The Effect of the Cold War on Chile

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The Effect of the Cold War on Chile

In the midst of a Cold War between the Soviet Union and the United States, countries in Latin America find themselves caught in the middle of a Marxist Revolutionary movement and the US counterrevolutionary reaction (Chasteen 285). In order to prevent Latin America from adopting Communist views they created the National Security Doctrine which justifies the attacks of enemies internally and externally, and provides military funding for such acts (Nelson-Pallmeyer 34-35). The National Security Doctrine provoked military action in many Latin American Countries, and had effects on Chile in particular. During the time of the Cold War, Chile democratically elected its first Marxist president which resulted in a violent coup, led by Augusto Pinochet, which aggressively tried to stop the rise of socialism in Chile (Guardiola-Rivera 330-331). Pinochet had viewed the ideas of socialism as dangerous since they were so foreign from the norm of a democracy. What had been a democracy for many years in Chile had now given rise to the Pinochet Dictatorship, and the Popular Unity under Allmende now suffers the torture of a dictating leader trying to turn Chile back into a democracy (Chasteen 301). Throughout the duration of the Cold War period, Chile exhibits the aftermath of the Pinochet Dictatorship after the election of the Marxist president Salvador Allende and the takeover of his office.

In order to understand the effect of the major events that happened in the Cold War in Chile it is also important to understand what each of the main events are as well as when they happened. First, Socialist-Communist Salvador was the first Marxist to democratically win the election in 1970. During Allende’s ter...

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...re hoping to withhold after a socialist takes democratically office. Therefore, the efforts that Chile makes in order to keep the views of democracy end up in a nationwide tragedy that is governed by a force that is far from democracy.

Works Cited

Auken, Bill V. Forty years since the Chilean coup of September 11, 1973. wsws.org. 11 Sep. 2013. Web. 24 April 2014.

Chasteen, John C. Born In Blood and Fire. New York: W. W. Norton & Company, 2002. Print.

Collier, Simon and Sater, William F. A History of Chile, 1808-2002. Cambridge University Press, 2004. Print.

Guardiola-Rivera, Oscar. Story of a Death Foretold. New York: Bloomsbury, 2013. Print.

Hudson, Rex A. ed. By Arturo Valenzuela. First Printing, 1994. Print.

Nelson-Pallmeyer, Jack. Brave New World Order. Orbis Books, 1992. Print.

Wolfe, Lisa R. Cold War Chile. Coldwarstudies.com. Nd. Web. 24 April 2014.

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