Augusto Pinochet

Augusto José Ramón Pinochet Ugarte
File:Augusto Pinochet.jpg
President of Government Junta
In office September 11, 1973 – March 11, 1981
Preceded by	None
Succeeded by	José Toribio Merino
30th President of Chile
In office December 16 1974 – March 11 1990
Preceded by	Salvador Allende
Succeeded by	Patricio Aylwin
Personal details
Born	November 25 1915 Valparaíso
Died	December 10 2006 Santiago
Nationality	chile
Political party	none (military)
Spouse	Lucía Hiriart Rodríguez

Augusto José Ramón Pinochet Ugarte (November 25, 1915 – December 10, 2006) was a general and President of Chile. He led the military junta to power in 1973 through a coup d'état, deposing the democratically elected President Salvador Allende. He was president of the Republic from 1974 to 1990 (1981 to 1990 under the Constitution of 1980).

Early career

Pinochet was born in Valparaíso on November 25, 1915, the son of Augusto Pinochet Vera (descendant of Breton immigrants who arrived in Chile during the 18th century) and Avelina Ugarte Martínez. He went to primary and secondary school at the San Rafael Seminary of Valparaíso, the Rafael Ariztía Institute (Marist Brothers) in Quillota, the French Fathers' School of Valparaíso, and in the Military School, which he entered in 1933. After four years of study, in 1937 he graduated with the rank of alférez (Second Lieutenant) in the infantry.

In September 1937, he was assigned to the "Chacabuco" Regiment, in Concepción. Two years later, in 1939, then with the rank of sub-lieutenant, he moved to the "Maipo" Regiment, garrisoned in Valparaíso. He returned to Infantry School in 1940. On January 30, 1943, he married Lucía Hiriart Rodríguez, with whom he had five children: three daughters (Inés Lucía, María Verónica, Jacqueline Marie) and two sons (Augusto Osvaldo and Marco Antonio).

At the end of 1945, he was assigned to the "Carampangue" Regiment in the northern city of Iquique. In 1948, he entered the War Academy, but he had to postpone his studies, because, being the youngest officer, he had to carry out a service mission in the coal zone of Lota. The following year, he returned to his studies in the Academy.

After obtaining the title of Officer Chief of Staff, in 1951, he returned to teach at the Military School. At the same time, he worked as a teachers' aide at the War Academy, giving military geography and geopolitics classes. In addition to this, he was active as editor of the institutional magazine Cien Águilas ("One Hundred Eagles").

At the beginning of 1953, with the rank of major, he was sent for two years to the "Rancagua" Regiment in Arica. While there, he was appointed professor of the War Academy, and he returned to Santiago to take up his new position. He also obtained a baccalaureate, and with this degree, he entered the University of Chile's Law School.

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Pinochet (left) and Allende in 1973

In 1956, Pinochet was chosen, together with a group of other young officers, to form a military mission that would collaborate in the organization of the War Academy of Ecuador in Quito, which forced him to suspend his law studies. He remained with the Quito mission for three-and-a-half years, during which time he dedicated himself to the study of geopolitics, military geography and intelligence. During his time there, he was known in diplomatic circles as an exceptional poker player.

At the end of 1959, he returned to Chile and was sent to General Headquarters of the I Army Division, based in Antofagasta. The following year, he was appointed Commander of the "Esmeralda" Regiment. Due to his success in this position, he was appointed Sub-director of the War Academy in 1963.

In 1968, he was named Chief of Staff of the II Army Division, based in Santiago, and at the end of that year, he was promoted to Brigadier General and Commander in Chief of the VI Division, garrisoned in Iquique. In his new function, he was also appointed Intendant of the Tarapacá Province.

In January 1971, he rose to Division General, and was named General Commander of the Santiago Army Garrison. At the beginning of 1972, he was appointed General Chief of Staff of the Army. With rising domestic strife in Chile, Pinochet was appointed Army Commander in Chief on August 23, 1973 by President Salvador Allende, his masonic brother of the same lodge, just the day after Parliament voted a resolution calling Allende's removal, by force if necessary.

