Lagniappe
Obituary:
Augusto Pinochet 1915-2006
On
Sunday, December 10, General Augusto Pinochet, Chile’s former
military leader died at the age of 91, he was one of the most
controversial figures in twentieth-century Latin America.
Born
into a middle class family on November 25, 1915 in Valparaiso,
he was the eldest of six children of a port's administrative clerk,
he enrolled in the military academy at the age of 16.
After
graduation in 1937, with the rank of alférez (Second Lieutenant)
in the infantry,
Pinochet serve in various regiments, on January 30, 1943, he married
Lucía Hiriart Rodríguez, with whom he had five children:
three daughters (Inés Lucía, María Verónica,
Jacqueline Marie) and two sons (Augusto Osvaldo and Marco Antonio).
In 1951, he became, Officer of Chief of Staff, and when to teach
at the Military School and at the same time, he worked as a teachers'
aide at the War Academy, giving military geography and geopolitics
classes. He also, the editor of the institutional magazine Cien
Águilas ("One Hundred Eagles").
In 1953, with the rank of major, he was sent for two years to
the "Rancagua" Regiment in Arica and thereafter he was
appointed professor of the War Academy, also, he entered the University
of Chile's Law School.
In
1956, he was send to Ecuador, to world in Chile's military mission
and returned to Chile in 1959. The following year, he was appointed
Commander of the "Esmeralda" Regiment and in 1963, Sub-director
of the War Academy.
In
1968, he was named Chief of Staff of the II Army Division, based
in Santiago, and later promoted to Brigadier General and Commander
in Chief of the VI Division and Intendant of the Tarapacá
Province, with headquarters in Iquique.
In
January 1971, became Division General, and General Commander of
the Santiago Army Garrison. A year later, he was appointed General
Chief of Staff of the Army and in August 23, 1973, was appointed
Army Commander in Chief by President Salvador Allende, a day after
Parliament voted a resolution calling for Chilean president Salvador
Allende removal from office, by force if necessary, after the
Chamber of Deputies, declared that Allende had violated the Constitution.
On
September 11, a military junta was established to overthrew the
socialist government of Allende, were General Pinochet represented
the Army, Admiral José Toribio Merino represented the Navy,
General Gustavo Leigh represented the Air Force, and General César
Mendoza represented the Carabineros (uniformed national militarize
police force).
Pinochet
consolidated his control as the chairman of the junta and being
proclaimed President on June 27, 1974.
In 1981, he promoted himself to the army rank of Capitán
General, reserved only for those who were, at the same time, heads
of Government and of the Army.
On
his legacy, it been a very controversial one, on the one side
he took over a government that became very questionable on human
rights; on the other he was the man who led Chile’s into
the economic prosperity.
Pinochet
regime destroyed the insurgency linked to the communist that became
powerful with Allende's government. He banned all the leftist
parties that had constituted Allende's coalition. And the regime's
security apparatus was directed toward those it viewed has communist
and socialist militants. It is not known exactly how many people
were killed by government and military forces during the years
that he was in power, but a Commission appointed to oversee the
situation listed 2,095 deaths. Thousands of Chileans fled the
country to escape the regime.
But
he also, was the leader of modern Chilean with a model of sustained
economic growth-following the Chicago school of free market economics,
during the 1980s, with total political control and liberal economic
policies, supporters of these economic policies were among others
Milton Friedman.
With,
17 years in power and two referendums, and after loosing the confidence
of the chileans, he voluntarily, relinquish power and lead the
next step towards the present democratic chilean government.
Pinochet
remained head of the armed forces until he was arrested in London
Clinic in 1998, where he had gone for surgery on his back, after
a Spanish request that he be extradited to Madrid to face charges
of crimes against humanity. Pinochet was placed under house arrest
in Britain, but eventually released on medical grounds.
He returned to Chile and resigned his senatorial seat in 2002,
after a Supreme Court ruling that he suffered from "vascular
dementia" and therefore could not stand trial for human rights
abuses.
In May 2004, Chile's supreme court ruled that he was capable of
standing trial, and he was charged with several crimes in December
of that year, when he was detain under house arrest, but eventually
he evade trial by virtue of ill-health and old-age.
Until,
this day, Chileans remain divided on his legacy. Many see him
as the Salvador from becoming a communist regime and the architect
of the economic miracle of chile, and for others he was dictator
who ended democracy and led a regime characterized by torture.
On
its last birthday, November 25, 2006, ( 91st) in a public statement,
Pinochet continued to defend his record arguing in a statement
read out by his wife, "Today, near the end of my days, I
want to say that I harbour no rancour against anybody, that I
love my fatherland above all. ... I take political responsibility
for everything that was done." He insisted on the statement
that is only motive in governing Chile had been to “make
the country great and avoid its disintegration”.
He died of heart and pulmonary complications, surrounded by family
members, at the Military Hospital. There were massive spontaneous
street demonstrations from supporters and opponents in Santiago,
His son Marco Antonio said that Pinochet requested his body to
be cremated .
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Petroleumworld
News 12/11/06
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