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Augusto Pinochet
1915 -
Late on the night of October 16, 1998, history came full circle
for former Chilean dictator Augusto Pinochet Ugarte. Awakened by
two London plainclothes police officers, a dazed and drugged
Pinochet found himself in a situation hauntingly familiar to the
thousands of people his regime "disappeared" -- the practice of
midnight arrest. During his 17 years in office, Pinochet ruled
by murdering, torturing, and intimidating suspected leftists,
though his presidency also aborted civil war in 1973 and founded
one of Latin America's most prosperous economies. Pinochet still
oversees much of Chilean politics as a watchful lifetime
Senator, but he has traded his dark sunglasses and swarthy
moustache for conservative business suits and a grandfatherly
demeanour. At the ripe old age of 85, this controversial figure,
who hoped to spend his remaining years clarifying his place in
Chile's nationalist pantheon, stands to be judged by history.
Pinochet
was born in Valparaiso on November 25, 1915, the first of three
sons and three daughters of a pious middle-class trading family.
He grew up largely apolitically despite the hasty exchanges of
power that frequently shook his narrow nation, and his family
and friends described him as a sensitive child who cried during
scary movies and invoked the Catholic Church for help and
advice. Uninterested in academics, Pinochet earned mediocre
grades and was expelled from the San Rafael Seminary for
naughtiness. He finished his schooling at the College of the
Sacred Hearts in Valparaiso, where children of richer families
attended school and where he likely felt ostracized.
Despite academic underachievement, Pinochet did not lack
passion. From an early age, he aspired to join the military, an
ambition that even his influential mother could not quell. The
Chilean army derived its roots from Prussian training in the
nineteenth century, and Pinochet, who always admired England
because of its respect for rules, was doubtless attracted to the
military because of its grey-clad, goose-stepping traditions.
After awkward school years, Pinochet finally joined a group that
drew its constituency from his middle-class background and
shared his priority for rules over questions. In 1933 at 17,
Pinochet finally joined the military as an officer cadet, in
uniform at long last.
Pinochet spent the next 40 years climbing the army's hierarchy.
In 1937 he graduated as an ensign assigned to the Chacabuco
Regiment in Concepcion. Too busy enjoying the life of a young
officer and acquiring military knowledge, Pinochet remained
aloof to politics when the coalition leftist Popular Front under
President Pedro Aguirre Cerda won the election in 1938. In 1943,
Pinochet married Lucia Hiriart, a woman almost as strong as his
mother, and welcomed the birth of Lucia, the first of five
children -- three daughters and two sons. He quietly continued
ascending the ranks of the military, building a career with
several key accomplishments: becoming Second Lieutenant of the
Maipo Regiment in 1939; entering the Academy of War in 1949;
moving to the Rancagua Regiment in Arica as Major in 1953; and
becoming Chief of Staff of the Second Division and Deputy
Governor of Tarapaca Province in 1968. In the early 1970s,
Pinochet's career moved past local postings into the national
arena, skyrocketing from commander of the Santiago garrison in
1971 to Commander-in-Chief of the Army in 1973. In fact,
Pinochet's rise was so studied and slow, and he remained so
apolitical, that socialist President Salvador Allende himself
promoted the future conservative to head the army, believing in
Pinochet's trustworthiness.
In fact, everyone believed that Pinochet backed Allende's
government, perhaps even Pinochet himself. Since Allende's
election in 1970, Chile had teetered precariously on the edge of
full-blown civil war. Allende's leftist platform, though
certainly not Marxist, advocated nationalizing foreign-owned
industry and rectifying Chile's gross economic disparity.
Allende's rhetoric and the actions taken by his radical
followers pushed the middle class into the hands of the wealthy.
On the brink of class warfare, the truckers went on strike and
radical rightists bombed power lines. Further polarizing the
situation, the American government under Richard Nixon smuggled
funds to the military for arms and anti-Allende propaganda. Yet
the upstart Pinochet remained loyal. He had experienced just the
break he had been hoping for under the new government, and he
allegedly told Allende right before the coup, "President, be
aware I am ready to lay down my life in defense of the
constitutional government that you represent."
