How Augusto Pinochet's 9/11 Changed Chile

September 11 is an important day in US history but it is even more important in Chilean history. On that day in 1973, Augusto Pinochet became the leader of Chile and the people of Chile became subject to Pinochet’s strict rule. Despite his military success as a general and as a governor, Pinochet lacked extensive political experience and knowledge to lead Chile in the right direction. Even though he was able to help the Chilean economy, Augusto Pinochet was a strict totalitarian dictator because he committed many atrocities against the citizens of Chile, he changed the way Chile was ruled, and he changed aspects of the Chilean society.
Pinochet’s experiences as a child and as a military general shaped his entire political career and were the

reason he was able to come to power. Pinochet was a general in the army and this helped him be in a position to become dictator also Pinochet was well educated and he also became governor Pinochet strived for the best, "Ambitious to add to his credentials, he also enrolled in the University of Chile to study law...

During his three and a half years there, Pinochet began writing books on geopolitics and other military subjects. Publishing these books helped Pinochet's advancement in the army" (Childress). While Pinochet was a young boy, he dreamed of going the army all he wanted to do was to be in the army. Even when he got into the army he took everything serious, he would always follow his commanders with glee and loved everything about the military. Attending the War Academy in Santiago made Pinochet rise through the ranks, also by attending the War Academy in Santiago led him to be interested in politics and in his countries affairs. After graduating from the War Academy in Santiago, Pinochet was assigned to his first political military assignment, which indicated the start of Pinochet’s political career. Pinochet’s experience as governor of the region of Tarapacá, helped him to

become involved in politics. All throughout his military career Pinochet hated politics and politicians, but by being positioned as governor, Pinochet had social, political and economic responsibilities. This experience as governor helped him be accustomed to situations he would face as dictator. Pinochet created opportunities to make himself the best and this helped him become dictator. Also by being a general Pinochet now lived in Santiago. “In 1971 Pinochet was promoted to major general and given command of the Santiago garrison. He went in the capital and was a daily witness to the activities of the Allende administration” (Childress 44). Even before President Allende was elected, Pinochet did not like him. Because of Allende’s running for office, Pinochet hero, General René Schneider, was killed because of an attempt to secure Allende’s win. Pinochet also did not like Allende because of his communist views. Pinochet believed that communism was harmful to Chile. Being in Santiago, Pinochet saw everything that Allende did and how it affected Chile. This caused Pinochet to be more involved in politics and it also caused Pinochet to hate Marxism even more because he saw how Allende’s presidency affected people negatively. This led to Pinochet’s inhumane actions toward Allende supporters and Marxists.
By leading a military coup to become dictator, Augusto Pinochet showed that he was a ruthless totalitarian leader because he terrorized the people of Chile to eliminate his opposition.

Pinochet planned a military coup against the former president Salvador Allende. “In another corner of the world, exactly twenty-eight years earlier, a military coup led by Augusto Pinochet on September 11,1973” (Burbach 1). The coup was successful and Pinochet gained control of Chile. As a result, Pinochet made sure that all opposition was removed. Pinochet believed that his main opposition was Marxism and that any possible method needed to be taken to get rid of all marxists. “Communism is a driving force in the world. The objective of communism is to dominate the world. It has infected the world, even, if my guest will permit me, your own country, your own Senate. It is a problem in Mexico and in this hemisphere. We must fight against communism” (Memorandum). Pinochet is probably one of the most outspoken people on communism. He is not afraid to say he hates communism. And everything he does is anti-communist. Pinochet is so fixed on getting rid of communism that during his dictatorship his main focus was getting rid of communism. At first the only reason his relationship with America was strong was because of their shared belief of getting rid of communism. Pinochet’s strong belief in the evil of communism led him to terrorize the citizens of Chile to get rid of all communists in Chile.

