Chile under Pinochet

Paper Summary:

The paper questions how, under the rule of Pinochet, Chile, with a long, well-respected history of democratic rule, could abandon the civic values it once regarded so highly and turn on it's people. The paper discusses how Pinochet created a fractured state by running the state of peace as if it were really a state at war, by propagandizing the evils of communism and the need of the nation to refrain from democracy until it was eradicated, and by creating a military like system for everything, fostering secrecy and the status quo and forcing fierce capitalism.

Outline:
Introduction
Propaganda
Compartmentalization
Secrecy & Fear
Conclusion

From the Paper:

"The mental preparedness for war creates within the military a sense that the enemy could be around any and every corner. This mentality as well as the secrecy and compartmentalization that it creates developed a fragmented Chile, where the whole of the population from exiled former diplomat to the lowliest peasant had to choose based on his or her buy in and what he or she had witnessed during and following the bloody coup of 1973. Pinochet fed the culture of secrecy by committing acts that demanded such secrecy and by engaging the country through mandates and orders, decrees and systems unlike any that had occurred prior as well as flooding her with anti-revolutionary propaganda. "Official propaganda stressed the violence and chaos of the Allende [socialist] years and depicted the coup as a glorious act of liberation."

Sample of Sources Used:

• Constable, Pamela & Valenzuela, Arturo A Nation of Enemies, Chile under Pinochet. New York: WW Norton & Co. 1993.
• Skidmore, Thomas & Smith, Peter, Modern Latin America New York: Oxford USA. 2003.

More papers on Chile under Pinochet:

• Book Review # 54374 : "Chile, Pinochet, and the Caravan of Death"
• Research Paper # 24084 : "Democracy in Chile"
• Essay # 67916 : "Neo-Liberalism in Chile"

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