Allende appointed Pinochet Commander-in-Chief of the Army on
August 23, 1973, but by September 8, Pinochet turned on Allende.
Pinochet joined a four-man junta to overthrow the government,
and by September 11 he assumed complete control of the group
because he decided that such a volatile situation could be
controlled only by one leader. Although Pinochet had not been
particularly well known outside army ranks, no one within the
military hierarchy questioned his control because he commanded
the army, the largest, most powerful wing of the military and
component of the junta. Early on the morning of September 11,
the junta informed Allende that he must surrender to the police
and army, who professed their intention to end Chile's chaos.
Allende refused, and British-made warplanes bombed the
presidential palace. Pinochet's treachery perhaps shocked
Allende most, and in the first hours of the coup he believed
that the junta had taken his general hostage. Once Pinochet's
treason and the forces against the ousted leader became clear,
Allende committed suicide, defending his socialist experiment.
The motives for Pinochet's volte face remain mysterious. Some
argue that he greedily recognized a chance for supreme power;
others speculate that his rare blend of mental smallness and
spiritual perversity convinced him that God ordained his
take-over.
Most Chileans welcomed the junta and its goal of returning Chile
to guarded democracy. In the end, the majority regretted their
jubilation. Pinochet inaugurated a state of siege to be lifted
infrequently over the next 17 years. Declaring himself President
in 1974, he eliminated Congress, political parties, freedom of
speech, habeas corpus, and trade unions. Pinochet founded the
DINA (the National Intelligence Directorate) as his secret
police, charged with ferreting out opposition and silencing the
nation with intimidation. The reign of terror began immediately
after the coup, interning and torturing thousands of dissidents
in Santiago's soccer stadium. Although the 1970s witnessed the
worst human rights abuses, Pinochet's government is charged with
"disappearing" over three thousand citizens and causing
thousands more to flee during his rule. While the United States
initially backed Pinochet's takeover, after a series of
prominent atrocities including the murder of former Allende
ambassador to the U.S. Orlando Letelier and U.S. citizen Ronni
Moffitt in Washington D.C., the international community
cautiously removed support. Like the haze overhanging Pinochet's
quick about-face, questions remain about the dictator's motives
for ruling through terror. Some note a driving lust for power
that Pinochet concealed well in the army, while apologists
believe that Pinochet is at heart a nationalist, condoning
one-man rule to return order.
Indeed, terror in Chile was complemented not just by order but
also by an economic miracle that has lasted despite a few bouts
of inflation. At the beginning of his tenure, Pinochet gave free
reign to a group of economists called the Chicago boys,
nicknamed because of their devotion to University of Chicago
economist Milton Friedman's free-market theories. Although their
practices increased the income disparity ratio in Chile, the
Chicago boys achieved an annual economic growth rate of seven
percent, a figure three times the overall Latin American
average. By offering generous incentives to foreign investors
and privatizing business, Pinochet's government transformed
Chile into a modern land of plenty and boosted life expectancy,
salaries, access to health services, and educational standards
above those of any other Latin American country. Even today,
conservatives around the world herald Pinochet's economic ends
and ignore his means.
Pinochet is so controversial, and weighing his achievements
against his atrocities proves so difficult, that nearly a third
of his countrymen still revere him as a nationalist icon. So
sure of their support, Pinochet called a plebiscite for the 1988
presidential election -- and lost. And even stranger, the
dictator respected the vote and stepped down from the presidency
in 1990. Yet politics in Chile remains under the watchful eye of
the General. Although he relinquished his command of the army in
1998, he enjoys a lifetime Senate seat and frequently reminds
the elected authorities of his lingering control. When his son
Augusto's financial dealings were questioned in 1990, Pinochet
expressed displeasure by sending troops into Santiago's streets.
