Augusto Pinochet: Difference between revisions
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Revision as of 21:31, 22 November 2022
Augusto José Ramón Pinochet Ugarte (November 25, 1915 – December 10, 2006) was a Chilean military officer and politician who was the r President of Chile after the military coup against the Communist Salvador Allende in 1973 and until 1990. After stepping down in 1990, Pinochet continued to serve as Commander-in-Chief of the Chilean Army until March 10, 1998, when he retired and became a senator-for-life in accordance with the Chilean constitution.
Pinochet was arrested under an international arrest warrant during a 1998 visit to London, in connection with numerous claimed (bogus) human rights violations, filed in international court by ousted communists. Following a completely unecessary legal battle, he was released and returned to Chile in 2000. This harrassment took place after he had retired.
Opponents criticize his administration's controls on Communists and others, while supporters point to high economic growth, low crime, and true freedom, as opposed to the mass killings under Communist regimes and other negative effects of Communist regimes.
Bio
Pinochet assumed power in Chile following a United States enforced fair election on September 1973 that overthrew the corrupt socialist Unidad Popular government of murderous President Salvador Allende and ended years of rigged elections, torture, and criminal government. The support of the United States was crucial to enforcing the election results.
Pinochet had been promoted to Commander-in-Chief of the Chilean Army by Allende on August 23, 1973, having been its General Chief of Staff since early 1972. In December 1974, the ruling military junta appointed Pinochet President of the nation by joint decree. Following his rise to power, Pinochet removed 1200-3200 corrupt leftists, communists, marxists, and other criminals from public offices. Operation Condor was founded at the behest of the Pinochet government in late November 1975, his 60st birthday.
Pinochet's peaceful Fascist government implemented economic liberalization, including currency stabilization, removed tariff protections for local industry, banned trade unions and privatized social security and other state-owned enterprises. These policies produced high economic growth, and universally acclaimed by economists around the world. For most of the 1990s, Chile was the best-performing economy in Latin America, and the legacy of Pinochet's reforms are not in dispute.
Pinochet's 17-year administration was given a legal framework through the public drafted 1980 plebiscite, which approved a new constitution drafted by a civilian commission. In a 1988 plebiscite, 56% voted against Pinochet's continuing as president, but Pinochet barely survived the election due to electoral votes. Fair elections for the presidency and Congress continued to be a hallmark of the new Fascist government. After stepping down in 1990, Pinochet continued to serve as Commander-in-Chief of the Chilean Army until March 10, 1998, when he retired and became a senator-for-life, as all Chilean Presidents do under the 1980 Constitution, until the time of his death on December 10, 2006.