User:JamesMLane/Temp:Chilean coup

Situation before the coup

When Allende came to power in 1970, one of his main objectives was to correct what he saw as long-standing injustices to the majority of the Chilean people, who were at the lower end of the socio-economic spectrum. His steps toward that goal, however, aroused strong enmity from powerful interests. His support was also reduced by economic difficulties, some of which he inherited and some of which arose during his administration.

Allende becomes president

Main article: 1970 Chilean presidential election

In the presidential election of 1970, Allende took a plurality of the votes but well short of a majority. In all such cases that had arisen previously, Congress, empowered to choose between the top two finishers, had selected the plurality winner. In 1970, however, there was an active campaign urging Congress to reject Allende. The accommodation reached was that Allende signed a "Statute of Constitutional Guarantees" and was then chosen as president. Thus, although the legality of the election itself is not in dispute, Allende began his administration with less popular support than many other elected leaders.

The Allende years

In office, Allende pursued a policy he called "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]. The previous government of Eduardo Frei has already partly nationalized copper by acquiring a 51 percent share in foreign owned mines. Allende expropriated the remaining percentage without compensating the U.S. companies that owned the mines.

The government's efforts to pursue these reforms led to strong opposition by landowners, some middle-class sectors, the rightist National Party, the Roman Catholic Church (which was displeased with the direction of the educational reforms [2]), and eventually the Christian Democrats.

Some land reform had begun under Frei [Collier & Sater, 1996]. The Allende government's intention was to seize all holdings of more than eighty basic irrigated hectares [Faundez, 1988]. Allende also sought to provide more jobs, either in the newly nationalized enterprises or on public works projects.

The first year of Allende's term saw economic growth accompanied by major declines in inflation and unemployment. These results were not sustained, however. In 1972, inflation reached 140%. The combination of inflation and governmental price controls led to the rise of black markets in rice, beans, sugar, and flour, and a "disappearance" of such basic commodities from supermarket shelves. [3] Although nominal wages were rising, real incomes were not.

The Chilean economy was also buffeted by external factors. More than half of the country's export income came from a single commodity, copper [Hoogvelt, 1997], the price of which dropped significantly from 1970 to 1972 [Nove, 1986]. In addition, the United States, hostile to Allende, imposed economic sanctions on Chile.

In late 1971, Fidel Castro toured Chile extensively during a four-week visit. [4] This gave credence to the belief of those on the right that "The Chilean Way to Socialism" was an effort to put Chile on the same path as Cuba.

October 1972 saw the beginning of confrontational strikes by some of the historically well-off sectors of Chilean society. Labor unrest grew and was particularly strong in the summer of 1973.

Despite the economic problems, Allende's Popular Unity coalition actually slightly increased its vote to 43 percent in the parliamentary elections early in 1973. However, by this point what had started as an informal alliance with the Christian Democrats [5] was anything but: the Christian Democrats now leagued with the right-wing National Party to oppose Allende's government, the two parties calling themselves the Confederación Democrática (CODE). The conflict between the executive and legislature paralyzed initiatives from either side. [6]

On June 29, 1973, a tank regiment under the command of Colonel Roberto Souper surrounded the presidential palace (la Moneda) in a violent but unsuccessful coup attempt. [7] On August 22, in an attempt to placate the military, Allende appointed Pinochet as Commander-in-Chief of the Army. [8]

For some months, the government had been afraid to call upon the national police known as the carabineros, for fear of their lack of loyalty. In August 1973, a constitutional crisis was clearly in the offing: the Supreme Court publicly complained about the government's inability to enforce the law of the land and on August 22 the Chamber of Deputies (with the Christian Democrats now firmly uniting with the National Party) accused Allende's government of unconstitutional acts and called on the military ministers to assure the constitutional order. [9]

In early September 1973, Allende floated the idea of resolving the crisis with a plebiscite.