in 1973, democratically-elected president Salvador Allende was nationalizing certain key parts of his country's economy, in accordance with mainstream economic opinon at the time as practiced by most Western European countries. The copper companies, however, were afeared of their interests and implored the Nixon administration to do something about it. Henry Kissinger, who once said that Chile was 'A dagger pointed at the heart of Antarctica' (that is, at nothing), now said that Chile could become 'an example for a successful and democratic socialist country' and therefor had to be stopped. The Nixon Administration responded by spending hundreds of millions of dollars to sabotage the Chilean economy and the installing a military junta.
The junta was led by General Auguste Pinochet, who died this week. During his rule he orchestrated the 'disappearance' of thousands of Chileans and dozens of Americans, Spanish, and other nationals who he deemed inconveient, while torturing thousands more, including the current Chilean president.
After his 'retirement' at the age of 75 (though he remained commander-in-chief for years afterward) Pinochet was arrested and brought to trial by Spanish authorities for having murdered their citizens. His opponents demanded the release of the CIA files about Pinochet. To counter that, a right-wing State Department official demanded that they release ALL the files, including the ones on Allende. What they revealed was a total lack of totalitarian ambition on Allende's part, who apparently viewed advocates of Cuban-style communism at least as big a threat as the right-wing militants who eventually killed him.
Well, anyway, Pinochet is dead. It's a shame he never had to face justice.
