Pinochet - An Uncomfortable True.

Did what needed to be done. Lot's of sniveling now from his accomplices. Fighting fire with fire is sometimes messy.

In the same class as Hitler.

These right-wing charlatans complain about Castro and Jiang, but then praise Pinochet.

Pinochet proved military dictatorships could be benevolent

Let us review a few things. Pinochet - Took power through military coup. During this, was supported by USA. Built up money through vast national resources. Killed thousands of innocent people to consolidate power. Hmm, who does this sound like? The answer: The Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussain. Yet, of course, one fatal difference emerges. Pinochet was content to remain serving US interests. Saddam got too independent for his own good in American eyes, and so was stopped. Other than that, I see little difference between the two bloody dictators. Except of course that conservatives still see him as a "saviour" of Chile. The hypocrasy shown by the right is again, despicable. I think the thousands of people killed or hurt by Pinochet's bloody regime would not agree that the saviour of Chile was Pinochet. And where did they get their "facts" on Allende? Allende was not communist, in fact he was barely a socialist in his views and still tolerated capitalism. Neither was he a "terrible politician". He was not the best, that is true,but any man who could unite splinter left-wing groups, get a socialist-policied government elected, and get more popular (see my 2nd point for an explaination) in the face of US economic blockades for no reason other than it didn't like Allende's government, World Bank loans reneged on, and a continual terrorist problem fron fascist death-squads, the man must have had something going for him. Second point: It was not 34% that got Allende's Popular Unity group elected. It was 36%. This is irrelevent, but do try and get the facts right. What you seem to be implying, though, is that you have to have at least 51% of the vote to be considered the "true government." Democracy doesn't work like that, dear. The government is the party with the highest percentage of the popular vote, and with more than two parties in the running, as is the case in most countries, it becomes very difficult for any party to gain 51% or above. The last time it happened in Britain was 50 years ago, but you don't exactly say that it is not a valid government. I doubt either of the US major parties got more than 51% in the last elections either. And anyway, it wasn't because of the low majority the Allende government had that caused Pinochet to start the coup. The plot for the coup started when the government increased it's electoral percentage to 44%, so vote numbers are woefully irrelevent to this. Pinochet was a dictatorial murderer, who should have been indicted for human rights abuses years ago.

The biggest problem with this man is that he still today causes divition in our country. Only mentioning his name brings up fear, sadness and hate to many, shameless pride and respect to others. Personally, I hate to know I live in a country were a lot of people think that the economic prosperity he brought justifies all the murders, tortures and violation to human rights he carried along for 17 years. Savior of Chile? Doubtfull. As bad as Allende was, his government was legitimate, and it would have ended the day he fulfilled his period, not forcing anyone to years of a dictatorial regime. Pinochet took over the power and stayed there for years with no respect for what the people wanted. The truth is that as a country we will never get to an agreement in this matter, so I just hope he keeps away from our lives.

One of the most evil, ruthless dictators ever.

Savior of Chile. You see at the time the media were reporting that the elected Allande Labor Government (Marxist-Lenninst) got the police and the millitry to break into peoples places, torture and kill them (10,000-15,000 of them in a very short time). The Media cover up on this now. Pinochet supported by the CIA took over, did the same thing agaist suspected Marxist (many innocents) making 2,000-4,000 dissapere. Afer about 20 years he eventually liberalized and democretized the system then retired.

The savior of Chile.

General Pinochet was maybe the best president of the last century in Chile... despite of all the human right problems that occur in his government... I believe the balance is good...

This clown was nothing more than an American CIA-sponsored right-wing thug who overthrew a legitimate, democratically-elected Chilean government led by Salvador Allende Gossens in 1973. All the American government, and a duped American public could see, was that Allende was a Socialist who advocated socio-economic equality for all Chileans, in particular the Native Americans and mestizos who had been (and still are) discriminated against by the peninsulares and European-born Chileans. Legitimate elections and peaceful transition be damned---the American government was, and still is, willing to tolerate dictatorships, violation of human rights (just ask Amnesty International), and other nefarious capitalistic eyesores and lack of consciences because that thug is a proud anti-communist. as long as it suits the CIA's purposes and doesn't pose a threat to "American security"--c'mon, people, since when has Chile ever posed a military or economic threat to El Norte/Los Estados Unidos? Some Americans don't even know that much about Chile! Canada has shades of socialism in its government---why aren't the right-wing wackos in the U.S. advocating total destruction of Ottawa? It's a good thing the Chilean military listened to the people and stepped aside, because they were keenly aware that there was international humanitarian and economic pressure to turn over their illegal government (witness Pinochet's martial law decree) to a truly democratically-elected government. Pinochet and his army were known to have tortured and killed many thousands of Chileans, in particular students, professionals, intellectuals, and Native Americans who he deemed a threat to his military dictatorship. We'll never know just how successful Allende could have been because, unlike Pinochet, he was genuinely loved by all segments of Chilean society, except the military, of course. I highly doubt Allende would have resorted to torture and murder to achieve his goals because he had won an overwhelming popular plebescite in 1970 and could have been one of South America's greatest leaders of the 20th century. Pinochet will go down in history as another typical South American generalissimo who just happened to be an average politician but a superb murderer and absconder of justice.

First of all, I am impressed that so many people know the facts about Pinochet. Yes he did kill/torture people needlessly, and yes he is responsable for the awesome economy of Chile today. And true the ends don't always justify the means. I just want to point out to idiot revisionists, like "stalin", that although Pinochet's predecesor Allende was "elected" (with only 34% of the populous), he never told the world he was a communist and he never told the world that he would steal people's land - he ran as a socialist. Do your homework "stalin" you shmuck. Allende may have been a "good-hearted" man but he was a terrible politician and a thief communist and should not be revered.

It's not true that Pinochet "made the trains run on time". The truth is that he almost destroyed every single rail road in Chile! Chile had a quite good rail road infrastructure under Allende's leadership, but Pinochet didn't want any of it. He was as ruthless with the rail roads as with his nation's people. It's easy to show your hatre against Pinochet, all you have to do is to become a member of Amnesty! :-)

It has always been said that Mussolini made the trains run on time in Italy. So did Pinochet. Nonetheless, the ends DO NOT justify the means; he murdered innocent people and his model of government is not a good example for democracy.

Running dog of U.S. imperialism! Overthrew democratically elected government. Economic reforms only benefited the bourgoisie. Long live Salvador Allende! Long live the dictatorship of the proletariat!

Murderous Dictator!

Ruthless dictator, true -- but at least his ruthlessness was turned upon equally ruthless communist insurgents. Moreover, his economic reforms helped transform his country for the better.

I don't know whether to rate this guy a 5 or a 1. He is a murderer - ruthless and single minded in realizing his vision for his country. On the other hand, without him, Chile would not be the model for Latin American economic development that it is today. Do the ends justify the means?

I hope Spain puts him in jail for life, the murderer.

Pinochet should be electricuted and hanged for the torture of innocent people. Margaret Thatcher and Pinochet are poor role models and their opinion should not matter when bringing known human rights violators to justice.