Augusto Pinochet's Regime: Dictatorship In Chile

5.Constable, Pamela, and Arturo Valenzuela. A Nation of Enemies Chile Under Pinochet. Boston: W. W. Norton & Company, 1993. Print.

Prior to the Great Depression, Chile had prospered amidst the workings of free-market and mercantilist polices. The Great Depression, however, disrupted this, as it brought about the necessity of government intervention in the economy. Indeed, government intervention even stretched so far as to transform Chile into a nation insulated by protectionist policies. Furthermore, the Great Depression had undoubtedly brought about a political crisis in Chile with the ousting of Ibáñez del Campo in 1931, who himself had partaken in a military coup d’état to achieve presidency in the first place. It has even been posited that the nationalization of copper that had begun during the presidency of Ibáñez del Campo and which was completed during the presidency of Salvador Allende in the early 1970s built the foundation for a future international economic boycott, which further

Before the Chilean War of Independence, Chile was colonized by Spain. The Spaniards colonized Chile in hopes of discovering another Peru, another country plentiful with precious metals. Finding none, the Spaniards began to focus on developing Chile agriculturally. Due to the poverty of the country, there were few slaves and the settlers had to often work the fields themselves. Not many settlers stayed due to the fact that they couldn’t profit from gold, but their influence was still strong. The citizens of Chile had to be under the rule of the Spanish crown, and a strong class structure developed in Chile

Throughout the course of history, several authoritarian leaders have risen to power and maintained their acquired power through physical, violent means. Two authoritarian leaders that have transformed their acquired power into dictatorial rights are Fidel Castro of Cuba and Augusto Pinochet of Chile. Interestingly, Castro and Pinochet differed in their ideals about the ideal structure of governments. While Castro advocated for a socialist, Marxist, anti-imperialist Cuba, Pinochet favored a anti-Marxist, anti-socialist, capitalist Chile. Despite their differing ideals, both shared several similarities in their efforts to establish and maintain their power. Both individuals rose to power in a similar manner: a sort of coup d’état. Both individuals maintained power through positive and negative means. Castro and Pinochet introduced several economic reforms that mostly benefited the people of Cuba and Chile. While these economic reforms allowed for the financial freedom of many Cubans and Chileans, the dictatorial rulers politically repressed the residents of Cuba and Chile. While many historians believe that Castro and Pinochet greatly differed due to their opposing beliefs, both dictators share multiple similarities in the ways that they rose to power, negatively maintained power, and positively

a unified league of Central and South American nations. However, resentment of his authoritarian ways along with fighting between states and personality conflicts caused his influence to

What once was a relatively free and peaceful place started to feel the wrath of the cruel invaders. After decades of the Spanish rule, the Latin American colonies decided to finally take back what once was theirs. Latin America, under the rule of Spanish forces, faced problems. The revolutions that took place during this time were influenced by the ideas from the Age of Enlightenment.

Simon Bolivar, who had a reputation of being a liberator, took center stage. The common folk began to trust his words, as he talked about fighting for the resources that were theirs, ideals taken directly from the American Revolution itself. Also with the power struggle created by the Napoleonic wars, uprisings began. The most prominent of this movement was the uprising in Chuquisaca in 1809, which led to the formation of the Government Juntas. This group focused on taking the power from the Spanish and giving it to the people. Seeing the movement in Bolivia take shape, Latin Nations such as Peru began to provide military support to Bolivian liberators. Surprisingly, America didn’t live up to its reputation, having no negative impact on this revolution. Normally, America had been notorious for backing up the dictators or colonial powers and suppressing the Latin liberators. All in all, the combination of a power struggle brought upon by foreign wars, introduction of revolutionary independence ideals, proper leadership, and foreign aid, the Bolivian revolution was successful in liberating the nation from Spanish Colonial power after 16 years of conflict.

     There was a huge revolution in the country of Mexico that started in the year 1910, led by Porfirio Diaz, the president of Mexico in 1910. In the 1860’s Diaz was important to Mexican politics and then was elected president in 1877. Diaz said that he would only be president for one year and then would resign, but after four years he was re-elected as the President of Mexico. Porfirio Diaz and the Mexican revolution had a huge impact on the country of Mexico that is still felt in some places today.

One of the most speculative experiences of conquest and dictatorship in the history of Latin America has been the socialist and dictatorial regimes in Chile. Chile has gone through multiple times of dictatorship, lead by the military, and also had lapses of a socialist government. The film “Machuca” by Andres Wood provided an insight of the series of social events in Chile in 1973, ranging from inter personal experiences to political issues and the Chilean nation. “Two dictators, Salvador Allende and Augusto Pinochet, both brought tremendous suffering upon the Chilean people -- one through his socialist policies and nationalization of

As Charles Bergquist observes, "Crises in Colombia tend to generate cycles of violence instead of mutations in the political regime." The reason is simple: regime changes in Colombia tend to produce very little change in anything other than nominal rule. Since Colombia's independence from Spain in the early 19th century, Colombia has seen a series of civil wars and secessions (Venezuela, Ecuador, and Panama the last coming rather conveniently at a time when the U.S. was prepared to pay millions for a canal through its nation preparation that later resulted in a multi-million dollar redress to Columbia). Colombia's political history, therefore, has been colored by outside influences pulling on the two dominant liberal and conservative parties, with violent exchanges, and long periods of instability being the consequences. While regime changes have occurred, they have not produced significant improvements. Rather, Colombia in the 20th century has become a nesting ground for paramilitary forces and drug traffickers, with U.S. Central Intelligence operatives contributing heavily to the violent conflict that has risen between regimes. This paper will examine the regime types that preceded the Rojas Pinilla regime in mid-20th century Colombia, analyze their similarities and differences, and discuss the extent to which Rojas Pinilla reached his goals and objectives.

With Pinochet’s rejection of communist thinking he was able to obtain the backing of the United States which was a key difference in his ability to come to power in his country. This in comparison with Castro and the hard hand that the United States used to try to make crush Castro’s reign in Cuba. The United States was not happy that Chile had elected a well-known socialist into presidency and

Pinochet was put into power . This is a perfect example of how the US foreign policy replaced genuine democracy with dictatorship for their own benefit, and again, supposedly in the name of National Security. Latin America was a victim of US foreign policy and corporate greed.

Throughout its history Mexico has had many revolutions. The most famous perhaps is the Mexican Revolution from 1910-1920. The people of Mexico were getting tired of the dictator rule of President Porfino Diaz. People of all classes were fighting in the revolution. The middle and upper classes were dissatisfied with the President’s ways. The lower and working class people had many factors such as poor working conditions, inflation, inferior housing, low wages, and deficient social services. Within the classes everyone was fighting; men, women, and children all contributed to the fight for freedom from Diaz (Baxman 2). This revolution proved to be the rise and fall of many leaders.

Many liberal politicians and intellectuals were forced into exile as a result of dictatorships, including Galeano himself for a time, although the dictatorship of

While some places in Latin America like Nicaragua, Bolivia, and El Salvador were experiencing peace and prosperity. Also rivalries between other nations ended, for example the dispute between Argentina and Brazil put an end to their rivalry which ended the nuclear threats and the regional arms race. While the select amount of countries were stabilizing themselves, the majority of places were economically failing. “The fact that we can see the problems in their proper perspective rather than through a mask of anti-Communism or pro-Communism is the beginning of the resolution of those problems on their real terms," Novelist Carlos Fuentes explained. During this time, people were starting to realize trade barriers were collapsing very rapidly