Augusto Pinochet
Augusto José Ramón Pinochet Ugarte was a Chilean military officer, politician and dictator. From 1973 to 1981, he was the leader of the military junta, which in 1974 declared him President of Chile; in 1980, a referendum approved a new constitution confirming him in the office, after which he served as de jure president from 1981 to 1990. His time in office remains the longest of any Chilean ruler.
Born in Valparaíso, Pinochet rose through the ranks of the Chilean Army to become General Chief of Staff in early 1972 before being appointed its commander-in-chief on 23 August 1973 by President Salvador Allende. On 11 September 1973,
Pinochet seized power in Chile in a military coup. The military had previously received financial and intelligence support from the United States, which favoured the military coup that toppled Allende's democratically elected socialist Unidad Popular government and ended civilian rule. In December 1974, the ruling military junta appointed Pinochet Supreme Head of the nation by joint decree, although without the support of one of the coup's instigators, Air Force general Gustavo Leigh.
After his rise to power, Pinochet persecuted leftists, socialists, and political critics, resulting in the executions of 1,200 to 3,200 people, the internment of as many as 80,000 people, and the torture of tens of thousands. According to the Chilean government, the number of executions and forced disappearances was at least 3,095. Operation Condor, a U.S.-supported terror operation focusing on South America, was founded at the behest of the Pinochet regime in late November 1975.
Under the influence of the free market–oriented "Chicago Boys", Pinochet's military government implemented economic liberalization following neoliberalism. This policy included currency stabilization, removal of tariff protections for local industry, the banning of trade unions, and privatization of social security and hundreds of state-owned enterprises. Some of the government properties were sold below market price to politically connected buyers, including Pinochet's son-in-law Julio Ponce Lerou. The regime used censorship of entertainment as a way to reward supporters of the regime and punish opponents. These policies dramatically increased economic inequality and produced high economic growth. They caused the 1982 monetary crisis, and thus produced its devastating effects on the Chilean economy. Pinochet's wealth grew considerably during his years in power through dozens of bank accounts secretly held abroad and holdings in real estate. He was later prosecuted for embezzlement, tax fraud, and kickbacks on arms deals.
Pinochet's 17-year rule was given a legal framework through a controversial 1980 plebiscite, which approved a new constitution drafted by a government-appointed commission. In a 1988 plebiscite, 56% voted against Pinochet's continuing as president, which led to democratic elections for the presidency and Congress. After stepping down in 1990, Pinochet continued to serve as Commander-in-Chief of the Chilean Army until 10 March 1998, when he retired and became a senator-for-life in accordance with his 1980 Constitution. However, while in London in 1998 Pinochet was arrested under an international arrest warrant in connection with numerous [|human rights violations]. Following a legal battle, he was released on grounds of ill-health and returned to Chile on 3 March 2000. In 2004, Chilean judge Juan Guzmán Tapia ruled that Pinochet was medically fit to stand trial and placed him under house arrest. By the time of his death on 10 December 2006, about 300 criminal charges were still pending against him in Chile for numerous human rights violations during his 17-year rule, as well as tax evasion and embezzlement during and after his rule. He was also accused of having corruptly amassed at least US$28 million.
Early life and education
Augusto José Ramón Pinochet Ugarte was born in Valparaíso on 25 November 1915. He was the son and namesake of Augusto Pinochet Vera, a descendant of an 18th-century French Breton immigrant from Lamballe and Avelina Ugarte Martínez, a woman of Basque heritage.Pinochet went to primary and secondary school at the San Rafael Seminary of Valparaíso, the Rafael Ariztía Institute in Quillota, the French Fathers' School of Valparaíso, and then to the Military School in Santiago, which he entered in 1931. His school records show him to have been an average student, excelling in some topics and only just passing others. In 1935, after four years studying military geography, he graduated with the rank of alférez in the infantry.
Military career
In September 1937, Pinochet was assigned to the "Chacabuco" Regiment, in Concepción. Two years later, in 1939, then with the rank of Sub-lieutenant, he moved to the "Maipo" Regiment, garrisoned in Valparaíso. He returned to Infantry School in 1940.By late 1945, Pinochet had been assigned to the "Carampangue" Regiment in the northern city of Iquique. Three years later, he entered the Chilean War Academy but had to postpone his studies because, being the youngest officer, he had to carry out a service mission in the coal zone of Lota.
The following year, Pinochet returned to his studies in the academy. After obtaining the title of Officer Chief of Staff, in 1951, he returned to teach at the Military School. At the same time, he worked as a teachers' aide at the War Academy, assisting with military geography and geopolitics classes. He was also the editor of the institutional magazine Cien Águilas. At the beginning of 1953, with the rank of major, he was sent for two years to the "Rancagua" Regiment in Arica. While there, he was appointed professor of the Chilean War Academy, and returned to Santiago to take up his new position.
In 1956, Pinochet and a group of young officers were chosen to collaborate in the organization of the War Academy of Ecuador in Quito. He remained with the Quito mission for four and a half years, during which time he studied geopolitics, military geography and military intelligence. At the end of 1959, he returned to Chile and was sent to General Headquarters of the 1st Army Division, based in Antofagasta. The following year, he was appointed commander of the "Esmeralda" Regiment. Due to his success in this position, he was appointed sub-director of the War Academy in 1963. In 1968, he was named Chief of Staff of the 2nd Army Division, based in Santiago, and at the end of that year, he was promoted to brigadier general and Commander in Chief of the 6th Division, garrisoned in Iquique. In his new function, he was also appointed Intendent of the Tarapacá Province.
