A Dictator's Ambition

Pinochet's Chile

     This article from the online Washington Post summarizes the rule of Chilean dictator Augusto Pinochet from 1973 to 1990. Pinochet started off his political career as a military leader. He quickly rose through the ranks and became the head of the Chilean military. He used his power to stage a coup and overthrow the current president of Chile, Salvador Allende, who was openly Marxist and elected democratically. In 1973, Pinochet's forces, with the help of the United States's Central Intelligence Agency, easily gained total control of the country and Pinochet declared himself President of Chile shortly thereafter. His new regime ruled through fear. Any Chilean citizens who opposed the regime "disappeared" or were killed. While the economy improved under his rule, he heavily disregarded freedom of speech and even disbanded many left-wing political parties. Eventually, he returned the country to a democracy (but not without a fight to keep some of his power) and he was replaced by a democratically elected President in 1990.
     This article was very interesting to read. First of all, I had never heard of the coup d'etat waged against the Chilean government, and certainly not of Augusto Pinochet, despite the events of this article taking place just before my time. It wasn't hard to pick up the fact that Pinochet was an ambitious and greedy dictator, and that he was a good example of how someone with ambition can go too far. His use of fear, smothering of protests, and killing of anyone against his government made it clear that he was willing and able to do anything to stay in power. I was surprised that I had not heard of such a ruthless, authoritative ruler. It is sad to think that there were people like this throughout history who used violence and extreme oppression to help themselves, and that their strong desire for power was not constrained by morals. I encourage anyone who is unfamiliar with Pinochet's military rule of Chile to read this article.