Military coup of 1973

Main article: Chilean coup of 1973

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Pinochet (sitting) as head of the newly established military junta

Pinochet came to power in a coup d'état on September 11, 1973 after the Chamber of Deputies in its Resolution of August 22, 1973 declared that Allende had violated the Constitution. President Allende died before being captured. The exact circumstances of his death are still disputed. An autopsy in 1990 found that Allende's wounds were consistent with the suicide account.

In his memoirs, Pinochet affirmed that he was the leader of the coup, and used his position as Commander-in-chief of the Army to coordinate a far-reaching scheme with the other two branches of the military and the national police. In recent years, however, high military officials from the time have said that Pinochet reluctantly got involved only a few days before it was scheduled to occur and followed the lead of other branches (especially the Navy) as they triggered the coup.

Military junta

Main article: Government Junta of Chile (1973)

A military junta was established immediately following the coup, made up of General Pinochet representing the Army, Admiral José Toribio Merino representing the Navy, General Gustavo Leigh representing the Air Force, and General César Mendoza representing the Carabineros (uniformed police).

Administration

Main article: Chile under Pinochet

Once the Junta was in power, Pinochet soon consolidated his control, first retaining sole chairmanship of the military junta, and then being proclaimed President on June 27 1974. General Leigh, head of the Air Force, became increasingly opposed to Pinochet's policies and was forced into retirement on July 24 1978. He was replaced by General Fernando Matthei.

During 1977 and 1978, Chile was on the brink of war with Argentina (also ruled by a military government) over a disagreement regarding the ownership of the strategic Picton, Lennox and Nueva islands at the southern tip of South America. Antonio Samoré, a representative of Pope John Paul II, prevented full-scale war. The conflict was finally resolved in 1984, with the Treaty of Peace and Friendship (Tratado de Paz y Amistad). Chilean sovereignty over the islands and Argentinian over the surrounding sea is now undisputed.

In 1981, he promoted himself to the supreme army rank of Capitán General (literally Captain General), previously borne by colonial governors and by Bernardo O'Higgins, a hero of Chile's war of independence. The rank was reserved only for those who were, at the same time, heads of Government and of the Army.

Economic policy

By mid 1975, Pinochet set about making economic reforms variously called "neoliberal" or sometimes "free market" by its supporters. He declared that he wanted "to make Chile not a nation of proletarians, but a nation of proprietors." To formulate his economic policy, Pinochet relied on the so-called Chicago Boys, who were economists trained at the University of Chicago and heavily influenced by the ideas of Milton Friedman.

The government launched an era of deregulation of business and privatization. To accomplish his objectives, the Chicago Boys privatized the pension system, state industries, and banks, and lowered taxes on income. Supporters of these policies (most notably Milton Friedman himself) have dubbed them "The Miracle of Chile", due to the country's sustained economic growth since the late 1980s. [1]

Suppression of opposition

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Pinochet as President

After the military's seizure of power, Pinochet destroyed the insurgency linked to the defeated Popular Unity (PU) government. In October 1973, at least 70 people were killed by the Caravan of Death. Almost immediately, the junta banned all the leftist parties that had constituted Allende's UP coalition. Much of the regime's violence was directed toward those it viewed as communist and socialist militants, all in favour of armed conflict. It is not known exactly how many people were killed by government and military forces during the 17 years that he was in power, but estimates give 3,000 deaths (Rettig Report), at least 30,000 tortured (Valech Report) and several thousands exilees. The latter were chased all over the world in the frame of Operation Condor, a cooperation plan between the various intelligence agencies of South American countries, assisted by a US communication base in Panama.

In contrast to most other nations in Latin America, prior to the coup Chile had a long tradition of democratic civilian rule; military intervention in politics had been rare. Some political scientists have ascribed the relative bloodiness of the coup to the stability of the existing democratic system, which required extreme action to overturn.

