Chile had long been a hotbed for Communist rebels well before 1948. However, it was a chance meeting between two young, ambitious and bright men in the Chilean back lands which would on day alter the destiny of this South American Nation. In that year, a young Chilean Army officer named Augusto Pinochet  was assigned as Commandant of a prisoner of war camp for Communist terrorists.  The then Captain Pinochet, was already marked as a rising star in his country’s military.  He was a devout Catholic and political conservative who had no use for the Communist rebels who engaged in barbaric acts of murder amongst the rural Chile population and who would often raid farmer’s of their crops, live stock and son’s who were conscripted into service with the rebels. One of Chile’s young Leftist Senators, Salvador Allende, had flown in to Pinochet’s camp out of concern for the prisoner’s welfare. After touring the prisoner camp unaccompanied, Allende was himself amazed at how humanly the prisoner’s were being treated. Expecting to find widespread abuse and neglect, Senator Allende instead learned that the prisoner’s were not only well housed, feed and provided with exceptional medical care but, that the young officer in charge had strictly forbidden any mental or physical abuse of the prisoner’s. The Senator and Captain Pinochet quickly developed a friendship which would last for years. Each man respected the others intellect and passion. Although they disagreed in many of their political beliefs, Allende was also impressed by Pinochet’s character and Pinochet also with Allende’s idealism and disarming wit. Both of these men were in their early 30’s when they first met and both would, one day, hold the office of President of Chile.  The men would remain in contact throughout the years with Pinochet as an unofficial adviser to Allende on security and defense issues and Allende was a powerful benefactor for Pinochet’s Army career in the government. Little could either man have predicted in 1948, that they were on a collision course culminating in Allende’s forced removal from office by his old friend, General Pinochet, and choice to be leader of the Chilaen armed forces.

The follwing article was written by Chuck Morse.

Gen. Augusto Pinochet — hero of the Chilean people

By Charles A. Morse web posted May 29, 2000

No one alive today is more loathed by the Communists and their fellow travelers and camp followers than Chilean General and former President Augusto Pinochet Ugarte. The reasons are two fold. Pinochet defeated the hated Communist terrorist militias, the internationally armed financed, and staffed “revolutionaries” on the battlefield and by doing so, ended their attempt to communize Chile in the name of “the people”. Pinochet then “transformed” Chile into a peaceful democracy with one of the most prosperous economies in the region. With an extraordinary record of achievement in social and economic reform, the establishment of democratic institutions, and a free election, Pinochet retired in 1990 leaving a grateful Chilean people free of the terror of International Socialism, probably forever.

The pro-Communist media is filled with lackeys willing to lie and prostitute their souls either for career advancement or because they are true believers in the Communist faith. That they have been effective with their “atrocity propaganda”against Pinochet is testament to the enduring influence of the Communist idea amongst the world’s power elite. They have, so far, pulled off the Big Lie with regard to Pinochet except with Chilean people. The Communist, of course, approaches atrocity dialectically rather than fundamentally. They have no problem with atrocities when governments such as those of Castro, Stalin, Mao, Paul Pot et al commit them, as these “struggles”, they inform us, are for the “common good”as they liquidate tens of millions.

An excellent example of this is Willy Meyer, parliamentary spokesman for Izquerida Unida, the renamed Communist Party of Spain. Meyer, commenting on the arrest of Pinochet in Britain, stated that “We do not consider that Fidel Castro is a dictator…We respect the Marxist-Leninist legality by whose definition political persecution, torture, and disappearances cannot exist in Cuba. We are dividing the world between good guys and bad guys…There is a vacuum in the international enforcement of human rights and we realize that whoever seizes the initiative to punish violators wins the high ground”. An excellent source for further information is an article by William Jasper, New American Vol. 15 No 19 PP 23-34.

Obviously, the left has no moral or practical right to discuss atrocity since they recognize it only dialectically and not actually. Their insufferable caterwauling concerning “human rights” is the equivalent of Hitler, their National Socialist comrade, complaining about anti-Semitism.

