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Genocide in Chile

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Genocide in Chile
ChileFrom 1973 - 1977, there was genocide in Chile. The targets were people who believed in the communist government system. The start of it all began on September 11th, 1973 when Chilean commander in chief, Augusto Pinochet Ugarte commanded the Chilean army and police force to overthrow the current president Salvador Allende. The main reason for the overthrow was because of Allende's economic plan. With it, inflation was rising 1% every day. The only reason the coup was successful at overthrowing the government was because America backed them. With Pinochet in power, his army removed everyone who they deemed the remotest rick to his new military junta. He is accused of devising the worst concentration camp regime since Hitler's grand plan. By the end of 1973, more than 250,000 Chileans were detained in these prisons.

The genocide in Chile began a few years after the 1970 election. The election though, was a contributor to the genocide about to happen in a few years. At the end of the three way election, Salvador Allende had the most votes, but not majority. Even though more than 2/3 of the voters opposed him, he was still expected to win. So, it was up to congress to choose the winner, and of course they didn't listen to the people and chose Allende because he had the most votes. U.S president at the time, Richard Nixon, feared that Allende might convert Chile into a bastion of Marxism. So, without informing our ambassador to Chile at the time, he encouraged the CIA to prevent Allende's inauguration. One plan called for the United States to bribe the Christian Democratic legislators into voting for Jorge Alessandri, the man who had placed second in the 1970 election. Alessandri had promised that if elected, he would resign, allowing the outgoing president, Eduardo Frei, to seek office again. Frei, fearing that Allende's followers might rebel if their candidate did not take office, refused. Now with Allende president, the economy of Chile collapsed.

Allende's



Cited: Page1.Mazalien. "Chile The Crimes of Pinochet." Web. 24 Oct. 2009. 2."Chile." Genocide and Crimes Against Humanity. Ed. Dinah L. Shelton. Gale Cengage, 2005. eNotes.com. 2006. 24 Oct, 20093.CBC News. "Augusto Pinochet: Timeline." 11 Dec. 2006. Web. 25 Oct. 2009. . 4.Minster, Christopher. "Biography of Augusto Pinochet." About.com. Web. 25 Oct. 2009. 5.Constable, Pamela, and Arturo Valenzuela. A Nation of Enemies Chile Under Pinochet. Boston: W. W. Norton & Company, 1993. Print. 6.Munoz, Heraldo. The Dictator 's Shadow: Life Under Augusto Pinochet. New York: Basic Books, 2008. Print.

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