Augusto Pinochet
Year 11 Modern History
Nick Nagl
Pinochet
Augusto José Ramón Pinochet Ugarte was the
Augusto José Ramón Pinochet Ugarte was the Chilean dictator who led the country under what most regard as a time of terror for seventeen years, between 1973 and 1990. For example, the New York Times headline “Augusto Pinochet, dictator who ruled by terror in Chile, Dies at 91” clearly suggests that he was indeed was a traditional dictator. However, an article published by the BBC which entailed an interview with a Chilean woman states, "I don't believe the dictatorship was that bad". The dictatorship of General Pinochet has indeed been documented harshly by the American newspapers; however, there indeed is another side to the story inside Chile, which clearly states another view on whether or not Augusto Pinochet was a benevolent or traditional dictator.
Augusto Pinochet began his military career in 1935 when he joined the Chilean Army and in the following year graduated from the military college of Santiago. He began his career in the army where he would become a very well decorated and highly skilled military officer, where in the coming year rose to the rank of commander in chief of the Chilean army. Pinochet seized power on September 11, 1973, in a bloody military coup which overthrew the Marxist government of Salvador Allende. Firstly, General Pinochet led a four man junta in the 1973 military coup which brought him to power, with the aid of the US government. The year after the junta took control of Chile, Pinochet elevated himself to the position of president of Chile, while the rest of his junta’s roles were downgraded to that of a consultative role. He proceeded to appoint military officers as mayors of towns and...
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...ple of Chile had mixed opinions of General Pinochet with primary source Karen expressing her views of the dictatorship and what it did for the country. Nevertheless, there are some crucial elements which cannot be pushed aside, for example, the murders, the mass arrests and tortures as well as the exile. These things cannot simply be left out of the question. Although the media always puts a dark side to any story, the legacy of Augusto Pinochet might not have been too far from the truth, with many sources suggesting that he was a traditional dictator. And he was not a president that saved Chile from communism; he established a dictatorship that could not be challenged, murdered, tortured and imprisoned without trial, for the singular reason of having different political views, which is why General Augusto José Ramón Pinochet Ugarte is not a benevolent dictator.
The relationship between the working class and Allende is definitely a difficult to understand because it's hard to understand how a political party is supported by the same group who contributes to their downfall. The working class was not the only reason Allende lost power, but was a heavy contributor. The working class seemed to only use Allende as a reason to enforce reform, and Allende used the working class as a group of supporters. The two groups could only agree on the fact that Chile needed serious social change, and Allende was the best shot they had.
In the early 1930’s, the Dominican Republic elected a new president by the name of Rafael Trujillo. Rafael Trujillo was a ruthless and selfish dictator even before he won the election. To win the election, he used his connections to kill supporters of the opposing candidates. Rafael Trujillo used his powers to oppress and murder masses of people (2 ”Rafael Trujillo”). Even though he was initially seen as a beneficial leader, Rafael Trujillo was proven to be an evil dictator.
Chile was going through a time of change. After the death of President Salvador Allende, Augusto Pinochet took over. Ariel worked for Allende and wrote many not so nice things about Pinochet. In 1973 Pinochet didn’t fire Dorfman, instead he just exiled Ariel from the country. After being exiled Dorfman went to Paris he came down with a case of writers block, which left him poor for a while. He eventually recovered and wrote many famous plays and poems. In one of his poems “He describes Latin America as an enigma a vibrant, sprawling, messy reality which did not itself know where it was or where it was going…a series of half-formed nations trapped in a history not of its own, trying to invent an alternative.” (Former Exiled Writer “Dorfman” 21)
Rafael Leónidas Trujillo Molina is without a doubt one of the most known figures within the Dominican history. The “Era de Trujillo” (The Trujillo Era) occupied the Dominican Republic for the long period of thirty-one years. His dictatorship started in 1930 and ended with his assassination on May 30, 1961. Trujillo’s Career began with the occupation of the United States in 1916. During this time he was trained in a military school, and became part of the National Police, a military group made by the Unites States to maintain order in the Dominican Republic . Trujillo stood out during his military career and rapidly ascended within the military ranges. Under the government of Horatio Vasquez Trujillo received the rank of Lieutenant Colonel and was put in charge of chiefs and assistant commanders of the National Police . This new position gave him the opportunity to be part of the overthrowing of Horatio Vasquez. Trujillo was sworn into presidency on August 16, 1930. Marking the beginning of what is known as the cruel, violent and controversial part of history in the Dominican Republic.
While U.S. government hostility to the Allende regime is not doubted, the U.S. role in the coup itself remains a controversial matter. Documents show that the CIA had wanted the overthrow of Allende in 1970, immediately after he took office. The CIA was notified by contacts of the impending Chilean coup lead by General Augusto Pinochet two days in advance. Immediately after the Allende government came into office, the U.S. sought to place economic pressure on Chile. U.S. National Security Council documents stated that pressure should be placed on the Allende government to prevent its success and limit its ability to create policies against the U.
The Holocaust was one of the greatest tragedies the world has ever known. There were many key people who participated in this outrageous genocide however some get more attention then others. Adolf Eichmann is a classic example. Eichmann was a self-proclaimed “Jewish Specialist” and head of the Gestapo Department. Eichmann was responsible for keeping every train rolling right into the stations of the concentration and death camps during the holocaust. Now we will take a look into Eichmann’s childhood, life experiences, and his later actions to see what shaped into a man of hatred towards the Jewish race.
