| Subject: Soldiers in a Narrow Land (by Spooner), pgs. 1-5, 56-77, 83-104, 113-159 |
Author:
Kevin McComber
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Date Posted: 09:08:30 05/16/02 Thu
In reply to:
Dylan
's message, "Articles" on 08:11:53 05/11/02 Sat
pgs. 1-5: Most social encounters among Chileans were tense because people tried to guess each other's political affiliation. The practical effect of the regime's intimidation was to keep people from making new acquaintances and contacts.
pgs. 56-77: United States officials did not always act promptly and effectively to get detained U.S. citizens out of Chile. The U.S. embassy made no formal protests to the Pinochet regime about the mistreatment of U.S. citizens in Chile, but other countries' embassies offered shelter to their citizens and arranged for flights out of the country.
Mass killings at prison camps turned some officers' stomachs and even caused themm to resign from the army they had once fervently supported.
pgs. 83-104: The junta consisted of four military leaders: Pinochet (army), Leigh (air force), Merino (navy), and Mendoza (police). The junta's presidency was supposed to rotate, but this was just a gentlemen's agreement (instead of a documented order) upon Pinochet's request (so this is part of his scheming to get into power). Pinochet was able to become the leader of the junta mostly because he was the leader of the largest military group (the army). The junta said it would return Chile to popular rule at an "opportune time."
Diplomacy in Chile was poor because military men are not too skilled in that respect.
pgs. 113-159: The DINA was the regime's security police. The Comando Conjunto was another security group, but it was led by air force officials. The Comando Conjunto mostly went after Communists whereas the DINA mainly went after Socialists. The two groups were not friendly with each other.
In 1976, in Washington, D.C., a car bomb planted by DINA members killed former Allende cabinet minister Orlando Letelier who had been lobbying to stop lending Chile money. The U.S. investigated the incident and U.S.-Chile relationships deteriorated as a result.
In 1977, the United Nations condemned the Chilean regime for its failure to correct human rights abuses. Pinochet was infuriated and, in early 1978, he had a plebiscite held to see if Chileans favored Chile or the U.N. The official results (unsurprisingly) showed an overwhelming victory for the regime.
Later in 1978, Leigh was removed from his junta position after making some controversial remarks in a newspaper interview. Thus, 1978 was a very good year for Pinochet - he "defeated" the U.N. and got his major junta rival out of the way.
In 1980, the junta approved a new constitution and a plebiscite that year ratified it. The plebiscite, however, was highly suspicious.
Also in 1980, Pinochet was supposed to take a three-day visit to the Philippines. The Philippine president, however, cancelled his visit with Pinochet at the last minute and said Pinochet couldn't land in the country. Pinochet faced other diplomatic insults and was very angered. Pinochet fired his foreign minister and declared that he himself would be the new foreign minister. Pinochet made no more trips outside Chile while in office.
The regime also caused a growth in the Chilean economy around 1978-1980, but this was at the expense of a rapidly increasing foreign debt. Thus, the growth was mostly superficial.
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