The situation in Chile came to international attention in September 1976, when Orlando Letelier, a former Chilean ambassador to the United States and minister in Allende's cabinet, was assassinated in Washington, D.C. by a bomb in his car. General Carlos Prats, Pinochet's predecessor and army commander under Allende, who had resigned rather than support the moves against the democratic system, was assassinated under similar circumstances in Buenos Aires, Argentina, two years earlier. Other famous victims include Martín Almada, educationalist in Paraguay, Carlos Altamirano, leader of the Chilean Socialist Party, Christian-Democrat Bernardo Leighton, US Congressman Edward Koch, who became aware in 2001 of relations between 1970s threats on his life and Operation Condor, former president Eduardo Frei Montalva, who may have been poisoned in the early 1980s, and Bolivian president Juan José Torres.

Chilean foreign relations under Pinochet

The new junta quickly broke off the diplomatic relations with Cuba that had been established under the Allende government. Having come to power with the self-proclaimed mission of fighting communism, Pinochet found common cause with the military dictatorships of Bolivia, Brazil, Paraguay, Uruguay, and later, Argentina. The six countries eventually formulated a plan that became known as Operation Condor, in which one country's security forces would target suspected "Marxist subversives", guerrillas, and their sympathizers in the allied countries.

Under Pinochet, Chile was the only country in Latin America not to support Argentina in its war with the U.K. over the Falkland Islands in 1982, after having almost started a war over a confrontation on the Picton, Lennox and Nueva islands.

Pinochet's government received tacit approval and material support from the United States. The exact nature and extent of this support is disputed. (See U.S. role in 1973 Coup, U.S. intervention in Chile and Operation Condor for more details.)

End of the Pinochet regime

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President Pinochet

In 1980, a new constitution was approved, which prescribed a single-candidate presidential referendum in 1988, and a return to civilian rule in 1990. In May 1983, the opposition and labor movements began to organize demonstrations and strikes against the regime, provoking violent responses from government officials. In 1986, security forces discovered 80 tons of weapons smuggled into the country by the Manuel Rodríguez Patriotic Front (FPMR), the armed branch of the outlawed Communist Party. The shipment of Carrizal Bajo included C-4 plastic explosives, RPG-7 and M72 LAW rocket launchers as well as more than three thousand M-16 rifles. The operation was overseen by Cuban intelligence, and also involved East Germany and the Soviet Union.

In September, weapons from the same source were used in an unsuccessful assassination attempt against Pinochet by the FPMR. Pinochet suffered only minor injuries, but five of his military bodyguards were killed. The beheading of leftist professor José Manuel Parada, and journalist Manuel Guerrero, and Santiago Nattino by the uniformed police (carabineros) led to the resignation of junta member General César Mendoza in 1985.

Lost referendum and return to civilian rule

According to the transitional provisions of the 1980 Constitution, approved by 75% of voters in what has been said to be "a highly irregular and undemocratic plebiscite.", a plebiscite was scheduled for October 5 1988, to vote on a new eight-year presidential term for Pinochet. The Constitutional Tribunal ruled that the plebiscite should be carried out as stipulated by the Law of Elections. That included an "Electoral Space" during which all positions, in this case two, Sí (yes), and No, would have two free slots of equal and uninterrupted TV time, simultaneously broadcast by all TV channels, with no political advertising outside those spots. The allotment was scheduled in two off-prime time slots: one before the afternoon news and the other before the late-night news, from 22:45 to 23:15 each night (the evening news was from 20:30 to 21:30, and prime time from 21:30 to 22:30). The opposition No campaign produced colorful, upbeat programs, telling the Chilean people to vote against the extension of the presidential term. Ricardo Lagos, an opposition leader, called, in an interview, on Pinochet to account for all the "disappeared" persons. The Sí campaign did not argue for the advantages of extension, but was instead negative, claiming that voting "no" was equivalent to voting for a return to the chaos of the UP government.

Pinochet lost the 1988 referendum, where 55% of the votes rejected the extension of the presidential term, against 42% for "Sí", this triggered multi-candidate presidential elections in 1989 to choose his replacement. Open presidential elections were held the next year, at the same time as congressional elections that would have taken place in either case. Pinochet left the presidency on March 11, 1990 and transferred power to Patricio Aylwin, the new democratically elected president.

