Life ends at 50 for deluded acolytes of Castro's revolution

[Zorro]

<snip>

Sorry to intrude a melancholy note into the festive climate of New Year, but there is mounting concern over the state of health of the Maximum Leader. As the world celebrates the 50th anniversary of the Cuban revolution, Fidel Castro remains as conspicuous by his absence from the public forum as he has consistently been since July 2006. The question now exercising bien-pensant commentators is whether the Leader of All Progressive Humanity is actually dead.

Fidel missed his 80th birthday party when even a specially imported medical vehicle for his transportation and a custom-built abdominal brace to enable him to stand proved inadequate to render him fit for public display. Fortunately, Cuba being a Marxist state, the dynastic succession of Fidel's brother Raul obviates any unseemly jockeying for power in an election or any such destabilising phenomenon.

The 50th anniversary of the revolution without Fidel is Hamlet without the prince. Yet there is so much to celebrate. The average salary of Cubans is now £17 a month; food imports, on an island that should be self-sufficient, cost £1.4bn a year; on the index of economic freedom Cuba ranks 150th out of 157 nations; clearly, capitalist materialism is not a threat to the Caribbean's Potemkin village. Marxism enriches: we know this because Fidel's personal fortune is $900m – sufficient to gain him entry to Forbes magazine.

Castro is as much a hero to the Left as Pinochet was a bogeyman. At first blush, this is puzzling. Castro has executed 16,000 people and imprisoned more than 100,000 in labour camps. While liberals around the globe agonise over Guantanamo, they do not even know the names of the camps in Castro's gulag: Kilo 5.5, Pinar del Rio, Kilo 7, the Capitiolo, for children up to age 10 (political incorrectness can manifest itself at a very early age). Two million of Fidel's ungrateful subjects have fled his socialist paradise, more than 30,000 have died in the attempt...

<snip>

More at: http://news.scotsman.com/geraldwarner/Gerald-Warner-Life-ends-at.4841675.jp

[struggle4progress]

1. It would be interesting to see any evidence for the claim "Castro has executed 16 000 people"

I do not mean, in any sense, to belittle the seriousness of capital punishment as a human rights violation, wherever it occurs

Nevertheless, one has a certain moral obligation to be as accurate as possible, because knowledge of the actual facts is critical for effective action

For Castro to have executed 16 000 people, it would be necessary for the Cubans to have executed about 6 people a week every week since the fall of Batista. While there is no doubt Cuba has continued to execute people, Cuba is not sufficiently isolated, from the rest of the world, for such a high execution rate to remain entirely undocumented. The available information suggests a much lower execution rate:

... In March 1999, the provincial court in Granma announced the executions of two men, José Luis Osorio Zamora and Francisco Javier Chávez Palacios. Cuba reportedly executed two prisoners, Emilio Betancourt Bonne and Jorge LuisSánchez Guilarte, in May 1998.Human Rights Watch interviews with former political prisoners reveal that up until early 1998, Cuba had several death row prisoners held in at least three maximum-security prisons. The ex-prisoners, who usually were confined in cells alongside the death row inmates, also believed that Cuba carried out executions in 1997. Human Rights Watch received credible information that a Cuban firing squad executed Daniel Reyes, an inmate in the Las Tunas Provincial Prison, on October 29, 1997 ... Cuba reportedly executed another prisoner at the Agüica Prison in Matanzas in January 1997. A political prisoner confined there at the time recalled that the executed prisoner's first name was Gilbert, that he had been convicted of murder, and that he was blind. Cuba executed Francisco Dayson Dhruyet, convicted for the murder of his wife, in December 1996. We also received reports of possible executions at the Combinado del Este Prison in Havana in 1996 and 1997 ... http://www.hrw.org/legacy/reports/1999/cuba/Cuba996-07.htm

Of course, a careful analysis would take into account different historical figures, but the total executions in the period immediately after the fall of Batista is usually estimated in the scores or hundreds, not in the thousands, and the available estimates for the following decades do not yield anything like the 16 000 figure cited in the newspaper article


Cuba ceases fire, for now
April 30, 2008 at 10:26 AM
... Past Monday, new Cuban President Raul Castro announced that all death sentences had been commuted to prison terms of 30 years to life, with the exception of 3 people charged with terrorism. Elizardo Sánchez, president of the dissident Cuban Commission for Human Rights and National Reconciliation, said that according to his group's estimates, around 30 people on death row will benefit from the decision. Some of them have been awaiting execution for more than 10 years ... http://blogs.amnestyusa.org/death-penalty/archive/2008/04/30/cuba-ceases-fire--for-now.htm

[Mika]

2. I'd like to see one of these "Fidel is a country" billboards. Been there many times, never seen one.

But, coming from a screed extolling Pinochet, I expect no facts. IOW, a good source for foxy.

