Chile under the gun
FPF-fwd. Isabel Allende
"I thought that, if I were arrested, I could explain that I was acting out of humanitarian motives. Apparently, I was somewhere on the moon."
Quote: "I thought I was safe because I wasn't visibly "involved" in politics, in the meantime sheltering desperate fugitives in my home or helping them over embassy walls in search of asylum. - Isabel Allende: Chile under the gun."
The Independent: How did Chile's generals manage to overthrow a democratic government and maintain their brutal junta for 17 years? For novelist Isabel Allende, a close relative of the flawed but idealistic man Augusto Pinochet swept from power, the pain of confronting these questions is acute. As the death of the dictator closes a grim chapter in her nation's history, she describes what living through it was like - and the joy of seeing her homeland heal itself.
Isabel Allende: Chile under the gun
Published in The Independent (UK) on 12 December 2006
To give an idea of what the military coup was like, you have to imagine how a citizen of the United States or Great Britain would feel if the army rolled up in full battle gear to attack the White House or Buckingham Palace, and in the process caused the deaths of thousands of citizens, among them the President of the US or the Queen and Prime Minister of Great Britain, then indefinitely suspended Congress or Parliament, disbanded the Supreme Court, abrogated individual liberties and political parties, declared absolute censorship of the media, and finally, over time, strove mercilessly to extinguish every dissident voice.
Now, imagine that these same military men, possessed with Messianic fanaticism - (like the US junta and its war machine - HR) - installed themselves in power for years, prepared to root out every last ideological adversary. That is what happened in Chile.
The socialist adventure led by Salvador Allende ended tragically. The military junta, presided over by General Augusto Pinochet, applied the doctrine of "savage capitalism", as the neoliberal experiment has been called, but refused to acknowledge that, to function smoothly, it requires a labour force free to exercise its rights.
Brutal repression was used to destroy the last seed of leftist thought and implant a heartless capitalism. Chile was not an isolated case - the long night of dictatorships darkened the continent for more than a decade.
IN 1975, HALF OF LATIN AMERICA'S CITIZENS LIVED UNDER SOME KIND OF REPRESSIVE GOVERNMENT, MOST OF WHICH WERE BACKED BY THE UNITED STATES.
The Allende family - that is, those who didn't die - were taken prisoner, went into hiding, or left the country. My brothers, who were out of the country, did not return. My parents, who were in the embassy in Argentina, remained in Buenos Aires for a while, until they received death threats and had to escape.
Most of my mother's family, on the other hand, were bitterly opposed to the Unidad Popular, and many of them celebrated the military coup with champagne."
[end quote Isabel Allende article]
You can read more of the very interesting information in The Independent (UK) at - Url.:
http://news.independent.co.uk/world/americas/article2067626.ece
RELATED:
* Indymedia en Santiago de Chile - Url.: http://santiago.indymedia.org/news/2006/12/62250.php
* U.S.-Chile Documents: The memo states that the NSC asked the U.S. Ambassador to Chile ... The memo states that existing U.S. assistance and investments in Chile should be ... more at Url.: www.gwu.edu/~nsarchiv/NSAEBB/NSAEBB8/nsaebb8.htm
* Declassified Documents Relating to the Military Coup in Chile - Since the coup, however, few U.S. documents relating to Chile have been actually declassified - until recently. Through Freedom of Information Act requests, this is seen at Url.: www.gwu.edu/~nsarchiv/NSAEBB/NSAEBB8/nsaebb8i.htm
* USA-Chile - The U.S. role in Chile has been an ill-kept secret for over 25 years. In 1975, the U.S. Senate report Covert Action in Chile, 1963-1973 revealed it. - Url.: www.zmag.org/ZMag/articles/USA-Chile.htm
Fwd. by:
FOREIGN PRESS FOUNDATION
Editor: Henk Ruyssenaars
http://tinyurl.com/gpr4j
The Netherlands
fpf@chello.nl
FPF-COPYRIGHT NOTICE - In accordance with Title 17 U. S. C. Section 107 any copyrighted work in this message is distributed by the Foreign Press Foundation under fair use, without profit or payment, to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the information.
