August Jose Ramon Pinochet Ugarte - Assignment Example

August Jose Ramon Pinochet Ugarte was a member of the military and a political leader in Chile for decades. Between 1973 and 1974, he was the President of the Government Junta of Chile, which was the legislative and executive branch of government in Chile before the overthrown of the government in 1974. After the overthrow, which was led by Pinochet, it became merely the legislative body until the country once again became democratic. Pinochet led the military coup that occurred in Chile during 1974 and after this occurred, he was guilty of oppressing any political foes that he had in a blatant violation of human rights. His reign in Chile is also synonymous with liberal and neo-liberal economic reforms that occurred in the country during this time, including privatizing many government owned institutions. This created an economic system that benefits the rich a great deal, but has left the poor with less money, food, and shelter than ever before. After he was taken from power, Pinochet was arrested numerous times for the crimes that he committed against both his own people and against people from other countries. Despite these numerous arrests, however, he was never punished for the murders, kidnappings, and tortures of thousands of people during his tyrannical reign over the country because the courts could not figure out what to do with him. Many of these people who were tortured and killed were political oppositions, which shows why he was able to stay in power for such a lengthy period of time. Despite his economic ingenuity, and subsequent failure, Pinochet will be remembered by history as a brutal dictator who made himself rich at the expense of his own country and violently oppressed his people during his time in power. Pinochet’s reign began on September 11, 1973 when he led a coup on the country’s Socialist government, which was led by Salvador Allende. He, along with cooperation from the country’s Navy, Air Force, and Carabineros, took over the country’s government and established a military government. There is some question about how this partnership came about, as Pinochet argued that he organized the whole thing, while some military leaders said that he only joined as an afterthought, but either way, Pinochet quickly took a leadership role in this military government. At this time, Pinochet established the government by using military force, which led to the deaths of around 3000 people. Also, an additional 27,000 people were imprisoned without a trial and were tortured once in jail because their political views differed from those of Pinochet. Most of these individuals were from Socialist or Communist parties. Those who were able to escape Pinochet’s tyrannical rule did so only temporarily. Although some of these people made it to places like Argentina and Peru, these military dictatorships in these places also persecuted them because of their political beliefs, so there was nowhere safe for them in South America. All of these leaders wished to end the threat of Communism because they wished to become wealthy themselves, which is something that Pinochet was eventually able to accomplish. Originally, the military presidency was supposed to rotate between the leaders of the four different branches of the military. Pinochet, however, did not believe that things should be like this and he proclaimed himself “Supreme Chief of the Nation”. This solidified his control of the country and made it very difficult to take him out of power, although it did anger other military leaders. When General Leigh, who was the leader of the Air Force, chose to oppose Pinochet, he was quickly replaced and forced into retirement. On September 11, 1980, Pinochet held a referendum which would create a new constitution for Chile and would accomplish a couple of different things. First of all, it would give him much more power over the country than he had held before. At the same time, however, it called for an election to take place eight years later where the public could vote him out if need be, which would be a manner of reinstituting a form of democracy within the country. In May 1983, political unrest began to rise up against Pinochet’s regime, as the opposition political leaders and labor movements began to grow restless and demanded change. This caused for violent altercations to occur between government officials and the demonstrators, with the demonstrators usually ending up being kidnapped and tortured or killed. This included the beheading of Jose Manuel Parada, Manuel Guerrero, and Santiago Nattino by police officers; an event that caused junta member Cesar Mendoza to resign. The Inter-American Commission on Human Rights then decided to get involved, which eventually led to six police officers being given life sentences, although there is no proof to suggest it was the same police officers who committed the acts and Pinochet was not held responsible for the actions of his men. The violence continued in Chile as the 1980s continued on, as government officials discovered about 80 tons of weapons and explosives that were smuggled into the country by Manuel Rodriguez, who was a member of the armed branch of the Communist Party. These explosives were brought to the country with the help of Cuba, East Germany, and the Soviet Union in an attempt to spread the communist message to a new part of the world. One of Pinochet’s goals while in power had been to eliminate the influences of Communist and Socialism, as he believed that a free market system was the best way for an economy to run. In 1986, the same types of weapons were used in an assassination attempt on Pinochet’s life by the same Communist Party. Five of his bodyguards were killed in this attempt, as Pinochet’s car was struck by a rocket. The rocket, however, failed to explode, which spared him from any serious injuries. This did not deter Pinochet, however, as he remained just as zealous in his dictatorship. One of the reasons that members of the opposition were so desperate to rid the country of Pinochet’s rule was because of how violently he oppressed the people. Soon after taking power, he was responsible for banning all left wing parties from