[Judi Lynn]

3. Absolutely love those responses! There's one who brings up one of the points you have made:

Bolivarian Scot,BorisTown 04/01/2009 11:30:03
Gerald Warner's wholly predictable diatribe against Fidel Castro has been comprehensively answered by many excellent postings, notably # 3 Retiarius, therefore I would only add the following comments.

For rightwingers like GW, Pinochet's Chile acts as a "Genesis myth" of supposed salvation from Marxism, with national rebirth courtesy of Chicago School monetarist policies, notably privatisation. However, Pinochet retained 100% state ownership and control of Codelco, the copper company that produces more than 50% of Chile's export revenues (ie the main engine of the economy). In other words, Pinochet himself wasn't fully convinced by rightwing economic orthodoxy, so why should anyone else be?

Regarding Cuba: GW wants us to believe that the Revolution will fade and die with Fidel Castro. That clearly isn't the case. Suppose Fidel is as incapacitated as GW suggests. Who's been running the country since July 2006? The fact is, Fidel - like a good businessman - already had in place a smooth succession plan, and it's working, much to the right's dismay. It's also a travesty to suggest that Raul has total control. Cuba is run by an entire government, including able figures such as Carlos Lage and Felipe Perez Roque (the latter born as recently as 1965). Life isn't perfect - the US embargo and lingering USSR-style bureaucracy has seen to that - but compared to other Third World countries that are nominally free (eg Haiti), Cubans enjoy the most basic and important of human rights - food, shelter, healthcare, education and job security.

By the way, GW, what's this nonsense about "a specially imported medical vehicle for his transportation and a custom-built abdominal brace to enable (Fidel Castro) to stand"? Where is the proof? Or is it just another bit of unsubstantiated gossip?

Re: Castro's supposed USD900m fortune. Again, rubbish. This originates from the US magazine Forbes' annual "Rich List", which is a piece of guesswork at best. The methodology for estimating Fidel's "wealth" has changed at least twice over the last three years, with wildly varying results. The fact is: in all these years, a whole army of Castro's enemies has failed to uncover a single piece of hard evidence that Fidel has plundered Cuba's wealth in the same way that Batista did.

Re: the US Embargo. It's ridiculous, anachronistic and cruel. Cuba isn't a "state sponsor of terrorism". On the contrary, it sends thousands of doctors overseas to places like Pakistan and Bolivia. Hence the UN recently voted again (by 185 to 3) for the USA to lift the Embargo. Will Barack Obama heed the call? Doubtful - rightwing Cuban-Americans still carry enormous clout in the Land of the Free.

It suits the right to describe Cuba as one giant prison camp. However, few have actually visited Cuba and I doubt whether GW is an exception. He says that 30,000 died fleeing Cuba (some rightwing sources say 100,000, others 500,000; they seem to make up figures to suit their case). But interviews with survivors are clear on the one point: the vast majority flee for economic reasons, not political, same as Mexicans, Puerto Ricans and others trying to get into the USA (the difference being that the USA literally guarantees automatic citizenship only to Cubans).

Rightwingers should therefore support the lifting the US Embargo (Blockade) if they truly believe that "This is the last guttering of the candle flame before eternal night closes in on a failed ideology". They won't. They are obsessed by tiny Cuba (pop. 11m) because it provides an alternative model of economic and social development - and one which, especially in these uncertain times, is not without its attractions. Quelle horreur!

Worst still for conservatives - Cuba's economy has some great strengths. Biotechnology set to overtake tourism as the main export earner; joint-ventures with China re nickel production; forthcoming JVs with non-US corporations to exploit Cuba's newly-found massive oil reserves.

