[fla-left] [commentary] CIA-Socialism in Chile (fwd)

[Michael Hoover <hoov@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

forwarded by Michael Hoover

> Posted by Ben Markeson, moderator
>
> This article appears in the February-March issue of IMPACT Press, the
> magazine I work for. IMPACT is available in Orlando, Winter Park, Altamonte
> Springs, Tampa, Jacksonville, St. Augustine, Gainesville, Jupiter and West
> Palm Beach. You can also check out the website, http://impactpress.com
>
> The Fruits of Fascism: CIA-Socialism in Chile
>
> by David Mericle
>
> Throughout the 1960s, massive CIA operations
> successfully determined the outcome of Chilean
> elections in favor of Salvador Allende's opponents.
> These elections were never remotely democratic.
>
> With the victory of Ricardo Lagos in Chile's presidential
> elections, many are ready to forget the fascist period and
>  pretend that, as Isabelle Allende recently said, Chile has
>  "come full circle." Chile is far from returning to the days
> of Salvador Allende and remains an intensely exploited,
> underdeveloped country without hope of improving its
>  position under the current situation.
>
> Throughout the 1960s, massive operations by the U.S.
>  Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) successfully determined
>  the outcome of Chilean elections in favor of Allende's
> opponents.  These elections were never remotely democratic,
> as the CIA spent millions, more per capita than was spent in
> U.S. elections at the time, to make sure its candidates won.
> That Allende did eventually win despite continued
> overwhelming CIA opposition is remarkable evidence
> of the tremendous popular support for socialism that
> existed in Chile.
>
> The CIA operation that followed was even more despicable
>  than the agency's pre-election activities.  Under orders from
>  President Nixon to "make the economy scream," the CIA and
>  Ambassador Edward Korry did everything "within [their] power
>  to condemn Chile and the Chileans to utmost deprivation and
>  poverty."  The sabotage campaign was highly successful in
> destroying the Chilean economy, but it was not enough to
> remove Dr. Allende, who persisted with such dreadful
> projects as giving milk to starving children.
>
>  As alternatives to subversion, the CIA was also heavily
> supporting the army and a group of University of Chicago-trained
>  economists, disciples of Milton Friedman.  The fascist army
>  needed the economists to tell them how to run the country,
> and the economists needed the fascists in power to be able
>  to implement their program.  The two U.S.-backed groups
> joined forces, and after the fascist army led by General Pinochet
>  overthrew Allende in a bloody coup and murdered tens of
> thousands of potential opposition figures, the "Chicago Boys"
> began transforming the Chilean economy in accordance
> with the free-market theories they learned from Friedman.
>
> The results were catastrophic.  Antonio Garza Morales wrote
>  in Excelsior that the number of Chileans considered poor
> rose from 1 million to 7 million over the course of Pinochet's
>  rule, with the population remaining at about 12 million
> throughout the period.  The Chicago Boys and the IMF/World
>  Bank kept unemployment high to depress the wage level,
> while the fascists made their contribution by crippling the
> labor movement.  During the period, real wages did not rise
>  and per capita consumption actually fell, a disastrous waste
>  of a decade and a half for a country struggling against
> underdevelopment.  The fascist-imperialist alliance also
>  destroyed the social service system, left Chile with one
>  of the world's worst foreign debts, and made Santiago
>  one of the world's most polluted cities.
>
> For the ruling class, fascist rule proved quite advantageous.
> As Pinochet's government proudly insisted, 10 percent of the
>  population did benefit significantly, and to Pinochet, this was
>  the only portion of the population that mattered.  Milton Friedman
>  judged the change "an economic miracle."  Needless to say,
> 90 percent of Chileans disagreed.
>
> What Andre Gunder Frank called "economic genocide" was
> not Chile's only problem during Pinochet's rule.  Pinochet
> and his cohorts murdered around 30,000 people with the
> knowledge and support of the United States.  Friedman's
>  attempt to distance himself from the fascist regime was
> humorously countered by his students themselves, who
> frankly admitted that they could never have carried out
> their teacher's policies without a military dictatorship
> to crush popular opposition.
>
> Chile is surely slightly better off with Lagos than presidential
> contender Joaquin Lavin, a University of Chicago-trained ex-Pinochet
>  employee who heads the nearly fascist opposition party.  But
> there should be no illusions that the two candidates were
> significantly different.  Lagos has announced plans to stock
>  his government with IMF-trained economists and has made
>  it clear that he intends for the Chilean Socialist Party to become
>  just another business party.  He even opposed General
> Pinochet's extradition to Spain, though under popular pressure,
>  he said he would not prevent a trial -- which would seem to be
>  overkill in Pinochet's case -- in Chile.
>
> Lagos and the modern Chilean Socialist Party have not only
> failed to learn the lessons of the party's past, but have entirely
>  forgotten Chile's real history.  Lagos blamed Allende and his
>  Socialist government for the economic problems created by
>  the CIA, and Ricardo Nunez Munoz, the president of the
> Socialist Party, told the New York Times, "It's wrong to say
>  that the CIA, the armed forces and the bourgeoisie alone
> brought down the Allende government. It's obvious we need
>  to admit we made critical economic and political errors that
>  were as decisive if not more decisive."  These lies are
> especially appalling in light of the CIA itself having admitted
>  in the form of now-declassified documents that it was
> responsible for producing the chaos in Chile.
>
> Lagos recently promised New Deal-type legislation to create
> 300,000 jobs.  Such a program would fail to rescue Chile from
>  underdevelopment to a far greater extent than it failed to save
>  the U.S. from the Great Depression, though a critique along
> these lines is not even relevant.  Even such a moderately
> progressive project is not possible in Chile today, because
>  no amount of support at the polls can overcome the opposition
>  of the IMF/World Bank and other imperialist agencies, Chilean
>  and foreign businesses, and other comprador and reactionary
> elements in Chile.
>
> The Chilean experience reveals a great deal about the nature
>  of U.S. imperialism that should not be forgotten by the people
>  of any part of the American Empire.  The United States' brutal
>  opposition to a Latin American president merely giving milk to
>  starving children can only be interpreted as meaning that a
> reaction many times worse could be expected if such a country
> actually made serious efforts at development (the recent history
>  of Cuba and Nicaragua of course confirm that this is exactly the
> case).  The U.S. response to Allende exposes the futility of
> attempting to free a nation from the chains of underdevelopment
> without first breaking the iron bonds of imperialism.  Until Lagos
>  and the Chilean Socialist Party realize this, real progress in
> Chile will be impossible.