Senate [9-11] Today, Let Us Remember

41 years ago today, the democratically-elected socialist president of Chile, Salvador Allende, was murdered in a CIA-backed military coup, leading to 17 years of dictatorship under Augusto Pinochet. Pinochet's government is often lauded by the liberal political and economic establishment for "The Chilean Miracle" economy that followed the coup. they generally leave out "details" like Chile's wealth disparity and Nixon ordering the CIA to "make [Chile's] economy scream" under Allende's socialist government

in rememberance of this historic injustice and the suffering of the Chilean people, who had their democracy and their human rights stolen from them that day, please take a moment to watch or listen to this video of the popular Chilean folk singer and activist Víctor Jara performing his song "Te recuerdo Amanda" ("I remember you, Amanda"), a song about the importance and equality of women in society, and the need to improve workers' conditions



an icon of worker's movement in Chile and throughout Latin America -- as well as a friend and inspiration to many American musicians including Phil Ochs, Bob Dylan, Bruce Springsteen, Pete Seeger, and Arlo Guthrie -- Víctor Jara was murdered by the Chilean military in the days following the coup. among other tortures inflicted upon him during this brutal murder, his hands were mutilated by soldiers who then laughed and goaded him to play a song for them on his guitar

Jara was only one among tens of thousands of Chileans who suffered detention, torture, and murder at the hands of Pinochet's regime. his family was fortunate in that at least his death was confirmed and his body returned to them. at least one thousand Chilean dissidents in this period were simply "disappeared", their families never finding out what happened to them nor recovering their bodies. despite the public knowledge of the details of Jara's torture and death, his killers have only just been charged in the last couple years, 3 of them only just charged this week, giving some idea of the lasting damage to human rights in Chile inflicted, in part, by the United States government

venceremos (we will overcome)

 

Why did you name this thread after the iconic Porsche then?

 

The CIA got a lot of coup for its money though. That kind of money today would never buy a ruthless totalitarian police state of Pinochet quality.

 

Rogue Number Ten, you left out the best part of the story. With the power of a military dictator behind them, the neo-liberal economists of the Chicago School were free to turn an entire country into the laboratory. Finally freed to force millions of people into the ideal free market system, they succeeded in . . .running the economy into the ground entirely. They had to make significant retooling subsequently before they were able to make headway.

 

Don't mess with the Chicago Boys.