In short: rumours of the death of the Cuban Revolution are greatly exaggerated. Apologies for this lengthy contribution but the truth about the Cuban Revolution isn't as black-and-white an affair as GW's article suggests.

~~~~~~~~
Also, another. You note they follow a similar pattern to messages boards everywhere where right-wing gumballs attempt to gibber at human beings. Intelligent, informed comments from people who know what they're talking about, and pathetic scrawling from anal, ignorant right-wingers:

3 Retiarius,Batavadorum 04/01/2009 02:45:46
"This is the last guttering of the candle flame before eternal night closes in on a failed ideology"

Maybe - lets hope the candle has finished guttering on the failed ideology Gerald appears to so admire, first in the Spanish fascist dictator Franco (the second rate Nazi); then the mass murderer (and third rate Nazi) Pinochet.

I hold no brief for Castro, who has (Gerald doesn't mention this) nevertheless achieved miracles, not least in health care, despite everything CIA murder squads have thrown at him; you'll recall these attempts have included such "Tam Shepherd" japes as exploding cigars ... all a bit "Woody Allen", but not funny if you're the intended murder victim. He regales us with Cuban poverty, but curiously omits to mention this may have just a teensy weensy bit to do with Cuba being under siege by the world's main superpower for half a century. Funny, that!

Was Cuba better off under the Franco/Pinochet-style regime of Batista, a classic Latin dictator steeped in Mafia corruption, murder and venality; I don't think so. Nice try, Gerald, but your tinpot Latino fascisti were the utter scum of the earth, and the great tragedy - and Britain's shame - is that the wicked old harridan Thatcher lent Pinochet actual support when he should have been answering for his crimes before a court of law.

It isn't "the Left" or leftie journalists who hold this view - it's the massive and overwhelming body of decent public opinion.

Gerald's arguments have some comedic weight, certainly, but when he rolls in the gutter with Nazis he deserves every atom of ridicule and opprobrium he receives.

~~~~~~~~~
They just keep coming!

5 Mikey,04/01/2009 09:47:23
The problem with the right is that they don't want a slice of the pie, they want ALL of it!

At least Cuba has given the poor literacy, free health care and work. What did Pinochet do for the poor of Chile? Apart from turn them into 'desaparacidos,' of course....

Newton_Invented_Gravity,04/01/2009 10:29:57
Another point-If you're going to compare Castro and Pinochet, remember that Castro deposed a dictator. Pinochet on the other hand overthrew a democratically elected government.

[Mika]

4. Thank you, Judi.

where right-wing gumballs attempt to gibber at human beings

I have to admit that I'm feeling very down today, but you gave me a much needed :rofl: .

Thank you, Judi.

[Zorro]

5. The point is Castro and Pinochet are moral equivalents

but that Castro's excesses are even greater than Pinochet's, so it's hypocritical to praise one and condemn the other.

Revile him or not, Pinochet did ultimately restore democracy in Chile, and the Chilean economy is in much better shape than the Cuban economy.

[Mika]

6. So, by your own definition, and in 1 post you've defined & demonstrated yourself as a hypocrite.

:crazy:

[Zorro]

7. Oh not hardly

Just making an observation on the current state of the Chilean economy, and recognizing that democratic institutions have returned to Chile. That doesn't qualify as praising Pinochet.

Just as I have acknowledged that literacy and health care have improved in Cuba. That's not praise for Castro, either.

Both have committed serious abuses against their citizens. I am capable of recognizing that; I have my doubts that you can make a similar acknowledgement.

[Mika]

8. Clearly, you are a Pinochet apologist.

"..so it's hypocritical to praise one and condemn the other.

Revile him or not, Pinochet did ultimately restore democracy in Chile, and the Chilean economy is in much better shape than the Cuban economy."

Anybody who has anything good to say about Chile during his tenure is a Pinochet apologist, just as you (sometimes) and many of your mewling minions who say the exact same thing about posters who have anything good to say about Cuba- that they are Castro apologists.

You can squirm all you want, but that is the case.


Unless, you want to engage in dialog without the insults and smearing? Could that be? :shrug:

[Judi Lynn]

9. Oh, Jesus. "Restore democracy." Can you imagine!

It was democracy which elected Salvador Allende. It was NOT DEMOCRACY which was set in place when Nixon told his CIA chief, who wrote it down for the record, that he wanted to "make the economy scream" in order to undercut Allende's image, to upset the order in Chile to the point the people were completely befuddled and might be tempted to believe it was all Allende's fault.

With the truckers' strike they were able to bring distribution of food to a grinding halt, as well as distribution of everything else Chileans needed in their every day lives, down to their cigarettes.

Trucks didn't move, and therefore the ships bringing in products from outside the country got backed up in the harbors.

Democracy. Oh my shrieking God. It was democracy, wasn't it, which tortured so many, MANY Chileans for their political belief, and took part in throwing them out of helicopters and airplanes into the ocean, the rivers, and, as Pinochet's chief torturer, Oswaldo Romo told an interviewer, they even dropped them into two different volcanoes.

In a small town where the torturered and murdered internationally celebrated leftist singer Victor Jara was raised, they found, after he was brutally smashed to pieces, his hands crushed by a guard's rifle butt in the soccer stadium in Santiago, an outdoor oven in which some more dissidents were burned to death.

Democracy. Well, of course, nothing could be more viciously false. Consider the source.