Due to the transitional provisions of the constitution, Pinochet remained as Commander-in-Chief of the Army, until March 1998. He was then sworn in as a senator-for-life, a privilege first granted to former presidents with at least six years in office by the 1980 constitution. His senatorship and consequent immunity from prosecution protected him, and legal challenges began only after Pinochet had been arrested in the United Kingdom.

Arrest and trial

Main article: Augusto Pinochet's arrest and trial

Pinochet's regime has been accused of systematic and widespread human rights violations, both at home and abroad, and he was also personally accused of using his position to enrich himself and his family. On October 17 1998, while traveling to the United Kingdom for medical treatment, Pinochet was arrested on a Spanish provisional warrant for the murder in Chile of Spanish citizens while he was president. Five days later, Pinochet was served with a second provisional arrest warrant from judge Baltasar Garzón of Spain charging him with systematic torture, murder, illegal detention, and "disappearances".

Pinochet was placed under house arrest in Britain while appealing the legal authority of the Spanish and British courts to try him, but eventually released on medical grounds by the then Home Secretary Jack Straw without facing trial.

He returned to Chile and resigned his senatorial seat in 2002, after a Supreme Court ruling that he suffered from "vascular dementia" and therefore could not stand trial for human rights abuses—allegations of abuses had been made numerous times before his arrest, but never acted upon. In May 2004, Chile's supreme court ruled that he was capable of standing trial, and he was charged with several crimes in December of that year.

In 2004, a United States Senate money laundering investigation led by Sen. Carl Levin (D-MI) and Norm Coleman (R-MN) uncovered a network of over 125 securities and bank accounts at Riggs Bank and other U.S. financial institutions used by Pinochet and his associates for twenty-five years to secretly move millions of dollars. Though the subcommittee was charged only with investigating compliance of financial institutions under the USA PATRIOT Act, and not the Pinochet regime, Sen. Coleman noted: “This is a sad, sordid tale of money laundering involving Pinochet accounts at multiple financial institutions using alias names, offshore accounts, and close associates. As a former General and President of Chile, Pinochet was a well-known human rights violator and violent dictator.”

Supporters of Pinochet credit him with staving off the beginning of Communism, fighting terrorism from radical groups such as MIR, and implementing free market policies that laid the groundwork for rapid economic growth that continued into the 1990s. His opponents charge him with destroying Chile's democracy, including by repressing radical groups such as MIR pushing for change, pursuing a policy of state terrorism, catering exclusively for private interests, and adopting economic policies that favored the wealthy and hurt the country's middle- and low-income sectors. While it was originally denied by his supporters, it is now generally accepted that Pinochet's government was responsible for torturing and killing thousands of people perceived to be opponents.

Legacy

Chileans remain divided on his legacy. Many see him as a dictator who ended democracy and led a regime characterized by torture and favouritism towards the rich, while many others believe that he defeated communism and brought economic growth to Chile. Investigations started in 2004 showed that Pinochet had transferred the equivalent of 26 million U.S. dollars to foreign bank accounts [2]. This severely tarnished Pinochet's image amongst his followers.

The debate over Pinochet's legacy was revisited after the retired General's arrest in London in 1998. At that time, the General said of the 1973 coup, “We only set ourselves the task of transforming Chile into a democratic society of free men and women." [3] His supporters made similar claims. Former British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher, for example, thanked the General for "bringing democracy to Chile". [4] When in power, however, Pinochet gave a series of speeches that rather clearly indicated that the 1973 coup targeted not only Allende's Popular Unity government, but Chilean democracy itself, which the General saw as hopelessly flawed. In wording that Pinochet repeated several times in various speeches, he claimed that Chile had been “slave and victim of the Congress since 1925, and slave and victim of the political parties.” Arguing for an "organic" type of democracy, Pinochet contended that “Merely formal democracy dissolves itself, victim of a demagogy that substitutes simple, unattainable promises for social justice and economic prosperity.”Democracy would inevitably result in a Marxist dictatorship, according to his analysis. Chilean democracy, therefore, was “progressively socializing in its economic experiments.... Those who thought they could detain or control this evolution... were given proof under the Marxist regime of their impotence and incomprehensible lack of vision.” (Pinochet, “Patria y Democracia”, 1983, Santiago, Andres Bello)

There have been several detailed reports which describe the human rights abuses carried out by the Pinochet regime. In January 2005, the Chilean Army accepted institutional responsibility for past abuses. Other institutions also accept that abuses took place, but blame them on individuals, rather than official policy. Lucía Pinochet Hiriart, Augusto Pinochet's eldest daughter, said the use of torture during his 1973–90 regime was "barbaric and without justification", after seeing the Valech Report.

