“Being young and not being a revolutionary,
it’s almost a biological contradiction.”
–Salvador Allende
People of Chile were subjected to a systematic campaign of torture and state violence
That the cold war left a large number of developing countries in ruins while the main adversaries were not affected is summed by Nadeem Aslam beautifully, “The cold war remained cold only for the rich and privileged places of the planet.” One unfortunate country among many others was Chile. On Sept. 11, 1973, Salvador Allende’s socialist government was toppled by a U.S.-backed military coup led by Augusto Pinochet, barely three years after being Allende was elected.
As declassified CIA documents show, the government of Richard Nixon and Secretary of State Henry Kissinger influenced the military to overthrow Allende, and provided resources to deter any leftist movements in the country through the CIA.
As fears of the “Red Scare” grew after success of 1959 revolution in Cuba, Washington opposed any form of socialist gains on the belief they would affect U.S. economic and political interests in the hemisphere.
Chile is in flux one more time. Protests have erupted in the country against the growing inequality. According to BBC, at least one million people joined a protest in the country’s capital over the cost and quality of education and health care and over pensions that don’t help the elderly make ends meet, but little has changed in response.