Chile

This is a sober, little book. The author had earlier in life been kidnapped, imprisoned, tortured and exiled by the military government in Argentina. In this book (published in 1987) he writes about similar hardships being experienced by Chileans under the rule of General Pinochet. Pinochet took control of Chile in 1973 after President Salvadore Allende was assassinated. Prior to Pinochet there had been no military coup in Chile in a hundred years and there had been no serious military involvement in Chile's government in some 40 years. Chileans had generally loved their country, enjoyed their culture and their simple but well ordered lives, and were living in one of the most stable democracies in Latin America - in the `England of the South'. Pinochet's military coup changed all that. Allende had become Chile's president in 1970. His goal was to modify the economic and social structure that kept that country backward and underdeveloped. He wanted to improve the lives of the people by moving the country to the left, along a `peaceful path to socialism'. Enroute, however, he encountered big problems - from his political left, center, and right - and from his geographic north (i.e., the U.S.). Allende's enemieswould later say that (though democratically elected) he was an incapable leader, that his administration was chaotic, that his policies precipitated labor strikes, that his nationalization of industries and his deliverance of land and factories into the hands of farmers and workers was wrong. Something had to be done, they said, to stop the chaos, or, maybe even a civil war. Allende had various opponents, but his chief enemies, ascertained later, were the CIA, the U.S. government, and U.S. business interests in Chile (see Seymour Hersh's book, "The Price of Power: Kissinger in the Nixon White House"). (U.S. Cold War and Truman Doctrine considerations dictated that no Communists may be permitted to take over the government or territory of any non-Communist country anywhere, period!, so, socialist or Marxist leaders like Allende were automatically enemies - while the enemies of any socialist or Marxist leaders, like Allende, were acceptable friends of the U.S.) So, with U.S. aid and blessing, Pinochet assumed power. His opponents were immediately arrested or shot. Five weeks into his reign soldiers helicoptered into four remote towns, removed all political prisoners (62) from their jail cells and shot them. Such executions demonstrated dramatically to all that Pinochet intended to rule with an iron hand. Since Pinochet respected Hitler, Franco and Peron, he now employed theirtechniques. Very quickly the military controlled all major institutions in the country - including TV, radio, newspapers, publishers, schools and universities, movie studios, etc. Anyone who failed to cooperate was arrested, beaten, tortured, raped, etc. All women prisoners had to be raped - because that destroyed them psych

Chile, 1987. Gen . Augusto Pinochet is in charge, frmly these last 14 years. NO OPPOSITION is brooked, though, somehow some members of the Roman Cathoilic diocese of Santiago, trudge onward,reaseraching,protesting standing up in a country ruled by Fear.The Left has been nuetered by the coup of 1973 and the continual kidnappings and tourtures,made to inspire and breed fear. Th USA,its puppet government firmly in place, acres not a whit for any human rights abuses,they are in the nebulous realm of "fighting communism'. It is against this backdrop that Mr. Timerman,already taking on Argentina and Israel{and soon Cuba},arrives in chile.He repeatedly comments on the all pervasive fear.Pope John Paul II's visit to Chile is highlighted, and Timerman gives the pontiff high praises for his handling of Pinochet and the Military,his meetings with human rights workers,and ultimately,hi inability to actually change anything at that moment.Timerman leaves with the thoughts that soemhow Pinochets days are numbered{though it would be awhile for some form of normalcy to return to this country}Another in the Timerman canon, and well worth reading, espiecally now that Pinochet is to stand trial for some of his crimes.

As with all of Timerman's books, "Chile" is a very well written, yet politically motivated, insight into the social climate of Chile circa 1987.Timerman's theme is that Chileans, under Pinochet, romanticized the past under Allende and were therefore unable to look to building a future without Pinochet. The major drawback was that Mr. Timerman committed the same offense that he accused Chileans of: romanticizing Chile and proposing no real solution for the overthrow of Pinochet. By way of example, Timerman drew a very sharp line between the Chilean military and the Chilean population. He insisted that the Chilean left, failing to act out of fear, never made any significant advance to the Chilean military to propose the overthrow of Pinochet. I believe that Timerman failed to consider that the "fear factor", which he attributed to the mainstream population, may have plagued the military as well.Despite this, the book is well worth the read. At the end of each chapter are testimonies to America's Watch, outlining the horrible tortures that Chileans underwent during the Pinochet regime. Timerman's writing, is, once again, well crafted. He is truly an accomplished story teller.