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In December of 2006 I was having drinks with a Russian, Denis Nayshul, in the bar of a hostel in Amsterdam, during a six week trip I did backpacking in Europe.
General Augusto Pinochet had died in Chile a few weeks before and Denis asked me what I thought of him. Before I responded, I told him that General Pinochet is a very controversial character in Chile and public opinion is totally divided between supporters and opposers, so if you ask Chileans this same question, you might get very different answers. Then I continued: "I'm a total supporter of the legacy of Chile's military government and all they did to save Chile from becoming a communist country and basically rebuild the country again from the devastated state it was in the early 70's".
Denis' response was: "Back home, my father always said that we should've had a Russian Pinochet to free us from communism" - Touché.
Today I celebrate
Chile's "Second Independence". In September 11th of 1973, Chile was broke, its people starving (having to buy things to eat in black markets) and on the brink of a fraticidal war. It only took the marxist government
led by the infamous Salvador Allende (personal friend of Cuba's dictator Fidel Castro), 1000 days to completely morally and economically break down the country. This also divided the country in two factions until our days. It's worth noticing that
the communist government and the "Unidad Popular" were the sole responsibles for this and all events that followed from happening.
Fortunately, the 3 Armed Forces (Navy, Army and Air Force) plus the Police Force, acting as a whole, reacted in time (there was a lot of pressure from a very high percentage of the civilian population towards the Armed Forces to do something). In a matter of days, they took control of the country (protecting it from all enemies whether national or foreign, as stated in the Constitution), overthrew the nefarious marxist government and started the slow process of reconstructing Chile - a painful process that took 17 years and from which Chile rose from the ashes to become one of the most properous countries in South America. Then, democratic elections were held and the government was handed back to civilians.
It hurts a lot of people to recognize (and they will never do) that this has been one the few military governments that has been succesful in the history of the world.
This post is to express my admiration and respect to all the patriotic men and women, soldiers and civilians who supported and actively participated in this process and that remember the historic facts as they happened. A big, heartfelt
THANK YOU.
Even though there are ill-intentioned people that systematically lie about the actual events and try to poison new generations with these lies, time will set the facts right and will render justice to the heroes that participated in saving the country from communist oppression.
I have plenty of reasons to celebrate today.
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Mar Moreno
non-member comment
I fully agree with you, dear Daniel.
Excellent explanation of the truth, my admiration for the Chilean Armed Forces is enormous. Thanks, for such a formidable description of everything. Fondly Mar