Salvador Allende Guide, Meaning , Facts, Information and Description
Dr. Salvador Allende Gossens (pronounced, SAMPA: [salvaDor aj\\EndE]; IPA: salƀaðoɽ aʝεnde) (July 26, 1908 - September 11, 1973) was president of Chile from 1970 until 1973, when he was overthrown in a military coup d'état (see Chilean coup of 1973), during which he died.
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2 Election 3 Presidency 4 The coup 5 Legacy and debate 6 Quotes about Allende 7 See also 8 External links |
Allende was born in Valparaíso and was a medical doctor by profession. He was also an ardent Marxist and an outspoken critic of the capitalist system. As president, Allende declared his intention for far-reaching socialist reforms, but he remained vague on how exactly he planned to implement them. His political opponents accused him of planning to turn Chile into a Communist dictatorship, but Allende dismissed such allegations.
Allende co-founded Chile's socialist party, and served as cabinet minister and president of the Chilean Senate.
Allende ran unsuccessfully for the presidency on three occasions; he even joked that the words inscribed on his tombstone would be "here lies the next president of Chile". Nevertheless he won the 1970 Chilean presidential election as leader of the Unidad Popular ("Popular Unity") coalition. Allende obtained a narrow plurality of 36% to 34% over Jorge Alessandri, a former president; 27% went to a third candidate (Radomiro Tomic).
Allende was a deeply unpopular figure within the administrations of successive US Presidents. Because of his strong socialist ideas, it was claimed there was a danger of Chile becoming a Communist state and joining the Soviet Union's sphere of influence. In addition, the United States had substantial economic interests in Chile (through ITT, Anaconda, Kennecott, and other large corporations). The Nixon administration in particular was the most strongly opposed to Allende, a hostility that Nixon admitted openly. During Nixon's presidency, US officials attempted to prevent Allende's election by financing political parties that opposed him. Some suspected Allende of receiving comparable financial backing from foreign Communist groups, but this remains disputed.
After Allende was finally elected, the US Central Intelligence Agency ran operations in an attempt to incite Chile's outgoing president, Eduardo Frei, to veto Allende's Congressional ratification as the new president. The CIA's plan was to persuade the Chilean Congress to appoint Allende's runner-up, Conservative-Liberal Party candidate Jorge Alessandri Rodríguez as president. Under the plan, Alessandri would promptly resign his office immediately after assuming it, and call new elections. Eduardo Frei would then be constitutionally able to run again (the Chilean Constitution forbids more than two consecutive terms), and presumably easily defeat Allende. See also: U.S. Intervention in Chile.
However, in the end the Congress rebuked the plan and chose to appoint Allende president, on the condition that he would sign a "Statute of Constitutional Guarantees" affirming that his socialist reforms would not undermine any element of the Chilean Constitution.
After his inauguration, Allende began to carry out his platform of implementing socialist programs in Chile ("La vía chilena al socialismo" - "The Chilean Way to Socialism"). This included nationalization of certain large-scale industries (notably copper), reform of the health care system, a continuation of his predecessor Eduardo Frei Montalva's reforms of the educational system, a program of free milk for children, and an attempt at agrarian reform [1]. A new "excess profit tax" was created. The government announced a moratorium on foreign debt payments and defaulted on debts held by international creditors and foreign governments. These moves angered some middle-class and almost all upper-class elements, while greatly increasing Allende's support among the working class and the poorer strata of society. Thus, the country was polarized.
Throughout his presidency, Allende remained at odds with the Chilean Congress, which was dominated by the Christian Democratic Party. The Christian Democrats had campaigned on a left-wing platform in the 1970 elections, but they began to drift more and more towards the right during Allende's presidency, eventually forming a coalition with the right-wing National Party. They continued to allege that Allende was leading Chile toward a Cuban-style dictatorship and sought to overturn many of his more radical reforms. Some members even called for the normally apolitical Chilean military to stage a coup to "protect the constitution". Allende and his opponents in Congress repeatedly accused each other of undermining the Chilean Constitution and acting undemocratically.
In 1971, following a month-long visit of Cuban president Fidel Castro, with whom he had a close friendship, Allende announced the re-establishment of diplomatic relations with Cuba, despite a previously established Organization of American States convention that no nation in the Western Hemisphere would do so (the only exception being Mexico, which had refused to adopt that convention).
Allende's increasingly bold socialist policies (partly a response to pressure from some of the Marxists within his coalition), combined with his close contacts with Cuba, heightened fears in Washington. The Nixon administration began exerting economic pressure on Chile via multilateral organizations, and continued to back his opponents in the Chilean Congress.
See Chilean coup of 1973.
In 1973, partly as a result of Allende's unpopularity with many of Chile's foreign trading partners and partly as a result of the rapidly declining price of copper (Chile's main export), the economy took a major downturn. By September, hyperinflation and shortages had plunged the country into near chaos. On September 11, the Chilean military, led by General Augusto Pinochet, staged the Chilean coup of 1973 against Allende. During the capture of the La Moneda Presidential Palace, Allende died. The nature of his death is unclear: His personal doctor said that he committed suicide with a machine gun, an interpretation allegedly confirmed by autopsy, while some of his supporters and family insist that he was killed by Pinochet's military forces while defending the palace.
It is known that the U.S played a role in Chilean politics prior to the coup, but its degree of involvement in the coup itself is debated. The CIA was notified by its Chilean contacts of the impending Pinochet coup two days in advance, but contends it "played no direct role in" the coup. [1] After Pinochet assumed power, U.S. Secretary of State Henry Kissinger told U.S. President Richard Nixon that the U.S. "didn't do it" (referring to the coup itself) but had "created the conditions as great as possible" [1]. Recently declassified documents show that the United States government and the CIA had sought the overthrow of Allende in 1970, immediately after he took office ("Project FUBELT"), but claims of their direct involvement in the 1973 coup are not proven by publicly available documentary evidence; many potentially relevant documents still remain classified (see U.S. intervention in Chile).
More than thirty years after his death, Allende remains a controversial figure. Since his life ended before his presidency, there has been much speculation as to what Chile would have been like had he been able to remain in power.
Allende's story is often cited in discussions about whether a "Communist government" has ever been elected in a democratic election. Communist sympathizers say yes, and consider Allende's plurality a mandate for communism. Anti-communists say no, claiming that Allende went much farther to the left than voters could have expected.
Allende is seen as a hero to many on the political left. Some view him as a martyr who died for the cause of socialism. His face has even been stylized and reproduced as a symbol of Marxism, similar to the famous images of Che Guevara. Members of the political left tend to hold the United States, specifically Henry Kissinger and the CIA, directly responsible for his death, and view him as a victim of "American Imperialism."
Members of the political right, however, tend to view Allende much less favorably. His close relationship with Fidel Castro has led many to accuse him of being a communist who was destined to eventually transform Chile into a Castro-style dictatorship. They also argue that the socialist reforms he implemented while in power were the cause of the country's economic woes in 1973.
The unclear nature of the US involvement in the coup that deposed Allende remains a heated debate topic in the context of US conduct during the Cold War. While there were several coups in Latin America during this period, Allende's downfall remains one of the most controversial (see Chilean coup of 1973).
This is an Article on Salvador Allende. Page Contains Information, Facts Details or Explanation Guide About Salvador Allende Background
Election
See 1970 Chilean presidential election.Presidency
The coup
Legacy and debate
Quotes about Allende
See also
External links