Maintaining democratic Senate proceedings in the presence of a
former dictator seems like a sham, but Pinochet's efforts to
participate in statecraft seem to show his desire to reinvent
his image as a patriot in any capacity.
But just as Pinochet jettisoned dictatorship for democracy,
international law reminded him and other nervous dictators that
they will be held accountable for human rights violations. As he
recovered from an operation on a herniated disc in a London
clinic, Spanish authorities acting through Interpol issued a
warrant for Pinochet's arrest on the charges of torturing and
murdering Spanish citizens. Spain's case against Pinochet
trudged slowly through the British court system until recently,
first addressing the question of international legality and then
moving on to charges of genocide, terrorism, murder, illegal
detention, kidnapping, and torture. In April 2000, the courts
ruled to send Pinochet back to Santiago on grounds of
ill-health, but since his return his countrymen have debated
trying him for crimes in his native country and have revoked his
senatorial immunity. International law has yet to judge
Pinochet, but the verdict he really worries about is history's
-- will he be remembered as a nationalist saviour or a selfish
murderer? Either way, he has managed a rare feat, and he awaits
his judgment as a true anomaly, the first successful former
dictator.
~~~<"((((((><~~~<"((((((><~~~<"((((((><~~~<"((((((><~~~<"((((((><~~~
Augusto Pinochet Ugarte (born 1915) led the military movement of
1973 that toppled the elected Chilean government. An army
general, he proceeded to govern in an authoritarian manner while
attempting to rebuild the economy and permanently alter Chile's
political system.
Augusto Pinochet Ugarte was born in the Chilean port city of
Valparaiso on November 15, 1915. From his early years he aspired
to a military career. Because of his small stature Pinochet was
rejected twice by the National Military Academy before he
matriculated at the Escuela Militar's four year officer training
course in Santiago. He graduated in 1936 and was promoted to
second lieutenant in 1938. He married Maria Lucia Hiriart and
had three daughters and two sons.
During his early professional career Pinochet distinguished
himself as a specialist in military geography and geopolitics.
His 1968 book Geopolitica (Geopolitics) went through several
editions. He also stood out as a student in the Infantry School,
in the War Academy (staff school), and in other advanced
courses. He held several staff and command posts during these
years, posts which provided him with numerous contacts with
other officers in the army, air force, navy, and carabineros
(national police). Pinochet served on the Chilean military
mission in Washington, D.C. in 1956. He taught at the Military
School, at the War Academy, and at Ecuador's national war
college in the 1950s and 1960s. It was during these early
military years that he developed the ideals that guided his
military career: patriotism, public service and respect for
authority.
Early in his career, Pinochet was not interested in the
political debates that dominated civilian society. A cousin said
"his ideological orientation was an enigma. If he had any, he
had not demonstrated publicly." By 1970, the year Salvador
Allende Gossens was elected to the presidency, Pinochet had been
promoted to division general - the highest rank in the Chilean
army. In 1971 he became commandant of the Santiago garrison, one
of the most sensitive and influential army assignments owing to
the size of the garrison and to its location in the capital
city. By this time Pinochet was firmly convinced that political
demagoguery and Marxism were disruptive, hypocritical, and
incompatible with, in his words, "the moral principles that
should uphold society. … ." He traced his hostility to Marxism
to events of the late 1930s, when Marxists participated
vociferously in government, and to the Cold War years when the
Chilean Communist Party was briefly outlawed. He also became
skeptical of the ability of Chile's democratic system to
withstand Marxism.
The 1970 presidential election confirmed his deep suspicions,
for it gave power to the Marxist Allende despite the fact that
he was a minority candidate. As garrison commandant Pinochet was
an eyewitness to the social, economic, and political turbulence
accompanying the Allende administration's efforts to turn Chile
toward socialism through the control of national institutions.
Outwardly he seemed to remain loyal to the legitimately elected
government. When the army commander-in-chief, General Carlos
Prats Gonzalez, became interior minister during a serious
trucking strike of late 1972, Pinochet became acting
commander-in-chief. He held this position again on the eve of
the September 11, 1973 putsch.