the country. As time moved on, all other political parties were banned as well, making the country a full fledged dictatorship. The violent oppression of these political party members extended onto their families, as Pinochet did not wish for these ideologies to spread at all. While Pinochet led the public to believe that this was done in order to keep communist out of the country, a more likely scenario was that he wished to rid his reign of any competition or resistance because if his style of government was truly working, he would not have to worry about opposition. The deaths during this time period were particularly significant, as in October of 1973, close to 70 people were killed by the “Caravan of Death”, which is what the Chilean Army Death Squad was labeled. Members of the previous government were the most likely to be executed, although foreign journalists and other innocent people were also often included in these mass murders. This regime did not only murder people who had been causing problems within Chile, however, as Juan Jose Torres, who was the former President of neighboring Bolivia was assassinated in 1976 because of his Socialist ties. A United Nations diplomat and a former Chilean ambassador to the United States were also murdered during this time period, as the military government attempted to eliminate anyone who questioned its authority. Pinochet took aim at anyone whose ideologies differed from his own in order to keep absolute power in Chile. This process of eliminating all of the opposition was called Operation Condor and it was basically a genocide of everyone who opposed the military dictatorship‘s policies. Along with all of the people who were murdered by this regime were people who narrowly escaped death as well. Bernardo Leighton was a democrat who had an attempt taken on his life in Rome by an Italian terrorist with ties to Pinochet. Also, Carlos Altamirano, who led to Chilean Socialist Party, and Volodia Teitelboim, who was a member of the Communist Party, had attempts taken on their lives during the 1970s. Stunningly, even American Congressman Edward Koch was the target of an assassination attempt because of his bold words speaking out against Operation Condor. Despite this violent oppression, however, protests continued within the country with the hopes of inspiring change. Even after the three men were beheaded by the police, protests continued. At one rally in particular, an 18-year old student was burned alive for protesting against Pinochet. Also, in 1989 a member of the Communist Party was executed by the police, even though they allegedly had orders to only arrest him. It is believed that Pinochet is behind all of these acts of violence, as he gave his men order to keep all of these voices down. He believed that resistance could negatively impact his end goal and, therefore, he did whatever he could to avoid losing his power. One thing that has been forgotten about Pinochet, perhaps because of the violent aspects of his reign, is that economic changes that he made to Chile. He wished to make the country a free market by eliminating all of the socialist ties that the country had previously had. He began this process by deregulating business and privatizing various things around the country. In order to spark the economy, he also eliminated minimum wage, allowed for a free market on food pricing, took away the rights of trade unions, made pensions private, privatized state-owned industries, including banks, and lowered income tax. In fact, the only industry that remained state-owned was the highly profitable copper industry. What this did, on the surface, was create economic growth that is still sustain to this day. There is more to this growth, however, than the numbers immediately state, as Chile has one of the most uneven distributions of income in the world. The system that Pinochet implemented into the economy was great for venture capitalists who knew how to manipulate the system in order to create their own wealth, but it actual harmed the rest of the country economically. A free market system, especially one as unregulated as Chile’s, is bound to create an unequal environment because there is no protection for the middle class. What has happened in Chile because of Pinochet’s economic reforms is that the middle class, essentially, no longer exists. Those who were smart enough or had enough resources to become business owners at the beginning of these market reforms were able to succeed, while the majority of the people suffered in poverty. This did not bother Pinochet, however, as it created a whole new set of elites in the country who, of course, supported him because of the wealth that he brought to them. While the wealth of the nation as a whole has increased, the disparity between rich and poor has risen drastically. Things like unemployment and homelessness have also risen dramatically, making Pinochet’s idea of radical Capitalism inadequate for Chile. While not illegal, Pinochet’s handling of the economic system in Chile did more harm than good, as the country was not ready to have a free market system at that time. Pinochet’s rule officially ended in 1990, but he still held a great deal of power within the country. In 1998, however, things began to change for him dramatically. While he was on a trip to seek medical attention in Great Britain, Pinochet was arrested on a warrant that was issued by a Spanish judge on 94 counts of torturing Spanish citizens and the 1975 assassination of Spanish diplomat Carmelo Soria. He was placed under house arrest in the United Kingdom, but this was opposed by the Chilean government because they still needed his help with the transition of the country into a democracy. The United Kingdom attempted to extradite him to Spain to face these charges, which led to a 16-month legal battle on the case. Pinochet claimed that he had immunity from these charges since he was a former head of state, although it was eventually ruled that he could not be charged in Great Britain for any crimes committed before 1988, which was when the United Kingdom implemented the United Nations Convention Against Torture into its Criminal Justice Act. This situation brought about a great deal