Pinochet=pure filth.

Allende was the one who was democratically elected, and WITHOUT terrorism or filthy machination from outside the country.

[Zorro]

13. HOW ALLENDE DESTROYED DEMOCRACY IN CHILE AND WHY THE CHAMBER OF DEPUTIES DEMANDED THAT HE BE DEPOSED

Submitted for your reading pleasure, even though it feeds the desire of some to deflect attention away from the criticisms of Castro in the original article.

<snip>

...The Resolution, approved by almost two-thirds of the members (63.3 percent), accused President Allende's administration of 20 concrete violations of the Constitution and national laws. These violations included: support of armed groups, illegal arrests, torture, muzzling the press, manipulating education, not allowing people to leave the country, confiscating private property, forming seditious organizations, and usurping powers belonging to the Judiciary, Congress, and the Treasury. The Resolution held that such acts were committed in a systematic manner, with the aim of installing in Chile "a totalitarian system," that is, a Communist dictatorship.

It is an extraordinary fact that the Chamber's Resolution had been approved by all of the members from the Christian Democratic Party, the majority party whose undisputed leader was Senate President and former President of the Republic Eduardo Frei Montalva. Only three years earlier, on October 24, 1970, that same party had given all of its votes in order to elect Salvador Allende president in the Congress.

For John Locke, the great English political thinker, tyranny is "the exercise of power beyond the bounds of law." When such a tyrant appears, it is he who places the country in a state of war by exceeding the limits of his power. That is to say, he has "rebelled," in the strict Latin sense of the word ("re-bellare" coming from "bellum,"war").

The essence of the Chamber Resolution, therefore, was the accusation made against President Allende that, in spite of his having been elected democratically, he had rebelled against the Constitution and thereby become a tyrant...

<snip>

More at: http://www.josepinera.com/pag/pag_tex_nuncamas_en.htm

[Judi Lynn]

14. Only have a moment to post who your source is, as I knew it would be someone twisted.

I'll be glad to come back and add more when my evening is finished. This leaped out immediately before I had looked beyond the first few entries:

~snip~
Contrary to Crane's assertion that Chile's privatized system is "highly successful," a January 10, 2006, New York Times article noted that dissatisfaction with Chile's pension system was a major issue during that country's last presidential election, and that both the Socialist and conservative candidates in the presidential runoff agreed that "the country's much vaunted and much copied privatized pension system needs immediate repair." The Times further noted that José Piñera's brother, Sebastián Piñera -- the losing conservative candidate -- enumerated problems with the system during a January 4, 2006, debate with then-Socialist candidate, and current Chilean president, Michelle Bachelet:

But even advocates of an untrammeled free market, like Mr. Piñera, the conservative candidate, are jumping in with criticisms, to the surprise of some here. Mr. Piñera is the brother of José Piñera, the former labor minister who imposed the personal account system during the dictatorship of Gen. Augusto Pinochet. In addition, Sebastián Piñera is backed by the large business groups that control the pension funds and have benefited from the expansion of investment capital the funds have provided.

http://74.125.45.132/search?q=cache:5GtbKhigf_gJ:colorado.mediamatters.org/items/200710310005+%22Jos%C3%A9+Pi%C3%B1era%22+%2B+propaganda&hl=en&ct=clnk&cd=4&gl=us

[Zorro]

15. The Chamber of Deputies Resolution of August 22, 1973

Despite the attempts at historical revisionism, Allende was not the naive innocent. Here are some of the charges the Chilean legislature levied against him weeks before he killed himself.

<snip>

...4. That the current President of the Republic was elected by the full Congress, in accordance with a statute of democratic guarantees incorporated in the Constitution for the very purpose of assuring that the actions of his administration would be subject to the principles and norms of the Rule of Law that he solemnly agreed to respect;

5. That it is a fact that the current government of the Republic, from the beginning, has sought to conquer absolute power with the obvious purpose of subjecting all citizens to the strictest political and economic control by the state and, in this manner, fulfilling the goal of establishing a totalitarian system: the absolute opposite of the representative democracy established by the Constitution;

6. That to achieve this end, the administration has committed not isolated violations of the Constitution and the laws of the land, rather it has made such violations a permanent system of conduct, to such an extreme that it systematically ignores and breaches the proper role of the other branches of government, habitually violating the Constitutional guarantees of all citizens of the Republic, and allowing and supporting the creation of illegitimate parallel powers that constitute an extremely grave danger to the Nation, by all of which it has destroyed essential elements of institutional legitimacy and the Rule of Law;...

<snip>

More at: http://www.josepinera.com/pag/pag_tex_nuncamas_en.htm

Can we get back on-topic and discuss the allegations about Castro in the original article now?