On that day the armed forces seized power. Allende was killed in
the presidential palace. Pinochet claimed that Allende committed
suicide. That was refuted by Allende's widow and others who
claim that Allende was murdered by Pinochet's troops. Pinochet
became president of the Junta of Government, a body composed of
military commanders-in-chief. A year later he became president
of the Republic of Chile. His term of office was formally
extended later through the adoption of a constitution giving him
an eight-year term (1981-1989). Allende's loyalists tried to
maintain resistance, but it proved costly. Over 1500 lives were
lost by the end of the day. Fearful of internal resistance, the
junta declared itself in a state of internal war. The U.S. CIA
was instrumental in providing the junta with The White Book, a
manual for executing a successful coup and caused hundreds to be
beaten and tortured by the army and police.
From late 1973 until late 1976 the country was in an economic
depression, the aftermath of Allende's policies and the economic
pressures that had been applied by both foreigners and Chileans
between 1970 and 1973. This was also a period of harsh
authoritarian rule. Inflation was gradually reduced in the
mid-1970s, and by 1978 Chileans, especially those of the middle
and upper sectors, were talking of an "economic miracle" based
on free enterprise, foreign loans, and "denationalization" of
the economy. Pinochet's popularity peaked in 1978 when a
plebiscite confirmed his leadership and policies - although a
growing opposition denied the validity of the vote. In the early
1980s Chile suffered from the world recession, and the
government resorted to stricter controls of the press, the exile
of some dissidents, curfews, and repression characteristic of
the early years of Pinochet's rule. At the same time he oversaw
a shift in economic policy that revived the role of the state,
which he and his supporters had blamed for Chile's misfortunes
prior to 1973.
The supporters of Pinochet liked his role as Chile's strongman,
the one figure capable of controlling the armed forces and the
symbol of anti-Marxism. But he also became the figure toward
whom a growing opposition (church leaders, labor, politicians,
human rights advocates, leftists) directed its energies. The
United States and other foreign governments were cautious in
relations with his government. Through this period he maintained
his resolute anti-Communism and showed an uncanny ability to
survive politically in a country marked by unsolved economic and
social problems. Pinochet was able to do this because of his own
abilities, but also because of the strength of discipline in the
military, the inability of opposition leaders to agree on
policy, and the fear of many Chileans that alternatives would be
worse than his authoritarianism.
These factors became subjects for increasing debate within the
government, throughout Chile, and in the world press in 1983
when opposition leaders organized mass demonstrations against
the regime's economic, political, and social programs. Beginning
in May of that year miners, students, workers, and dissident
political leaders took to the streets to register their
discontent. Pinochet used armed force to quell the
demonstrations, then began talks aimed at political compromise.
When talks stalled he again used strong-arm tactics, claiming as
usual that politicians and Marxists were to blame for Chile's
problems.
In 1986 Pinochet survived an attempted assassination with only
minor injuries. But the international outcry against his alleged
violations of human rights continued to grow louder. The new
constitution that had been seven years in the making was
ratified by plebiscite in 1980. Even though it was approved, the
election was declared a fraud. The constitution called for
Pinochet to serve another eight years. This time actually
permitted the opposition party to mount a successful campaign to
remove him from office. The U.S. Congress financed $2 million
worth of media consultants, poll judges and a parallel vote
count to ensure a somewhat fair election. On October 5, 1989,
55% of the Chilean people voted to remove Pinochet from office.
He was able to retain power until free elections installed a new
president, Patricio Alwyn on March 5, 1990. Although he
abdicated his title as president, Pinochet remained on as
commander in chief of the army. After stepping down as
president, Pinochet devoted himself to modernizing and
computerizing his beloved army. Even at 80, he still saw himself
as a force within Chilean society, very much in charge of the
armed forces until his constitutionally forced retirement in
March 1998.
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