"Detention camps were set up all over Chile. Some of those arrested were released after days or weeks of detention, but many were tortured and killed, sometimes without even a hasty military trial" (Childress). Pinochet as a dictator changed the way Chile looked, popular tourist places were made into detention camps and there were many abandoned homes of people banished from Chile. Pinochet sought out even more methods to get rid of opposition. Pinochet created the National Intelligence Directorate (DINA), as his Secret Police. The DINA were known for committing many atrocities against the people of Chile. “For four long years, DINA terrorized Chile. Like Pinochet, Contreras and many of the people he assembled around him were undoubtedly sociopaths, with mixtures of sadism and other psychological disorders”(Burbach 51). The DINA was supposed to act like the CIA, however they became a secret police force known for huge massacres that included burying people in remote areas and throwing bodies into the Pacific. Especially because of their extreme interrogation. Many people blamed this because of the people Pinochet picked to lead the DINA, these people just like Pinochet were considered mad mans with led to their mad ways. The DINA was extremely notorious and brought global attention to Chile and its human rights problems. Pinochet had to shut down the DINA after 4 years. Pinochet is most well known for his atrocities against the people, because of this Pinochet was not well liked by Chileans but was successful in getting rid of all communists in Chile.
Additionally, Pinochet showed that he was a totalitarian leader because he changed the way Chile was ruled by creating a new constitution and changing the government. After Pinochet’s military coup Chile was lead by a military junta led by Pinochet. However as time went by Pinochet gradually made the other leaders of the junta less important. “In time, I became the one who led, because the thing led by four doesn’t work. You’re giving orders here, the other there, the other over there—it’s nothing, nothing. It doesn’t advance! That’s why I was chosen” (Anderson). Afterward though, Pinochet saw his higher position in the military above the others as a chance to capitalize and to take full control of the government. He established himself as the leader of the junta and soon dismissed the other coup leaders establishing him as dictator of Chile. One of the first things Pinochet did as leader was to create a new constitution he believed that the old constitution was too binding and did not allow him to rule effectively. Pinochet said that the constitution, “tied one up! How can you let yourself be tied up? You have to be able to set the goalposts to be able to act! You can’t have a field where you don’t know where you’re shooting from. So I set the goalposts”(Anderson). As a result, Pinochet’s new constitution militarized all of Chile. Military officers were put in charge of government positions, and generals became the head of universities and even mayors of cities. Now that Pinochet had his government he made himself supreme chief of the nation. By doing this Pinochet finished his quest for absolute power. Pinochet officially established himself as the dictator of Chile.
To maintain loyalty of the people, especially the youth, Pinochet changed certain aspects of society such as adding new organizations and new school systems and by relaxing rules on censorship. As a result of Pinochet’s strict rule, he became out of favor by the Chileans, “Demonstrations, strikes, death, imprisonments, cabinet changes-these had become Chile's "new normalcy '-government was not a matter of "what" but of "how." No one knew this better than the president”(Nunn 199). Riots and protests started outside the capital building because of the shortcomings of the government. This led to more of imprisonments, however no matter how many people Pinochet tortured it wouldn’t make his situation any better. Pinochet realized that change needed to happen. The first thing that Pinochet did was to gain the loyalty of the youth, he did this by creating summer camps and neighborhood clubs. These camps and clubs promoted sports and recreation and political and military training. In addition, Pinochet organized rallies for the youth to promote his regime. Pinochet also made a new school curriculum and changed university system curriculum. The new school curriculum focused on the love of God, the nation and family while the new university curriculum focused less on politics. Lastly, to appease the citizens, Pinochet relaxed censorship rules and curfew rules. Pinochet’s efforts worked to obtain loyalty of some people however Pinochet previous atrocities could not be covered up.
Although Augusto Pinochet hurt Chile through his many atrocities, he built a strong modern economy by using fiscal discipline and by creating a free economy and participating in foreign trade. After getting rid of his opponents Pinochet finally focused on improving the economy of Chile after an economic decline, “The fact that unemployment pushed 25% (a conservative figure), that Chile was $25 billion in debt, (with interest on the debt consuming 80% of export earnings), that there had been 1600 bankruptcies since 1980-that Chile's boom was over-did not mean the government would radically change its plans for the future”(Nunn 197). As a result Pinochet was able to help the economy bounce back, “Throughout his later years, Pinochet retained loyal supporters, who credited his government with instituting a fiscal discipline that helped make Chile's economy the region's strongest”(Reel). Despite all the criticism made about Pinochet, he indeed helped improve the Chilean economy making it one of the strongest in South America. It took a lot of protesting but Pinochet made reforms that helped make the Chilean economy to be at its peak after years of economic instability. Some of Pinochet’s actions were to create a free economy in which he supported privatization and supported entrepreneurs. Also Pinochet was active in international trade and he had very good foreign relations with many different countries including Britain and the US, “President Carter closed by saying that he hoped to improve relations of friendship between the US and Chile and thanked Pinochet for coming to Washington for the signing of the Panama Canal Treaties”(Memorandum). Chile and the US were not on good relations during the Allende administration. After the coup though, the US and Chile got along because of their shared belief of getting rid of communism, however with DINA and human rights cases, Chile and the US relationship grew apart. But, they were still able to agree on things such as the Panama Canal Treaties and we very good trade partners. Despite the criticism Pinochet has received, he still was able to create a strong new modern economy for Chile.
By coming to power, Augusto Pinochet stumbled and made many mistakes that would have doomed his regime. However, he was able to recover somewhat from his costly mistakes, he was able to develop Chile into the strongest country in South America, but he used the wrong approach. To achieve his goals, Pinochet went to all extremes and by doing this he changed the Chilean society for better and for worse proving that he was indeed a totalitarian dictator. Pinochet lead Chile in the right direction but hurt the country by doing in such a strict way. Despite the amount of debt he erased from Chile, it still can not compare to the number of lives he was responsible of taking.