-0-
"I thought that, if I were arrested, I could explain that I was acting out of humanitarian motives. Apparently, I was somewhere on the moon."
Quote: "I thought I was safe because I wasn't visibly "involved" in politics, in the meantime sheltering desperate fugitives in my home or helping them over embassy walls in search of asylum. - Isabel Allende: Chile under the gun."
The Independent: How did Chile's generals manage to overthrow a democratic government and maintain their brutal junta for 17 years? For novelist Isabel Allende, a close relative of the flawed but idealistic man Augusto Pinochet swept from power, the pain of confronting these questions is acute. As the death of the dictator closes a grim chapter in her nation's history, she describes what living through it was like - and the joy of seeing her homeland heal itself.
Isabel Allende: Chile under the gun
Published in The Independent (UK) on 12 December 2006
To give an idea of what the military coup was like, you have to imagine how a citizen of the United States or Great Britain would feel if the army rolled up in full battle gear to attack the White House or Buckingham Palace, and in the process caused the deaths of thousands of citizens, among them the President of the US or the Queen and Prime Minister of Great Britain, then indefinitely suspended Congress or Parliament, disbanded the Supreme Court, abrogated individual liberties and political parties, declared absolute censorship of the media, and finally, over time, strove mercilessly to extinguish every dissident voice.
Now, imagine that these same military men, possessed with Messianic fanaticism - (like the US junta and its war machine - HR) - installed themselves in power for years, prepared to root out every last ideological adversary. That is what happened in Chile.
The socialist adventure led by Salvador Allende ended tragically. The military junta, presided over by General Augusto Pinochet, applied the doctrine of "savage capitalism", as the neoliberal experiment has been called, but refused to acknowledge that, to function smoothly, it requires a labour force free to exercise its rights.
Brutal repression was used to destroy the last seed of leftist thought and implant a heartless capitalism. Chile was not an isolated case - the long night of dictatorships darkened the continent for more than a decade.
IN 1975, HALF OF LATIN AMERICA'S CITIZENS LIVED UNDER SOME KIND OF REPRESSIVE GOVERNMENT, MOST OF WHICH WERE BACKED BY THE UNITED STATES.
The Allende family - that is, those who didn't die - were taken prisoner, went into hiding, or left the country. My brothers, who were out of the country, did not return. My parents, who were in the embassy in Argentina, remained in Buenos Aires for a while, until they received death threats and had to escape.
Most of my mother's family, on the other hand, were bitterly opposed to the Unidad Popular, and many of them celebrated the military coup with champagne."
[end quote Isabel Allende article]
You can read more of the very interesting information in The Independent (UK) at - Url.:
http://news.independent.co.uk/world/americas/article2067626.ece
RELATED:
* Indymedia en Santiago de Chile - Url.: http://santiago.indymedia.org/news/2006/12/62250.php
* U.S.-Chile Documents: The memo states that the NSC asked the U.S. Ambassador to Chile ... The memo states that existing U.S. assistance and investments in Chile should be ... more at Url.: www.gwu.edu/~nsarchiv/NSAEBB/NSAEBB8/nsaebb8.htm
* Declassified Documents Relating to the Military Coup in Chile - Since the coup, however, few U.S. documents relating to Chile have been actually declassified - until recently. Through Freedom of Information Act requests, this is seen at Url.: www.gwu.edu/~nsarchiv/NSAEBB/NSAEBB8/nsaebb8i.htm
* USA-Chile - The U.S. role in Chile has been an ill-kept secret for over 25 years. In 1975, the U.S. Senate report Covert Action in Chile, 1963-1973 revealed it. - Url.: www.zmag.org/ZMag/articles/USA-Chile.htm
Fwd. by:
FOREIGN PRESS FOUNDATION
Editor: Henk Ruyssenaars
http://tinyurl.com/gpr4j
The Netherlands
fpf@chello.nl
FPF-COPYRIGHT NOTICE - In accordance with Title 17 U. S. C. Section 107 any copyrighted work in this message is distributed by the Foreign Press Foundation under fair use, without profit or payment, to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the information.
-0-
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