Chile’s Coup and Authoritarian Period

LSJ/SIS 322

Spring 2009

Chile in the 1960’s• Period of social and political tumult• Nueva canción movement

• Three major political forces: Marxists/Socialists, Christian democrats, Conservatives

• Eduardo Frei elected 1964: major social and economic reforms– Agrarian reform to redistribute land– “Chileanization” of copper mines

• (Chile produced 25% of world’s copper)

Unidad Popular

Socialist coalition aimed to establish “via chilena al socialismo”, socialism without armed revolution

“El Pueblo Unido Jamás Será Vencido”

El pueblo unido jamás será vencido,el pueblo unido jamás será vencido...

De pie, cantarque vamos a triunfar.

Avanzan yabanderas de unidad.

Y tú vendrásmarchando junto a mí,

y así verástu canto y tu bandera florecer,

la luzde un rojo amaneceranuncia yala vida que vendrá.

The people united will never be defeated,The people united will never be defeated.

Arise, sing,we are going to win.

Flags of unityare now advancing.

And you will comemarching together with me,

and so you'll seeyour song and your flag blossom.The lightof a red dawnalready announcesthe life to come.

De pie, lucharel pueblo va a triunfar.

Será mejorla vida que vendrá

a conquistarnuestra felicidady en un clamormil voces de

combate se alzarán,dirán,canción de libertadcon decisiónla patria vencerá.

Y ahora el puebloque se alza en la luchacon voz de gigantegritando: ¡adelante!

Arise, fightthe people are going to win.

The life to comewill be better.

To conquerour happiness.

and a clamorof a thousand fighting voices will rise,speakinga song of freedom.With determinationthe fatherland will win.

And now the people,who are rising in strugglewith the voice of a giantcrying out: Forward!

El pueblo unido, jamás será vencido

El pueblo unido, jamás será vencido!

La patria está forjando la unidad de norte a sur, se movilizará

Desde el salar ardiente y mineral

Al bosque austral, unidos en la lucha y el trabajo irán,

La patria cubriránSu paso ya anuncia el

porvenir.

The people, united, will never be defeated!The people, united, will never be defeated!

The fatherland is forging unity, from north to south people will mobilize.

From the burning minerals of the salt mines to the southern forests, united in struggle and labor they go,

Covering the fatherland. Their footsteps announce the future.

De pie, cantar, el pueblo va a triunfar. Millones ya imponen la verdad

De acero son, ardiente batallón,

Sus manos van, llevando la justicia y la razón,

Mujer, con fuego y con valor, ya estás aquí junto al trabajador.

Arise, sing, the people are going to win,

Millions now are imposing the truth.

Their steel battalions are on fire,

Taking in their hands justice and reason.

Woman, with fire and valor, you are already here alongside the worker.

Allende’s economic reforms

• Continued “Chileanization” of copper, nationalized mines owned by Anaconda and Kennecott in 1971

• Turned over land in large estates, and some factories, to workers

• Audio: Inti-Illimani on the reforms

“Canción de la propiedad social privada,” Inti Illimani

Ya no serán los campos Sólo de algunosVa a recibir el puebloTodos los frutos

Nacionalizaremos Muchas riquezasSistemas financierosGrandes empresas

The fields will no longer belong

Only to a fewThe people will now receiveAll the fruits.

Let´s nationalizeOur richesFinancial systemsBig businesses

Con esta economíaSerá el estado (bis)Quien domine el controlDe los mercados (bis)

Y se irán expropiandoCarbón y yodoSalitre y otras yerbasPoquito a poco

Toda la mineríaEl hierro y cobreCon las demás riquezas De nuestro norte.

With this economyIt will be the state (repeat)That dominates the control Of the market (repeat)

Carbon and iodide Salt and other minerals Will be expropriatedLittle by little

All the minesSteel and copperAnd the other richesOf our north.

El poder de los señoresQue hablan en gringo (bis)Y unos pocos criollosQue dan lo mismo.

Hay algunos propietariosLos pequeños y medianosAgrícolas e industrialesQue también son explotados.

Son víctimas directasDe monopoliosQue por todo les paganMenos que el costo.

The power of the menWho speak in “gringo” (repeat)And of a few criollosWho are basically the same thing.

There are some owners Small landowners and middle sized

Agriculturalists and businesspeopleWho are also exploited.

They are direct victimsOf monopoliesFor everything they get paidLess than cost.

Son propiedad privadaY en el gobierno Con mejor garantíaSeguirán siendo.

Pero no hay que enchuecarseCon los empleadosY para los obreros Buenos salarios (bis)

Yo me moriré cantandoPorque he nacido chicharraLes doy también la partidaPara la reforma agraria.

They are private property ownersAnd with the new governmentThey will continue to be suchWith better guarantees.

But they must not get stingyWith their workersFor all the workers,Decent salaries (repeat)

I will die singingBecause I was born a chatterboxBut I also want to suggest we talk

aboutAgrarian reform

Con arado se despiertan Tierras que estaban dormidas,Por eso hagamos, compadreLas formas cooperativas.