[struggle4progress]

17. Had Chile's Senate concurred with the accusations, Allende could have been removed constitutionally

by a supermajority vote, exactly as in the US when impeachment occurs. That the opposition parties, in the Chamber of Deputies, resorted to a resolution demanding a military coup, rather than following the law, was disgraceful

[Judi Lynn]

24. How Pinochet destroyed democracy in Chile. Chile timeline:

~snip~
1970 Sep 4, Salvador Allende Gossens won the presidential election in Chile. A week later in Washington Henry Kissinger discussed a "covert action program" to oust Allende.
(MC, 9/4/01)(SSFC, 4/21/02, p.D1)

1970 Sep 15, Pres. Nixon authorized a US-backed coup in Chile.
(SSFC, 6/9/02, p.F7)

1970 Nov 3, Salvador Allende was inaugurated as president of Chile. He was elected with 36% of the vote, only 40,000 ahead of the candidate of the right.
(AP, 11/3/97)(WSJ, 10/30/98, p.A19)

1970 Dec 31, President Allende nationalized the Chilean coal mines.
(MC, 12/31/01)

1970 A US CIA-backed kidnapping attempt was botched and left Gen. Rene Schneider dead. Schneider had opposed a US plan for a military coup. In 2001 his widow and 3 sons filed a suit against Henry Kissinger, Richard Helms and several other former US bureaucrats.
(SFC, 9/12/01, p.C4)

1971 Mar 29, Chile president Allende nationalized banks, copper mines.
(MC, 3/29/02)

1971 Oct 21, Nobel prize for literature was awarded to Chilean poet Pablo Neruda (1904-1973).
(MC, 10/21/01)(SSFC, 8/31/03, p.M3)

1971 The Chilean government confiscated the Chuquicamata mine.
(WSJ, 5/28/96, p. R46)

1971 Claudio Bravo, Chilean-born Moroccan based artist, created a surrealist still life of an assemblage of light bulbs.
(WSJ, 3/17/00, p.W12)

1972 Mar 23, Pres. Nixon discussed his orders to undermine Chilean democracy after the leak of corporate papers revealing collaboration between ITT and the CIA to rollback the election of socialist leader Salvador Allende.
(www.gwu.edu/~nsarchiv/NSAEBB/NSAEBB110/index.htm)

1972 May 13, There was a burglary at the Chilean Embassy in Washington DC. Two members of Pres. Nixon's secret White House team, known as the plumbers, were involved.
(SFC, 2/26/99, p.A4)

1972 Jun 17, Chile’s president Allende changed his Cabinet. The two most prominent departures were Brigadier General Pedro Palacios Cameron from Mines and Pedro Vuskovic from Economy.
(www.rrojasdatabank.org/murder30.htm)

1972 Oct 13, A Uruguay to Chile plane crashed in Andes Mountain. 12 of 23 were rescued as the rugby team ate crash victims to survive.
(MC, 10/13/01)

1972 Dec 23, 16 plane crash victims (Oct 13 flight from Uruguay to Chile) were rescued from the Andes after 70 died. They survived by cannibalism.
(MC, 12/23/01)

1972 Chile’s dept. of tourism, SERNATUR, was established.
(SFC, Z-1, 4/28/96, p.5)

1973 Jul 13, In Chile a strike began that lasted until the September 11 coup. More than a million workers were on strike demanding that Allende go. American CIA funding was involved.
(WSJ, 10/30/98, p.A19)(http://foia.state.gov/reports/churchreport.asp)

1973 Aug 22, Chile’s Chamber of Deputies issued its “Declaration of the Breakdown of Chile’s Democracy.” It accused Pres. Allende of violating laws.
(www.pensionreform.org/icpr/eys/declaration.html)

1973 Aug 23, Gen'l. Augusto Pinochet was named commander-in-chief of the Chilean army by Pres. Salvadore Allende.
(SFC, 3/25/99, p.A3)

1973 Sep 11, Pres. Salvadore Allende of Chile was toppled in a bloody military coup in Santiago led by 4 commanders: Gen’l Augusto Pinochet, Admiral Jose Toribio Merino (d.8/31/96), air force Gen’l. Gustavo Leigh Guzman (d.1999 at 79) and police director Gen’l. Cesar Mendoza. Allende blew his head off with an AK 47 given to him by Fidel Castro. The government was taken over by Gen. Augusto Pinochet and his economic managers dubbed the "Chicago boys," for their training at the Univ. of Chicago and belief in free markets. The first 3 months of fighting claimed 1261 victims. The air force bombarded the presidential palace to put down resistance by Allende and a small group of followers.
(WSJ, 12/1/95, p.A-10)(SFC, 8/31/96, p.A23)(WSJ, 10/30/98, p.A19)(SFC, 9/30/99, p.A31)