In January 1971, Pinochet was promoted to division general and was named General Commander of the Santiago Army Garrison. On 8 June 1971, following the assassination of Edmundo Pérez Zujovic by left-wing radicals, Allende appointed Pinochet a supreme authority of Santiago province, imposing a military curfew in the process, which was later lifted. However, on 2 December 1971, following a series of peaceful protests against economic policies of Allende, the curfew was re-installed, all protests prohibited, with Pinochet leading the crackdown on anti-Allende protests. At the beginning of 1972, he was appointed General Chief of Staff of the Army. With rising domestic strife in Chile, after General Prats resigned his position, Pinochet was appointed commander-in-chief of the Army on 23 August 1973 by President Salvador Allende. Less than a month later, the Chilean military deposed Allende.
Military coup of 1973
On 11 September 1973, the combined Chilean Armed Forces overthrew Allende's government in a coup, during which the presidential palace, La Moneda, was shelled. That is where Allende was said to have committed suicide. While the military claimed that he had committed suicide, controversy surrounded Allende's death, with many commentators claiming that he had been assassinated, a theory denied by the Chilean Supreme Court in 2014.In his book about the coup, The Decisive Day, Pinochet said that he was the leading plotter of the coup and had used his position as commander-in-chief of the Army to coordinate a far-reaching scheme with the other two branches of the military and the national police. In later years, however, high military officials from the time, such as Gustavo Leigh, commander-in-chief of the air force, have said that Pinochet reluctantly became involved only a few days before the coup was scheduled to occur, and followed the lead of the other branches as they executed the coup.
The new government rounded up thousands of people and held them in the national stadium, where many were killed. This was followed by brutal repression during Pinochet's rule, during which approximately 3,000 people were killed, while more than 1,000 are still missing.
In the months that followed the coup, the junta published a book with text written by historian Gonzalo Vial and admiral Patricio Carvajal, titled El Libro Blanco del cambio de gobierno en Chile, commonly known as El Libro Blanco, in which they said that they were in fact anticipating a self-coup that Allende's government or its associates were purportedly preparing. United States intelligence agencies believed the plan to be untrue propaganda. Although later discredited and officially recognized as the product of political propaganda, Gonzalo Vial Correa insists in the similarities between the alleged Plan Z and other existing paramilitary plans of the Popular Unity parties in support of its legitimacy. Pinochet was also trained by the School of the Americas where it is likely he first encountered the ideals of the coup.
Canadian reporter Jean Charpentier of Télévision de Radio-Canada was the first foreign journalist to interview General Pinochet following the coup.
U.S. backing of the coup
The Church Report investigating the fallout of the Watergate scandal stated that while the U.S. tacitly supported the Pinochet government after the 1973 coup, there was "no evidence" that the US was directly involved in it. This view has been contradicted by several academics, such as Peter Winn, who writes that the role of the CIA was crucial to the consolidation of power after the coup; the CIA helped fabricate a conspiracy against the Allende government, which Pinochet was then portrayed as preventing. He stated that the coup itself was possible only through a three-year covert operation mounted by the United States. Winn also points out that the US imposed an "invisible blockade" that was designed to disrupt the economy under Allende, and contributed to the destabilization of the regime. Author Peter Kornbluh argues in The Pinochet File that the US was extensively involved and actively "fomented" the 1973 coup. Authors Tim Weiner and Christopher Hitchens similarly argue the case that US covert actions actively destabilized Allende's government and set the stage for the 1973 coup. Despite denial of countless American agencies, current declassified documentation has proven the American involvement. Nixon and Kissinger, along with both private and public intelligence agencies were "apprised of, and even enmeshed in, the planning and executing of the military takeover." Along with this, CIA operatives directly involved, such as Jack Devine, have also come out and declared their involvement in the coup. Devine stating, "I sent CIA headquarters a special type of top-secret cable known as a CRITIC, which... goes directly to the highest levels of government." According to the Historian, Sebastián Hurtado, who had access to the declassified documents, there is no documentary evidence to support that the United States Government acted actively in the coordination and execution of the coup actions by the Chilean Armed Forces, however, Richard Nixon's interest from the beginning was that the Allende government would not be consolidated.The US provided material support to the military government after the coup, although criticizing it in public. A document released by the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency in 2000, titled "CIA Activities in Chile", revealed that the CIA actively supported the military junta after the overthrow of Allende, and that it made many of Pinochet's officers into paid contacts of the CIA or U.S. military, even though some were known to be involved in human rights abuses. The CIA also maintained contacts in the Chilean DINA intelligence service. DINA led the multinational campaign known as Operation Condor, which amongst other activities carried out assassinations of prominent politicians in various Latin American countries, in Washington, D.C., and in Europe, and kidnapped, tortured and executed activists holding left-wing views, which culminated in the deaths of roughly 60,000 people. The United States provided key organizational, financial and technical assistance to the operation. CIA contact with DINA head Manuel Contreras was established in 1974 soon after the coup, during the Junta period prior to official transfer of Presidential powers to Pinochet; in 1975, the CIA reviewed a warning that keeping Contreras as an asset might threaten human rights in the region. The CIA chose to keep him as an asset, and at one point even paid him. In addition to the CIA's maintaining of assets in DINA beginning soon after the coup, several CIA assets, such as CORU Cuban exile militants Orlando Bosch and Guillermo Novo, collaborated in DINA operations under Operation Condor in the early years of Pinochet's presidency.