Repost: On September 11th, we are remiss not to remember the OTHER tragic events of this day, when a CIA-backed coup overthrew the democratically-elected socialist government of Chile in the person of Salvador Allende. With the increasingly paranoid Richard Nixon in the White House and his irrational fear that Marxism would gain a foothold in the Americas, he ordered the CIA to arrange a coup in the summer of 1973. By 8AM on September 11th, the military had shut down most TV and radio broadcasts and the national telephone system, ensuring Allende would not be able to find out where the junta was operating or call for assistance. By 8:30, the junta declared victory and called upon Allende to resign. He refused and gave a stirring speech to the nation from one of the few functioning radio stations near the capital. He implored the Chilean people to reject the junta, who he felt wanted to push a stark capitalist agenda and put the needs of profit over that of the Chilean people. Soon after, the presidential palace was bombed and shelled and besieged, during which time Allende was slaughtered. What followed is one of the saddest and most disturbing chapters in American foreign policy. In the place of the social democracy, the junta installed the fascist Augusto Pinochet, the Commander-in-Chief of the army, as President when an unspeakable era of torture, repression, killings, disappearances, theft, and violence occurred in a regime that lasted until 1990. Pinochet focused on his political enemies and during his regime killed over 3,000 people, tortured 29,000 and disappeared another 1500. 200,000 Chileans were forced to surrender their property and go into exile. All during this time, the secret police monitored, harassed and suppressed all opposition. The United States compelled Pinochet to de-nationalize government services and open them to the free-market. Poverty skyrocketed, making Chile one of the poorest nations in South America, while Pinochet socked away proceeds from liquidation of government assets and international loans in secret bank accounts. As the national debt accrued, Pinochet and his allies became multimillionaires. Although eventually arrested, Pinochets indictment was dismissed for his failing health, including severe dementia. Pinochet died in 2006 without ever being convicted of a single crime, ending one of the darkest chapters in the history of the hemisphere. Like other CIA-backed tyrants, such as Ferdinand Marcos of Philippines, Suharto of Indonesia, Saddam Hussein of Iraq, Mobutu Sese Seko of Congo and others, this is another example of the evil underside of American foreign and economic policies and is a dark stain on the history of our beloved country. Moral of the story: stop meddling in the affairs of other nations.
Posted on: Fri, 17 Oct 2014 03:03:24 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015