AXIS OF GOOD FILES:

Success Story in Latin America: Chile is a model for economic growth, free trade, and political stability, but Chileans still wrestle over the 1973 U.S._backed coup and the military dictatorship that followed. (Mark Holston, March 2004, World & I)

What is often overlooked in the Salvador Allende saga is that he was not supported by a majority of Chileans. He attracted only 36 percent of the 1970 presidential vote. (He was then elected president by the nation's Congress, which wasn't obliged to install him but wished to respect his plurality.) Also ignored are the undemocratic actions Allende pursued once in power, actions that quickly alienated broad sectors of the Chilean populace. He and his administration:

* Disregarded the law in order to seize land and nationalize industries.

* Ignored court decisions and legislation in pursuit of their own agenda.

* Pursued policies that undercut the business community, estranged international investors, and hobbled the economy. By September 1973, famine was impending, consumer products of all kinds were in short supply, and turmoil was prevalent in the streets.

* Started smuggling in arms for workers groups, alienating Ben. Augusto Pinochet, the armed forces chief of staff appointed by Allende. Even some socialists recently admitted that Allende had been trying to carry out a revolution without significant support or legislative backing.

* Rejected an August 1973 congressional censure that should have caused him to resign.

Once Allende was removed, Pinochet turned his attention to rebuilding the economy (which he did in short order) and fighting an aggressive, Soviet-backed communist insurgency, which had started in 1965. Battling this uprising earned the Pinochet government the reputation of a human-rights abuser. [...]

Tomas Chuaqui, director of the Institute of Political Science at the Catholic University of Chile, believes that although Chile is today charting an independent course in international relations, it is a country the United States can count on in a somewhat unsettled part of the globe. "The relationship is quite strong," he comments, "and not likely to change in the immediate future. And it's not based only on trade; it's also political. Chile is a very stable country politically in the region, so the United States looks at Chile as a good ally to have in this part of Latin America. There's a lot more uncertainty in many countries in the region than there is in Chile. One of the reasons for the relationship is that Chile has demonstrated stability and economic strength."

Although the national interests of Chile and the United States are increasingly aligned, noted differences of opinion remain. In its role as a member of the UN Security Council, Chile voiced strong opposition to U.S. plans to invade Iraq. The war in Iraq remains very unpopular in Chile, and there are lingering concerns about Washington's long-term commitment to Latin American issues. "There's a very cynical attitude toward what the United States has been doing in the international arena," says Chuaqui.

"The main problem with the United States really doesn't have anything to do with Chile in particular," he adds. "It has more to do with the United States as a hegemonic power in general and [the perception of] its unwillingness to become an equal partner with anyone in the international arena."

Like many of his countrymen, Chuaqui believed the terrorist attack on the United States would produce a change of heart in Washington. "When the other September 11 [Chile's 1973 coup also happened on the same date] happened," he says, "one of the impressions I and many other Chileans had was that this finally signified that there can be no hegemonic power in the world any longer. The weakest power can harm the most powerful. That means that even the most powerful entity requires the assistance of the weaker powers around the world. The first impression we had was that the United States was going to move in that direction. That seems not to have happened."

The recently signed trade agreement, however, is widely perceived in Chile to be a high-water mark in relations between the two countries. Building on the pact's potential for improved economic ties should bring the national interests of the two nations closer together and may help pave the way for improved understanding and cooperation on other issues of mutual concern.

Other than that delusion about us going hat-in-hand to others for help with the war on terror, they're valuable friend and an important example to both the rest of the developing world and to those in the developed world who still don't understand the Franco/Pinochet model.

Posted by Orrin Judd at March 6, 2004 11:36 PM