Pinochet was at war with a force that would stop at nothing to achieve victory, which would have amounted to complete subjugation under a Communist jack-boot. This truly was, to paraphrase Meyer, a battle between good guys and bad guys. The Pinochet coup was a defensive action and a direct response to formal requests by the Judiciary, the Legislature, and prominent citizens for military intervention as the situation under Salvador Allende were rapidly deteriorating. By 1980, the Chilean people voted 68 per cent to approve a new constitution presented by the Pinochet government. This was the first step on the heroic road to the Republican democracy Chile is today.

Allende will be covered in coming weeks, however, it must be pointed out that documents and arms captured after Allende was overthrown, Sept. 11, 1973 proved that he was planning a coup of his own scheduled for Sept. 19, and to liquidate his opposition Castro style. Pinochet, who had served Allende as Army Chief of Staff during his three years in power, acted strictly out of a sense of duty and honor, and at great personal risk given Allende’s extensive Gestapo, to save his nation from catastrophe. Pinochet was the quintessential career military man and had no ambition to involve himself in civilian affairs. Due to a traditional Latin American code of honor, he felt he had no choice.

On Sept 8, days after the coup, at a ceremony at the Church of National Gratitude, three former Chilean presidents endorsed the Pinochet government. Socialist Gabriel Gonzalez Videla stated “I have no words to thank the armed forces for having freed us from the clutches of Marxism. They have saved us…because the totalitarian apparatus that was prepared to destroy us has been itself destroyed” Eduardo Frei, himself a Marxist, stated “The military has saved Chile and all of us…a civil war was being well prepared by the Marxists. And that is what the world does not know, refuses to know”.

Pinochet, once in power, acted with amazing restraint toward those who were plotting a Communist takeover. Allende declined his offer of safe passage and instead chose suicide. He deported thousands of Communist foreigners who were planning firing squads if they achieved power, and released Chilean citizens involved in treasonous activities including the dangerous KGB and Cuban agent, as well as darling of the American left establishment, Orlando Letelier.

Under the guidance of University of Chicago economists, the Pinochet government cleared out economic regulations, reduced tariffs from 100 per cent to 10 per cent and returned businesses and property, “expropriated” by Allende, to the rightful owners. Foreign investment poured in as confidence and stability returned. Taxes and inflation were reduced, Social Security was privatized, and government bureaucrats were able to find jobs in a thriving private sector. Our American government could learn some valuable lessons from Chile.

A relentless war was waged against Pinochet and the Chilean people during the years, 1973-1990. Bill Jasper points out that in 1984 alone, there were 735 terrorist bombings with responsibility clamed by the Manuel Rodriguez Patriotic Front (MRPF) the Communist cadre supported by Cuba, Nicaragua, Libya, East Germany, and the Soviet Union. On Sept. 7, 1986, Pinochet and his 10-year-old grandson narrowly escaped an ambush by Communists armed with automatic rifles, rocket launchers, bazookas, and grenades. Many terrorists and their supporters were killed in this war of attrition both by Pinochet’s forces and by civilians seeking vengeance and. given the situation, many of their bodies went unidentified. Jasper states that “we have seen no evidence to sustain the charges that Pinochet ordered, knew of, or approved of, any plan for the use of murder or torture against his political opponents”.

In 1988, Pinochet called for elections and a return to civilian rule. In an unprecedented move, he retired from public life in 1990 a hero to freedom loving Chileans. Communism makes inroads during economic crisis and often employs violence and terror as well to make the argument for totalitarianism. Allende deliberately created dire economic conditions and introduced an unprecedented level of violence so as to create the right “conditions” for a Castro style takeover. His dastardly plot was dashed by the heroic efforts of General Pinochet. The bloody soaked, International Communist behemoth was defeated and for this, they will forever despise General Pinochet.

Chuck Morse is a syndicated talk show host on the American Freedom Network and a contributing writer to Enter Stage Right and Etherzone.