1973 Sep 15, Victor Jara (b.1932), one of the best-known members of Latin America's "New Song" folk movement, died. He had been arrested after the Chilean military coup that overthrew Allende and taken to a soccer stadium used as a detention camp. Court papers indicate Jara was tortured, his hands smashed with rifle butts, and then was shot to death. In 2008 a court charged retired Col. Mario Manriquez in the case, saying he was "responsible" for the death.
(AP, 5/15/08)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Victor_Jara)

1973 Sep 17, Charles Horman, a US free-lance journalist, was arrested by Chilean security forces. His body was found months later. In 1999 US intelligence complicity was reported based on newly declassified material. Horman and Frank Teruggi worked for a newsletter that reprinted articles and clippings from American newspapers critical of US policy. Teruggi was also killed. The 1982 film "Missing" was based on their story. In 2003 retired security officer Rafael Gonzalez (64) became the 1st person formally charged for the murder.
(SFC, 10/9/99, p.A14)(SFEC, 2/13/00, p.A19)(AP, 12/11/03)

1973 Sep 21, A secret CIA report indicated that severe repression was planned in Chile and that 300 students were killed in the technical university when they refused to surrender to the military. The report was made public in 1999.
(SFC, 7/1/99, p.C3)

1973 Sep 22, In Chile Michael Woodward (42), a suspended priest, died. He had been taken into custody by security forces in the port city of Valparaiso on Sep. 16, 1973. Woodward was allegedly tortured with other detainees on at least two navy ships used as detention centers. In 2008 retired admirals Sergio Barros, Guillermo Aldoney and Adolfo Walbaum and retired navy captains Sergio Barra and Ricardo Riesgo were indicted for the kidnapping and torture of Woodward and other members of leftist groups.
(AP, 4/18/08)

1973 Sep 23, Pablo Neruda (b.1904), Chilean Nobel laureate poet, died of leukemia. One of his last works, "The Book of Questions," was published in an English translation in 1991. In 2003 Ilan Stavans edited "The Poetry of Pablo Neruda." In 2004 Matilda Urrutia’s “My Life With Pablo Neruda” was translated into English.
(SFEC, 6/25/00, BR p.2)(WUD, 1994 p.959)(SSFC, 8/31/03, p.M3)(SSFC, 10/31/04, p.M4)

1973 Oct 6, In Chile Andres Pereira was arrested, assassinated and thrown into the sea. He was considered disappeared until his death was confirmed in a 2001 government report.
(SFC, 1/9/01, p.A15)

1973 Oct 17, Winston Cabello Bravo (28) and 12 other political prisoners were shot to death in Copiago, Chile. Bravo's body was carved with a corvo knife. He had been Allende's chief of economic planning in 2 northern regions where copper mines were to be nationalized.
(SFC, 2/3/99, p.A9)

1973 Oct, A group of military officers toured several cities by helicopter in northern Chile in a "caravan of death" and had 72 dissidents dragged from jail and executed. Five high ranking officers, including Gen'l. Sergio Arellano, were indicted for these executions in 1999. In 2004 Gen. Gonzalo Santelices, head of the Santiago army garrison, resigned amid accusations that he was involved in the “Caravan of death.” Santelices acknowledged that as a young lieutenant he followed orders and transferred 14 prisoners from a jail in northern Chile to a desert area where they were executed by firing squad.
(SFC, 6/9/99, p.C2)(SFEC, 10/3/99, p.A19)(SFC, 4/28/00, p.D4)(AP, 2/4/08)

1973 Nov 11, The Soviet Union was kicked out of World Cup soccer for refusing to play Chile.
(www.history.com/this-day-in-history.do?action=Article&id=2481)

1973 Dec 8, In Chile soldiers shot Argentine primary school teacher Bernardo Lejderman and Maria Avalos, a Mexican citizen, in front of their 2-year-old child. In 2007 a retired general and two former sergeants were fined and sentenced to 10 years in prison for killing the leftist couple, and were ordered to pay $600,000 to Ernesto Lejderman, the son of the slain couple.
(AP, 12/19/07)(www.usip.org/library/tc/doc/reports/chile/chile_1993_pt3_ch1_a2_e.html)