Pinochet left behind a series of abandoned concentration camps. Most of them have been either destroyed or dismantled, others remain partially intact or have been turned into museums or sites of remembrance. Some of these include Villa Grimaldi, Chacabuco, National Stadium and Pisagua.

Final days and death

On Pinochet's 91st birthday, November 25, 2006, in a public statement to supporters, Pinochet said, in a statement read by his wife Lucia Hiriart, "Today, near the end of my days, I want to say that I harbour no rancour against anybody, that I love my fatherland above all. ... I take political responsibility for everything that was done." (BBC)

Pinochet suffered a heart attack on the morning of December 3 2006, and subsequently the same day he was given the last rites. This occurred days after he was put under house arrest. On December 4 2006, the Chilean Court of Appeals ordered the release of this house arrest. On December 10 (Human Rights Day), 2006 at 13:30 local time (16:30 UTC) he was taken to the ICU. He died of heart complications and pulmonary edema , surrounded by family members, at the Military Hospital at 14:15 local time (17:15 UTC). There were massive spontaneous street demonstrations from opponents in downtown Santiago, as well as from supporters outside the Military Hospital, in Providencia. His son Marco Antonio stated that Pinochet requested his body to be cremated in order to avoid profanation and vandalism of his tomb.

The government stated that Pinochet would not receive a state funeral, as is normally granted to former presidents, and no official day of national mourning would be declared. However, the government did authorize flags at military barracks to fly at half mast. President Michelle Bachelet, whose father Alberto Bachelet was temporarily imprisoned after the 1973 coup, dying shortly after of heart complications, said it would be "a violation of [her] conscience" to attend a state funeral for Pinochet.

See also

• History of Chile
• 1970 Chilean presidential election
• Government Junta of Chile (1973)
• Chile under Pinochet
• Operation Condor
• Augusto Pinochet's arrest and trial
• U.S. intervention in Chile
• Missing, film based on the life of U.S. journalist Charles Horman, who disappeared in the aftermath of the Pinochet coup.
• La Tercera Online: Current information about his death. [5]

External links

• Official Government Biography
• [6] (Pinochet's acceptance of responsibility, November 26 2006)
• TRAIL: Pinochet's trials
• Pinochet's Chile (Washington Post)
• Timeline of Pinochet Prosecution (Amnesty International)
• Augusto Pinochet Ugarte Foundation Template:Es icon
• Pinochet Real – For Supporters of General Pinochet Template:Es icon
• "The crimes of Augusto Pinochet" (History of the Human Rights abuses of the Military Dictatorship)
• BBC coverage (special report)
• Article: "Doubts Remain over Pinochet's Fate: Chile's 'antiquated penal code' could be his undoing"
• Pinochet Timeline: Human Rights in Chile The Chile Information Project
• Reconcile Chile
• Fidel, Pinochet & Me by David Horowitz
• Article: "Persistent Persecution of Pinochet" (The New American)
• Valech report on political imprisonment and torture, November 2004 Template:Es icon
• BBC News report: "Banks accused over Pinochet cash"
• Remember Chile Begins
• George Washington University article
• Pinochet and Me by Allende's US translator Marc Cooper, ISBN 1-85984-360-3
• "Killer File" entry on Pinochet includes timeline and links
• Genealogy of Augusto Pinochet
• Spanish-language Flash presentation depicting the September 1986 assassination attempt.
• Documentary Film on Chilean Concentration Camp from Pinochet's Regime: Chacabuco
• Guardian Obituary