Wednesday 11 September 2013

Long Live The People's Revolution

On this day, forty years ago, 11 September 1973, the democratically elected Chilean government of Salvador Allende was overthrown by a military coup led by General Pinochet.

According to Wikipedia:

'After General Pinochet assumed power, United States Secretary of State Henry Kissinger told President Richard Nixon that the U.S. "didn't do it," but "we helped them...created the conditions as great as possible." (referring to the coup itself).'

According to another Wikipedia article "Pinochet's government killed at least 3,197 people and tortured about 29,000." One of the many killed was singer/songwriter and theatre producer Victor Jara along with many other artists and musicians.

No matter what the opinion of the Allende government might be it's noteworthy that the "people's revolution" in Chile that brought him to power was a democratic election.