of political unrest, as everyone had a different opinion on what to do with Pinochet. While some countries called for Pinochet to be released, others believed that putting him on trial would show the world that torture will not be tolerated in the international community. Around this same time, questions began to arise about Pinochet’s health, causing for Home Secretary Jack Straw to rule that Pinochet should not be extradited to Spain because of his poor health. This caused a great deal of protest worldwide from human rights activists and even by the governments of Belgium, France, and Switzerland, who had all hoped to see Pinochet stand trial in their own countries as well. Pinochet was eventually set free by the British government and returned to Chile. This shows the immense political power that was held by this man, as he still had former leaders of the United States and Great Britain calling for his release. This is because his military dictatorship had held to expel Communist and Socialism governments from South America, making him a friend of many Western nations. After his return to Chile, Congress passed a law giving ex-presidents immunity in the courts and gave them a financial allowance. This ruling, however, was overturned soon after because of the brutality of the Caravan of Death case. It was then voted by the Supreme Court to take Pinochet’s immunity away and to indict him on 75 counts of kidnapping in this case. Even though all of the people had been presumed dead, it would be more difficult to get a guilty verdict if Pinochet were charged with murder, since there were never any bodies found. This trial, however, was once again suspended because of Pinochet’s failing health. In January of 2001, doctors ruled that Pinochet was fit to stand trial and his arrest was ordered. Once again, however, it was suspended because of health reasons. In July of 2002, the case was dismissed entirely because of these same health issues, which have been attributed to dementia. Pinochet immediately reigned from the Senate so he could hold immunity on all other cases against him, although much of this began to become subject to decisions passed down by the Supreme Court. Two years later, the Court of Appeals in Chile voted to indict Pinochet once again, stating that his dementia was not a good enough reason to withhold this trial. This was because Pinochet had given a television interview where his mind did not seem to have regressed to the point that some doctors had made it seem. In December of 2004, Pinochet had his immunity over the murder of General Carlos Prats taken away. He was also placed under house arrest for the disappearance of nine different political opposition leaders and the murder of one of these individuals. Once again, however, the Supreme Court reversed this ruling, giving Pinochet his immunity back. At the same time, however, the Supreme Court decide to strip Pinochet of his immunity for the killing of 119 political opponents in Operation Colombo. The very next day, he was once again acquitted because of his failing health. Then late in 2005, he was ordered to stand trial for the disappearance of six different individuals who were arrested by his securities officers in 1974. He was once again placed under house arrest. In 2006, Pinochet was finally charged with 36 counts of kidnapping, along with 23 instances of torture, and one murder. After all of the issues that it took to get him to this point, however, Pinochet died at the age of 91. He never had to stand trial, nor did he ever have to face any sort of punishment for his actions during his brutal dictatorship in Chile. Augusto Pinochet was a brutal dictator who was allowed to prosper in Chile for a number of years, despite the acts that he committed against both his own people and against people from other countries. Perhaps the most amazing part of this piece of history is that there was little to no foreign intervention during this process. The military was able to overtake the Chilean government with relative ease, without any sort of major international sanctions being invoked. Pinochet was also able to stay in power for a very long time, despite the lack of a democracy in the country. Throughout his career, very few actions were ever taken against this man, even though he regularly had people murdered for opposing him and would make opposing politicians disappear. Even when he was eventually arrested, no charges were able to really stick for a variety of reasons. Pinochet will not go down in history as a great leader or a great man. His economic policies are flawed at best and they created a very wide gap in Chile between the rich and the poor. The free market that he allegedly wished to create is free in name only, as the majority of the population does not have to means with which to access it, making it an elitist free market. While it can be argued that he accomplished what he wished to, which was to expel the Communists from the country and make it Capitalist, one must wonder why he was never convicted of any of the numerous crimes that he committed. Perhaps he made friends with the right people in the international community, as keeping Communism out of Chile would be viewed as a favor to the United States. Also, perhaps the reason why he was never convicted in his own country was because the people did not wish to admit that the previous years had been a waste. The more likely answer, however, is that judged are elitists too and they were helped by Pinochet’s economic policies more than the average citizen. They were also not subjected to the torture and abuse that so many other were forced to endure during Pinochet’s reign. Augusto Pinochet will go down in history as one of the most brutal dictators of all time, and the fact that nothing ever happened to him because of it is one of the greatest injustices of all time as well. Sources Constable, Pamela. A Nation of Enemies: Chile Under Pinochet. New York: W.W. Norton & Company. 1993. United States Institute of Peace. "Truth Commissions Digital Collection: Reports: Chile". Report of the Chilean National Commission on Truth and Reconciliation. Notre Dame, Indiana: University of Notre Dame Press. 1993. Vol. 1/2. Read More