In September of 1973, the Chilean Army marched on the Presidential Palace in Santiago and ousted the popularly elected socialist president, Salvador Allende. What followed was brutal repression, murder and torture, as General Augusto Pinochet seized control and ruled with an iron fist for the next seventeen years. At the time democracy was lost in Chile, but where does it stand today?
Political Background: From 1932 to 1973 Chile had a democratically elected government, courtesy of the Constitution of 1925. The era was known as the Presidential Republic, and it corresponded with the major growth of the Chilean middle class to about thirty percent of the thirty million total population. Salvador Allende, a member of the Socialist Party of Chile, had served for thirty-three years in the Chilean Government including being a member of the Chamber of Deputies, Minster of Health and Social Welfare, Secretary of the Socialist Party, and a member of the Senate. He was President of the Senate for three years from 1966-1969. Three times he ran for President of the country (1952, 1958, and 1964), but was defeated. In the 1970 election, he put together a coalition of leftist parties and finished ahead of two other candidates with a margin of 36.61% to 35.27% over the closest rival. The constitution did not provide for a runoff in the event a candidate did not achieve a 50% majority, but instead left it to the Congress to decide who would be President. After extensive debate, the Congress selected Allende, who promised to implement his socialist agenda within the law. By law he would serve for a single six-year term and could not succeed himself, so he understood that he would have to act fast to implement his socialist policies.
The Marxist Presidency: As president, Allende instituted what became known as “The Chilean Path to Socialism.” This included nationalization of major industries, government control of healthcare and education, land reform, and control over banking. Food distribution programs were established for the poorest Chileans including free school lunches and free milk to nursing mothers. Public works programs were expanded with the Chilean subway rerouted to serve the poor neighborhoods. Housebuilding nearly doubled in the first two years of the Allende government. The minimum tax levels were raised exempting an additional 35% of the previous year’s taxpayers from paying taxes. Minimum pensions were increased by two to three times over the rate of inflation increasing the income of about 300,000 pensioners from one-third to 100% of the minimum wage. The land reform program achieved a goal of expropriating all real estate parcels larger than 200 acres by the end of 1972. Price controls were enacted for all retail-based transactions. The copper mines were completely nationalized along with another 150 major companies and banks. In general, the living standards for working class Chileans improved in the areas of social services, employment, income, and consumption.
Economic Conditions: Whereas some of the economic policies made sense and were helpful, the great weight of change caused certain economic distresses to rapidly grow. In 1970, Chile had an inflation rate of 22%. This declined for over a year until 1972 when the massive increases in demand for goods and services occurred as the wage and pension minimums (continuously changing) and the tax exemptions provided an extreme amount of purchasing power to families that lived in the lower income strata. Coupled with the advent of price controls this led to shortages in nearly all types of consumer goods. The land reform failed to maintain previous levels of production of foodstuffs making the country a net importer of foods. Inflation then took off and went completely out of control. In one month alone, a basket of consumer goods rose from 190 to 421 escudos, or 120%. Imports of food alone rose an estimated 149%. From December, 1972, to December, 1973, the aggregate inflation rate reached catastrophic proportions—508%. GDP computed in real terms (without the inflation impact) contracted at an annual rate of 5.6%. As the government had control over banking, there was little in the way of monetary policy that could help the deteriorating economy. The government was forced to default on foreign debts, driving away foreign investment. Adding to this calamity, the international price of copper fell decreasing the amount of foreign currency altogether. The nationalization of the copper industry drove the United States away from supporting the Allende government and turned them towards supporting the opposition. The Soviet Union, China, and Cuba, all pledged support, but very little was actually rendered. In summary, the entire economic system was nearing the point of total collapse.