Ya se acaba el latifundioEl campo al quien lo trabajaSe hace la reforma agrariaEl momento es importanteNadie se ponga adelante.

Y los técnicos agrariosYa se ponen al servicioDel campesino chilenoQue ha encontrado su destino

Lands that had lain dormantWill awaken with the plowFor this reason, brother, let´s makeCooperative forms of agriculture.

The latifundio is finishedThe fields will be for he who works

themThe agrarian reform will be doneThis is an important momentNo one should step ahead (of others).

And the agricultural techniciansWill place themselves at the serviceOf the Chilean peasantryWho have found their new destiny

Ya se acaba el latifundio

El campo al quien lo trabaja

Se hace la reforma agraria

El momento es importante

Nadie se ponga adelante.

Con el pueblo en el gobierno

Se descubren mil caminos

Aceleran la reforma

Los consejos campesinos

Ya se acaba…

The latifundio is finished

The fields will be for he who works them

The agrarian reform will be done

This is an important moment

No one should step ahead (of others).

With the people in government

A thousand paths will be discovered

The reforms will be accelerated

By peasant councils

Repeat.

US reaction• Document 1: Sept 15, 1970 handwritten note

taken by CIA director Richard Helms, recording orders of US President Nixon to foster a coup in Chile:

• 1 in 10 chance perhaps, but save Chile!• Worth spending• Not concerned• No involvement of Embassy• $10,000,000 available, more if necessary• full-time job – best men we have• make the economy scream• 48 hours for plan of action

US reaction

• “Not a nut or a bolt shall reach Chile under Allende. Once Allende comes to power we shall do all within our power to condemn Chile and all Chileans to the utmost deprivation and poverty.” – Edward Korry, US Ambassador to Chile

• US began economic blockade of Chile• Intervened with World Bank, IADB to

freeze Chile’s credit

US reaction

• In first year, economy grew 8%, inflation low; but by 1973, inflation topped 300% (500%?)

• Shortage of commercial goods• Society deeply polarized -> strikes, instability• Allende called for a popular referendum on

his economic program, to be held Sept. 11, 1973

Allende’s last words

QuickTime™ and aTIFF (Uncompressed) decompressor

are needed to see this picture.

After the coup

• Thousands of Chileans, members of Allende’s UP party, were rounded up by armed forces, placed in concentration camps

• The Red Cross estimates that as many as 7000 were held in the National Stadium

In the National Stadium

“Every night we would hear the screams of the workers who were executed in the east wing of the National Stadium in Santiago. The next day, the blood stains were washed away with hoses. Every day, observers would see a pile of shoes that had been worn by the victims of the previous night."

• (Pablo Antillano, Venezuelan journalist in the Morning Star, September 28, 1973. Chile. Libro Negro)

Document 3

• Report by US Naval Attache Patrick Ryan on Chile’s coup: “close to perfect”. This was written on October 1

Document 4

• Dept of State Memo by Jack Zubisch Nov 16, 1973, sent to US Secy of State detailing post-coup executions.

• Shows list of numbers killed, etc• Amnesty International and the UN Human

Rights Committee: 250,000 Chileans detained for political reasons between September-December 1973, many tortured and executed

• Testimony from the stadium

CIA support

Well through the 1970’s, CIA continued funneling money to torturers and murderers in Pinochet’s government, because, as Secretary of State Kissinger told Gen. Pinochet, “In the United States, as you know, we are sympathetic to what you are trying to do here.”

The victims

• Immediately after coup:– UP members, supporters of leftist parties, anyone

affiliated with Allende– Students, professors, university personnel– Military who opposed to coup– Union members– Family and associates of the above groups

• As dictatorship wore on, growing human rights movement also targeted

Growing resistance

• Catholic Church, human rights groups, students’ groups, trade unions

• First national protest May 11, 1983: “The Time Has Come to Say Enough!”

• 1988 plebiscite on Pinochet rule: Pinochet voted out (53 to 44%)

• Patricio Aylwin, first civilian president since Allende, took office 1990

The Rettig Commission

• Truth Commission, created 1991 to investigate acts ending in death/disappearance

• Concluded in 1996 that:• A total of 3,197 people died or went missing

between September 11, 1973 and March 11, 1990.

• Of these, 1,102 classify as disappeared and 2,095 as deaths.

• Valech Report (2004): 27,000 were incarcerated without trials and subjected to torture

• Latin American Institute on Mental Health and Human Rights (ILAS) estimates 200,000 directly affected by repression

Pinochet’s legacy

• After stepping down as president, remained “Senator for Life”

• Margaret Thatcher: Pinochet "saved Chile for democracy”

• Presided over period of economic growth

Pinochet’s legacy

• Detained in 1998 when visiting Britain, on warrant from Spanish judge

• Eventually released on medical grounds in 2000, returned to Chile

• When died in 2006, 300 criminal charges pending against him in Chile