Years before the United States went after Saddam Hussein, the White House had General Manuel Noriega, who had been on the CIA’s payroll over the 20 years prior to the invasion, in its sights. Noriega was actually taken off the CIA payroll by President Jimmy Carter's CIA Director Mansfield Turner back in 1978, but immediately put back on the CIA payroll by the Reagan Adminstration at double Mansfield’s salary. Placed at the head of the CIA to do the government’s bidding, Noriega was basically manipulated into becoming a tyrannical arms and drug kingpin.
During the summer of 1941, Chancellor Adolf Hitler initialized “The Final Solution'; to the “Jewish Question';. Hitler started this program because he wanted to create a highly centralized state and one for the master race, Germans. Exterminating Jews was, for Hitler, the only way to create a perfect Germany because it would eliminate the ‘malignant tumors’, the race that caused Germany to lose World War One. Hitler’s decision to start exterminating Jews changed the course of history. In the end, over 6,000,000 Jews were killed and a Jewish state known as Israel, evolved.
Benito Mussolini was born on July 29, 1883 outside the village of Dovia di Predappio in the Northeastern Italian province of Forli. He had one sister and one brother. They always fought and argued over little petty things with each other. His sister name was Edvige and his brother’s name was Armaldo. His mother Rosa Malteni was a well respect and appreciated schoolteacher. His father Allesandro Mussolini was both a blacksmith and a committee socialist. He received his name "Benito" from the Mexican Revolutionary Juarez. Benito grew up as a delinquent, disobedient, and did not have any manners. He was a bully to the other children around him. He would get into numerous of fights with other children.
... was not the best person on Earth, nor was he the worst person as portrayed in the news. The same type of repetition and emphasizing could have been done to portray Hugo Chavez as the greatest leader in the world. If Hugo Chavez actions and objectives were more publicize, then his representation in the media would not have been a evil dictator who is against the U.S, rather it would be man who wanted to help the poor and tried to find peace within nations. Stone states that “the changes that occurred in Venezuela reflect the true spirit of the country’s people. Venezuela was ranked 7.6 on a scale of 1 to 10, in the level of democracy. They placed their democracy higher than any other Latin American.” Stone, Scott, Boykoff, Sheehan, and Dwyer represent Hugo Chavez as a victim of media corruption, but a fighter for still succeeding while being targeted.
Argentina and Chile experienced similar periods of extreme human rights violations. The response of the international human rights regime to the crimes against humanity, and the pressure placed on these count...
Jorge Videla was the leader of the military-run government. At the time, it was very easy for Videla to seize power because of the highly unstable condition that Argentina was in, and had been in for decades. In September of 1955 all three branches of the military revolted and forced the president, Juan Perón, into exile. Eleven years later, in 1966, a new leader, Juan Carlos Ongania, imposed the military rule again only to have the former president, Perón, return in 1973, and ...
All throughout the 20th century we can observe the marked presence of totalitarian regimes and governments in Latin America. Countries like Cuba, Chile, Brazil, Argentina, Nicaragua and the Dominican Republic all suffered under the merciless rule of dictators and military leaders. Yet the latter country, the Dominican Republic, experienced a unique variation of these popular dictatorships, one that in the eyes of the world of those times was great, but in the eyes of the Dominicans, was nothing short of deadly.
Klein, throughout various accounts of U.S. involvement overseas, explains that the U.S. commonly engages in a practice of ‘shock therapy.’ The U.S. brings bloodshed and warfare to foreign nations in order to restructure their economies and governments to serve U.S. interests. In the case of Chile, Klein argues that the U.S., in the midst of Cold War paranoia, wanted to maintain its political and economic hegemony in South America. Washington accordingly whipped the Chilean army into an anti-Allende, anti-communist frenzy, bringing about the bloodshed of ‘the Caravan of Death’ as well as the years of tyrannical military dictatorship. Also significant was the fact that the neoliberal economics implemented in Chile were taught to Chilean economists of the junta by Americans at the University of Chicago.
Third world countries became the perfect battleground for cold war proxy battles during the early 1940’s to late 1990’s. United States wanted to flex its political muscle and try to curtail the spread of Soviet Communism in the developing nations. Most of the nations in developed world had already made their political and socio-economic stand regarding the form of governance and leadership pursued. Underdeveloped nations in Asia, Latin America and Africa were still vulnerable and easily influenced in terms of ideologies and political direction. Most nations in Latin America like Chile were recovering from colonialism and thus logistic, economic and political aid from powerful nations to propel their economies which made it easy for Americans and Russians to act as their “saviors’”. The quest for global dominance had intensified between United States and USSR and the shift was focused to developing nations like Chile. Both Americans and Russians used different mechanisms to enhance their propaganda and support the regimes which were friendly to them and used any means necessary to topple hostile regimes. CIA used covert operations in Chile and most of the Latin nations to plant their puppet leaders in order to safeguard their foreign policy interests and maintain dominance. Military coups and social unrests were planned, orchestrated and executed with the assistance of CIA. The research paper tries to critical analyze the impact of the cold war on Chile and influence of United States.