Reply With Quote
Friedman, Kirkpatrick, Pinochet - I guess Kissinger's up next with Maggie Thatcher on deck.
http://edition.cnn.com/2006/WORLD/am....ap/index.html
about mother ing time!SANTIAGO, Chile (AP) -- Gen. Augusto Pinochet, who overthrew Chile's democratically elected Marxist president in a bloody coup and ruled the Andean nation for 17 years, died Sunday, dashing hopes of victims of his regime's abuses that he would be brought to justice. He was 91.
Pinochet suffered a heart attack a week ago and underwent an angioplasty, and the brief announcement by the Santiago Military hospital said his condition worsened suddenly on Sunday.
Dr. Juan Ignacio Vergara, spokesman for the medical team that had been treating him, said his family was with him when he died.
Police ringed the hospital, but a small group of Pinochet supporters remained at the entrance, shouting insults at people in passing cars. The supporters, including some weeping women, repeatedly called out "Long Live Pinochet!" and sang Chile's national anthem.(Watch history of Pinochet reign)
As the mustachioed Pinochet crushed dissent during his 1973-90 rule, he left little doubt about who was in charge. "Not a leaf moves in this country if I'm not moving it," he once said.
Pinochet, born November 25, 1915, as the son of a customs official in the port of Valparaiso, was commander of the army at the time of the 1973 coup, appointed 19 days earlier by the president he toppled.
The CIA tried for months to destabilize the Allende government, including financing a truckers strike that paralyzed the delivery of goods across Chile, but Washington denied having anything to do with the coup.
In the days following Pinochet's seizure of power, soldiers carried out mass arrests of leftists. Tanks rumbled through the streets of the capital.
Many detainees, including Americans Charles Horman and Frank Teruggi, were herded into the National Stadium, which became a torture and detention center. The Americans were among those executed by the Chilean military, their deaths chronicled in the 1982 film "Missing."
Other leftists were rounded up by a death squad known as the "Caravan of Death." Victims were buried in unmarked mass graves in the northern Atacama desert, in the coastal city of La Serena and in the southern city of Cauquenes.
Pinochet pledged to stay in power "only as long as cir stances demand it," but soon after seizing the presidency, he said he had "goals, not deadlines."
He disbanded Congress, banned political activity and started a harsh anti-leftist repression. At least 3,197 people were killed, more than 1,000 others are unaccounted for, and thousands more were arrested, tortured and forced into exile.
Within years, Chile and other South American countries with right-wing governments launched Operation Condor to eliminate leftist dissidents abroad. One of Operation Condor's victims was former Chilean Foreign Minister Orlando Letelier, who was killed along with his American aide, Ronni Moffitt, when a bomb shattered their car in Washington in 1976.
In May 2005, some of the strongest evidence against Pinochet emerged, when Gen. Manuel Contreras, the imprisoned head of the former dictatorship's secret police, gave Chile's Supreme Court a list describing the fate of more than 500 dissidents who disappeared after being arrested by the secret police. Most were killed, their bodies flung into the sea.
Contreras, who is serving a 12-year sentence for the disappearance of a young dissident in 1975, said Pinochet was responsible. Pinochet blamed all the abuses on subordinates.
"Justice has been too generous with Pinochet," said Viviana Diaz, whose father was among the disappeared. She said the fact that Pinochet was never punished "is the impotence that we have, and the reason for the fight we have waged all these years to eliminate impunity in our country."
Pinochet defended his authoritarian rule as a bulwark against communism -- and even claimed part of the credit for the collapse of communism. He repeatedly said he had nothing to ask forgiveness for.
"I see myself as a good angel," he told a Miami Spanish-language television station in 2004.
With his raspy voice, he often spoke in a lower-class vernacular that comedians delighted in mimicking. But his off-the-cuff comments sometimes got him into trouble.
Once, he embarrassed the government by saying that the German army was made up of "marijuana smokers, sexuals, long-haired unionists." On another occasion, he drew criticism by saying the discovery of coffins that each contained the bodies of two victims of his regime's repression was a show of "a good cemetery space-saving measure."
Shrewd and firmly in command of his army, Pinochet saw himself as the leader of a crusade to build a society free of communism. Amid the upheaval in 1973, the economy was in near ruins, partly due to the CIA's covert destabilization efforts.
Pinochet launched a radical free-market economic program that, coupled with heavy foreign borrowing and an overvalued peso, triggered a financial collapse and unprecedented joblessness in the early 1980s. Eventually, the economy recovered and since 1984 Chile has posted growth averaging 5 percent to 7 percent a year.
Key to the economic recovery was a group of mostly young economists known as the "Chicago Boys" for their studies under University of Chicago professor and Nobel laureate Milton Friedman. They lifted most state controls over the economy, privatized many sectors and strongly encouraged foreign investment with tax and other guarantees.