The Coup: The military was opposed to a socialist-communist government, but the Commander in Chief, General Rene Schneider believed the military should stay out of politics. But General Schneider was shot and killed trying to resist a kidnap attempt by a more radical general, Roberto Viaux. On August 9, 1973, Allende appointed General Carlos Prats as commander-in-chief to replace Schneider. Prats proposed a political solution to the impending crisis that ran into opposition by the hardline generals of the extreme right. On August 23, the Chamber of Deputies passed a resolution asking the president, the government, and the military to put an end to breaches of the constitution and return to the rule of law and constitutional order in Chile. This was viewed by many as the Congress authorizing a coup. However, Prats was involved in a shooting incident that included an innocent civilian. Nobody was hurt, but on August 24, Prat resigned, and Allende appointed the Chief of Staff, General Augusto Pinochet, as the Commander-in-chief. On September 9, Allende requested that Pinochet prepare an emergency plan in the event of a coup. Pinochet promised it for the next day, September 10. Instead, he mobilized the military and launched the coup himself on September 11, 1973. By early morning on September 11th, the Navy moved to shut down radio and television networks and close the port at Santiago. Telephone service around the government offices was cut. Allende received incomplete information and was under the opinion that only a segment of the military had conspired against him giving him the hope that he could hold out until the danger passed. By 8:30 AM, the armed forces declared that they had control over the country, but Allende still refused to resign. Gradually the people loyal to him were either arrested, isolated, or marginalized. By 9 AM, the armed forces controlled all of Chile except for the presidential palace. Despite attempts by the military to negotiate with Allende, the President refused to surrender or resign. At 10:30 he gave a farewell speech. The military then attacked, but ran into some opposition by Allende’s Cuban trained personal body guards. The fighting, including bombing of the palace, continued until about 2:30 PM when the remaining defenders surrendered. Allende was found dead by a self-inflicted gunshot wound.
The Repression: Pinochet elbowed the other coup leaders aside and took complete control of the military and the government himself. The Congress was dissolved the next day with all political parties outlawed, and the clampdown on Chilean society began. It became apparent that Pinochet was intent on destroying communism, socialism, and all related left wing political groups for all time in Chile. In the ensuing three years, the military arrested about 130,000 people. Many were exiled with some 40,000 others being imprisoned in the National Stadium. More than 32,000 of those arrested were tortured. Over 2,000 were killed. Many thousands of others simply disappeared never to be seen or heard from again. It took years for the violence to die down.
The Aftermath: As time moved on, the left reflected on what went wrong. The Communists pointed to their own failure to take up arms, managing only a guerilla movement a decade later. Most Socialists saw that the Allende government pursued too radical an agenda in too short a time. Further, the programs did not have a firm majority of support in a country that already had a large, durable middle class that rose and flourished during the four decades of the Presidential Republic. The Socialist spirit was completely Marxist, and had the trappings of any other major Communist revolution except the ability to enforce it. Fidel Castro visited Allende in 1971, toured the country, and left him with some advice telling him to placate the military until he had a strong enough militia of his own to enforce the changes that would be made. Failing to do that, Allende apparently believed that the military would maintain its tradition and stay out of politics. The left further didn’t have a grip on the realities of the cold war, thinking that help would come from other large communist countries such as the Soviet Union and China. Allende pushed the agenda too fast, perhaps not foreseeing the opportunity to move slower and groom successors to carry on after his term. As a result, it went spiraling out of control, crashed, and burned.
Chile Today: After losing a plebiscite in 1988 on continuing as president, Pinochet was forced out of office. At that point the Socialists and the Christian Democrats formed an alliance that helped usher democracy back to the country. The market-based economy instituted by Pinochet was retained and a series of trade agreements were set up with major economies throughout the world. In the twenty-two years from 1990 to 2012, Chile’s economy grew at an average annual rate of over 5%. The poverty rate fell from 68% in 1990 to 7% in 2022. Chile’s middle class returned and thrived, and the country enjoyed the highest GDP per capital of any other country in Latin America.
Conclusions: Those who survived the coup and the repression are split as to whether the entire process was necessary. Initially more people thought the coup was not necessary, but the trend points towards the conclusion that more and more people believe that the coup saved Chile from Marxism. In any case nearly everyone believes that the extent of the violence as a result of the coup was overly excessive.
Sources: The Economist, Half a Century Later, September 2nd, 2023.
Wikipedia, Salvador Allende.
Wikipedia, 1973 Chilean Coup de’ etat.