1973 In 2006 Chile’s government-owned La Nacion newspaper reported that at least 22 dissidents, who disappeared under the dictatorship of Gen. Augusto Pinochet, were killed at the secretive German commune-like Dignity Colony and their bodies later burned with chemicals. It was later alleged that the leaders of the Dignity Colony under Paul Schaefer engaged in sexual abuse and cult-like activity and helped the Chilean secret police operate a concentration camp after the military coup.
(AP, 7/23/06)(SFC, 6/27/97, p.A14)
1973 Chile’s secret police took over a mansion in Santiago that had served as the Spanish Embassy in the 1950s. In 2006 the mansion reopened as the Salvador Allende Solidarity Museum.
(SSFC, 2/26/06, p.F8)
1973 Chilean navy officers allegedly used the tall ship Esmeralda as a hideaway for interrogation and torture.
(SFC,10/23/97, p.A24)
1973 Bolivia’s Pres. Hugo Banzer met with Chilean military authorities. The Chilean military Operation Condor sought Chilean exiles in Bolivia and other countries for return to Chile for execution.
(SFEC, 11/29/98, p.A26)

1973-1980 Gen’l. Augusto Pinochet led a dictatorship. He enacted a constitution that reserves 4 Senate seats for former military commanders and the national police. Under his rule the Chilean military Operation Condor was begun where Chilean exiles in Bolivia and other countries were sought for return to Chile for execution. In 2004 John Dinges authored "The Condor Years: How Pinochet and His Allies Brought Terrorism to Three Continents."
(SFC,12/12/97, p.B6)(SFEC, 11/29/98, p.A26)(SSFC, 2/14/04, p.M6)
1973-1990 Chile’s National Information Center was the secret police agency under Gen. Pinochet. It was headed by Gen. Hugo Salas.
(SFC, 10/30/99, p.A13)

1974 Jun 27, In Chile Gen. Augusto Pinochet proclaimed himself "Supreme Chief of the Nation" (de facto provisional president).
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Augusto_Pinochet)

1974 Sep 30, Gen. Carlo Prats, a former Chilean army chief, was killed with his wife by a car bomb in Buenos Aires. In 2000 an Argentine judge called for the extradition of Augusto Pinochet for the slaying. In 2000 Enrique Arancibia Clavel was sentenced in Argentina to life in prison for his role in the murder.
(SFC, 10/28/00, p.A14)(SFC, 11/22/00, p.C6)

1974 Dec 11, In Chile General Augusto Pinochet took the title of president of the republic.
(SFC, 12/11/06, p.A4)

1974 Chile’s government created a military intelligence agency that became a rogue elephant responsible for many human abuses. It was disbanded by Gen’l. Pinochet in 1978.
(WSJ, 10/30/98, p.A19)

1974-1978 The Villa Grimaldi, a 19th century estate outside of Santiago, Chile, was used by the National Intelligence Directorate (DINA) under Gen’l. Manuel Contreras as clandestine detention center. Some 5,000 political prisoners passed through and many suffered inside torture chambers and closet-sized cells near the stables. The main house was used as an administrative center and casino for officers.
(SFC, 7/15/97, p.A12)

1974-1990 In 1996 a 5-year Chilean government investigation found that the 16-year dictatorship of General Pinochet killed 3,197 civilians for political reasons. This included 1,102 people who disappeared after being arrested by his security forces. In 2000 a retired air force colonel charged that 500 political dissidents were slain by security forces, and that their bodies were weighted down and tossed into the sea.
(SFC, 8/23/96, p.A20)(SFC, 1/21/98, p.C12)(SFEC, 2/1/98, p.A11) (SFC, 8/4/00, p.D4)

1975 Jul, In Chile 119 dissidents were kidnapped as part of Operation Colombo. Their bodies were never found. In 2008 98 people were indicted on charges of kidnapping the victims.
(SFC, 5/27/08, p.A3)

1975 Oct 6, Chilean Vice Pres. Bernardo Leighton and his wife, Anita Fresno, were shot in Rome. Anita was left permanently disabled. In 2000 Chilean authorities arrested former Gen. Eduardo Iturriaga for the shooting.
(SFC, 3/15/00, p.A10)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leighton_case)

1975 Nov 20, An interim report by the US Senate’s Church Committee said that the CIA failed to assassinated Fidel Castro at least 8 times. The report also covered CIA activity in Chile, the Congo, the Dominican Republic and elsewhere.
(WSJ, 8/5/06, p.A9)(http://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Church_Committee)