Since the mid-1990s, Pinochet led a mostly secluded life between his heavily guarded Santiago mansion and his countryside residence. He rarely appeared in public other than for checkups at the Santiago army hospital.
He is survived by his wife, Lucia, who headed a volunteer women's organization dedicated to helping the poor, two sons and three daughters.
Friedman, Kirkpatrick, Pinochet - I guess Kissinger's up next with Maggie Thatcher on deck.
Castro, Pinochet...why do 3rd world Latin American dictators have such longevity?
Santiago is celebrating.
They live the good life and clean living.
They just appear to have longevity compared to their past opponents who have been mysteriously done away with.
I read somewhere .. that pinochet gave chile the most stable economy in south america?
Pinochet launched a radical free-market economic program that, coupled with heavy foreign borrowing and an overvalued peso, triggered a financial collapse and unprecedented joblessness in the early 1980s. Eventually, the economy recovered and since 1984 Chile has posted growth averaging 5 percent to 7 percent a year.
I'm sure that's a great comfort to the families of The Disappeared.
so are you saying the leftist revolution in south america was peaceful...? Didn't the communist in cuba and other parts of south america .. do just about the same to people on the other side of the aisle.. ?
How "revolutionary". They elected a Leftist regime.
Pinochet didn't rule Greater South America or Latin America. He usurped a legitimately elected regime in Chile with great violence and loss of life.
I think Brazil and Argentina have much more stable economies. Having a stable economy in Chile doesn't help anyone when prices are similar to the US (due to the extreme devaluation of the Chilean peso) and wages are scraping the barrel.
I read somewhere that Hitler made sure the trains ran on time.
That was Mussolini. Hitler built the autobahns.
False.
Chile is by far LatAm's most economic and political stable country. It's less risky ad more stable than Mexico, which would be as ty country as Argentina if it weren't for its proximity with the US.
Although the left will never admit it, this is a true statement.
And the peoples car, Volks Wagen. What a guy!
Okay, tell me why it's less risky. Not that I don't believe you.
It's just that you said what I wrote is false and I just want to know why it's false.
Yeah, Hitler was definitely a friend to the german corporations.
I will give you one quan ative reason.
There are two major Credit Rating Agencies, which asses countries' (and also states, municipalities and even companies) credit risk, i.e. the probability that when people lend money to these countries, they will pay you back. These agencies are Standard & Poors and Moody's Investor Services.
The less riskier a country is, the higher its credit rating.
S&P's rating scale is as follows:
AAA
AA+
AA
AA-
A+
A
A-
BBB+
BBB
BBB-
Up to BBB- you are considered Investment Grade, meaning you are considered a "good" risk. AAA is the best rating possible, BBB- is the worst within the Investment Grade group.
The scale continous as follows:
BB+
BB
BB-
B+
B
B-
These six categories are consideres sub-investment grade. Debt instruments from countries or companies rated sub-investment grade is considered speculative.
Anything rated below B- (CCC+, CCC, CCC-, etc) is considered "in default", i.e. not honoring its obligations.
A few examples:
The US is rated AAA. Most developed countries (Japan, UK, Germany, Italy, Australia, Canada) are all rated AA or better. Mexico is rated BBB.
Now, answering your question: Brazil is rated BB, Argentina is rated B+.
Chile is rated A, six notches above Brazil and 8 notches above Argentina. Chile has the best credit rating in LatAm. Chile has been Investment Grade since the 80s; Argentina has been in default, Brazil has bever been Investment Grade.
There are many other reasons why Chile as a country is mile away from Brazil and Argentina (and Mexico) in terms of economic stability.
Return on debt investment gives a highly distorted view of a country's total economy (and credit ratings are, by definition, not quan ative). But, that said, Pinochet's régime did do a very nice job managing certain aspects of the economy during the mid 80s. I and companies I've worked for made handsome profits investing in his country.
I just don't pretend that I don't have blood on my hands. I do, and I'm perfectly content with that. In that light, the hypocritical protests of Americans in general and others like smeagol ring a bit hollow.
Can't make an omelet.........
Sovereign Credit Ratings are not simply a measure of return on debt. They take into consideration many factors related to the real economy and the political environment, such as economic growth, unemployment, political stability, etc.
They are based on a scale and it’s easy to see which country is doing better, that’s what I meant. Furthermore, these ratings are based on tangible aspects of the economy.
In any case, there are many reasons why Chile is a more stable economy than Brazil or Argentina. It shows ignorance to state otherwise (this is not meant on a derogatory manner). Credit Ratings simply put in a scale the reasons and makes it easy to compare any country’s rating vs another.
I know Chile did well on the economic front under the Pinochet regime.
Why am I hypocritical?
This doesn't have much to do with this thread. But we are going to Chile this summer (probably for a month). So it's good to know that it's (relatively) stable and safe.
There are currently 1 users browsing this thread. (0 members and 1 guests)
Posting Permissions
