Allende thought that they had earned the gratitude of the American people, and of the West in general. For one thing, they had prevented the transformation of Chile into a sort of Latin American Czechoslovakia, complete with Soviet bases.... Alas, how little these soldiers understood the mood of the times in Washington or London...."

“Another British author, David Holden, wrote: "Salvador Allende died a lucky man. In life he was a failure. Both his policies and his country were shattered long before the end. But in death, he achieved success beyond his dreams. Instantly canonized as the Western world’ s newest left-wing martyr, he became overnight the most potent cult figure since his old friend, Che Guevara...."

“In the spirit of the times, a "distinguished" American professor predicted: "the Chilean military will haul the nation back to the Stone Age, where a primitive and simplistic warrior village will be bedded down for a long sleep, awaiting the fantasied attacks coming from every direction." The attacks did come, but the military led their battered nation, not into a Stone Age, but into a Golden Age a Golden Age never before witnessed in Chile, and perhaps not, either, in all of Latin America.”

“Nor did the attacks ever let up. Not even as Pinochet helped Chile create the most successful economy in Latin America while leading the country back to democratic rule. “

“Henry Kissinger, no "right-wing extremist," observed nine years after the coup: “

“No radical revolution, no matter how bloody one thinks of Cuba, Iraq, Algeria, many African states, Vietnam’s occupation of Indochina, Khomeini’s Iran has confronted the worldwide press campaign and the global indignation evoked by the clumsy authoritarians of Santiago.”

“Was its crime in its methods, or in its position on the political spectrum? Was its sin the lack of civil freedom, or the abandonment of the leftist embrace? Why is the argument so widespread that left-wing governments are supposed to be moderated by economic assistance while conservative governments like Chile’s must be reformed by ostracism?”

“The Socialist government of Sweden cut off aid to Chile on September 13, within forty-eight hours of the coup, before its implications could possibly be known. Had it ever acted with such alacrity, or at all, against left-wing tyrants? Indeed, it had lavished aid on Hanoi through the Vietnam war and afterward.... “

“The systematic demonization of Pinochet that began immediately following his removal of Allende in 1973 prepared the way for his midnight arrest in England a few decades later. By then, the world was willing to believe just about anything about this man.”

I can't believe some of the posts I've read on these forums regarding Pinochet... on a theoretically right wing forum!

Me neither, I thought I had entered Bizarro World and FR turned into DU.

“The groups removed by Pinochet were not lacking in firepower. Former
president Eduardo Frei spoke after the coup of the discovery of
"armament superior in number and quality to that of the Army,
armament for 30,000 men...."

I suspect the MSM will be silent in wondering if Hugo Chavez's massive
stockpiling of AK-47s might be a repeat of history...

But then the MSM was pretty silent about the foreign Commies that
invited themselves into Chile for the 1973 festivities.

BUMP to the death of a true leader and hero.