Salvador Allende
Salvador Allende Gossens (1908-1973) was a Chilean physician and politician. He served as the democratically-elected President of Chile from 1970 until his death in 1973, until a military coup led by Augusto Pinochet overthrew his government.
Allende was a Marxist, one of the few Marxist leaders elected by democratic means, and was openly attempting to make Chile a socialist state. He palled about with the establishment communists of the era, for example by inviting Fidel Castro for a tour of Chile.
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[edit] Structure of government
Allende led a Popular Unity (Unidad Popular) coalition government, which included various left-wing parties with shared socialist objectives but it excluded parties of the far-left (such as the MIR-Chile) which advocated any form of arm struggle. However, Allende did call on the Chilean people to strengthen their grass-root social and workers' organisations and trade unions (or poder popular viz. popular power) with the aim of getting them to support his government. Often these social "popular power" organisations were at odds with his socialist government which had to balance itself between the demands of his supporters and the powerful lobby groups that opposed him.
[edit] Foreign policy
The Soviet Union made repeated demands that he introduce more hard-line measures, which Allende was largely unwilling to do, insisting on what he called the "Chilean way to socialism" or the "peaceful way to socialism within pluralism".
[edit] Constitutional crisis
However, his record was not spotless, as shortly before the Pinochet coup, the Chilean legislature passed a resolution accusing his administration of unconstitutional activities, such as passing laws by decree, removing cabinet ministers from legislative oversight, harassing opposition media outlets, making illegal arrests, and torturing detainees. Armed supporters of his regime also roamed the country harassing and searching those they suspected of opposition. Foreign leftist guerrillas took up residence in Chile, using it as a base for their activities. The legislature also implored the Chilean military to "restore order" (i.e., remove Allende, as Chile did not have a formal means of impeaching a president at the time). They obliged on September 11, 1973, with Allende shooting himself (though there have been claims he was actually killed by the military).
[edit] Aftermath
Pinochet went on to do everything they accused Allende of and more, dissolving the legislature, appointing all judges, authorizing trial (with death sentences) by military courts, killing around 5,000 Chileans in the next 17 years (most "disappeared"), with thousands more imprisoned or fleeing the country. Milton Friedman went to Chile with his "Chicago Boys" to overhaul the economy, which with the military junta in power was easier to do. These reforms have been maintained under the following democratic administrations.</p>
Henry Kissinger didn't like him very much, either. Richard Nixon specifically told the CIA to do something to get him out of power. The exact connections between the CIA and Pinochet's coup have never been exactly proved, but the connection is well-attested.