1975 The Torres del Paine National park opened in the Patagonia region of southern Chile.
(SSFC, 12/17/00, p.T6)

1976 Sep 21, Chilean exile Orlando Letelier, one time foreign minister to Chilean President Salvador Allende, was killed when a bomb exploded in his car in Washington D.C. He was assassinated by order from Chile by Gen’l. Manuel Contreras, head of the secret police known as DINA. Ronni Moffitt (25), an American colleague of Letelier, was also killed. Contreras was convicted of the order in 1993 and sentenced to a 7-year prison term. In 2000 Gen. Pinochet was linked to the killing.
(SFC, 6/27/97, p.A14)(SFC, 7/1/99, p.C3)(SFEC, 5/28/00, p.A7)(AP, 9/21/01)

1976 Gen. Augusto Pinochet commenced that Carretera Austral project, an effort to connect the northern Chile to southern Aisen province.
(SFCM, 10/3/04, p.30)
1976 Chile departed the Andean Community trade block. In 2006 it planned to rejoin.
(Econ, 8/26/06, p.30)
1976 Victor Diaz Lopez, former leader of Chile’s Communist Party, was picked up the DINA, the secret police of dictator Augusto Pinochet. In 2007 the former leader of the DINA’s Lautaro Brigade confessed to murdering Victor Diaz in 1977.
(Econ, 4/14/07, p.39)
1976 Gen’l. Juan Jose Torres, ousted as president of Bolivia in 1971, was kidnapped by a death squad in Argentina and killed. He was a victim of the Condor Plan, a South American military pact between Argentina, Brazil, Bolivia, Chile and Paraguay to exchange intelligence information and help each other hunt down suspected leftists.
(SFC, 11/23/99, p.A16)
1976 A US congressional commission found that Pres. Nixon had authorized $10 million for a covert CIA mission to get rid of Allende in Chile. Papers to this effect were declassified in 1998.
(SFC, 10/22/98, p.A12)

1977 Apr 5, A group of Chilean military men in London announced the formation of a "Front of Democratic Forces of Chile in Exile." Another similar group was formed in Brussels and shortly later in East Berlin.
(WSJ, 10/30/98, p.A19)

1977 Apr 6, Jaime Estevez spoke from a Moscow broadcast that the purposes of the newly formed Soviet-backed entities was to lead the fight for the overthrow of the fascist junta in Chile.
(WSJ, 10/30/98, p.A19)

1977 Aug, The Central Committee of the Chilean Communist Party constituted itself as "The General Staff of Revolution."
(WSJ, 10/30/98, p.A19)

1977 Chile’s DINA secret police reporting to Gen. Pinochet was replaced by the National Information Center (Centro Nacional de Información--CNI).
(www.fas.org/irp/world/chile/dina.htm)

1978 Jan 4, Chile’s Gen. Pinochet held a National Consultation, "in defense of the dignity of Chile," which took place one week after it was first announced, on December 27.
(www.chipsites.com/derechos/1978_eng.html)

1978 Apr 19, In Chile a law was enacted that gave amnesty to the military.
(WSJ, 12/1/95, p.A-10)(www.chipsites.com/derechos/1978_eng.html)

1978 Jul 24, Chile’s Air Force Gen'l. Gustavo Leigh Guzman was demoted. He was the first junta member to urge the restoration of civilian rule.
(SFC, 9/30/99, p.A31)(www.chipsites.com/derechos/1978_eng.html)

1978 Nov 30, In Chile the remains of 15 disappeared were discovered in Lonquen. The Vicaria publicly announced the discovery of an illegal burial ground in an abandoned limestone mine in Lonquén which had been used to conceal the bodies of 15 people who had disappeared since the onset of the military regime in 1973.
(www.chipsites.com/derechos/1978_eng.html)

1979 Jan 9, The Act of Montevideo was signed in Uruguay pledging Argentina and Chile to a peaceful solution and a return to the military situation of early 1977. Cardinal Antonio Samore (1905-1983), Vatican representative, mediated the Beagle conflict.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beagle_conflict)

1979 Chilean Communist Party Sec. Gen’l. Luis Corvalan proclaimed from Moscow a new era of acute violence, and endorsed guerrilla warfare, terrorism and a massive armed uprising.
(WSJ, 10/30/98, p.A19)

1980 Sep, Chile’s Gen'l. Pinochet called for a referendum to approve a constitution extending his rule for the next 8 years.
(SFC, 12/11/06, p.A4)

1980 Oct 21, Chile’s Gen'l. Pinochet issued a new constitution that allowed him to stay in power for another 8 years. It was approved by plebiscite.
(SFC, 3/25/99, p.A3)(Econ, 10/23/04, p.36)

1980 Jose Pinera revolutionized Chile's pension system while he was secretary of labor and social security. Pinochet wrote a new constitution that included statutes that forced politicians, journalists and musicians to practice self-censorship or face prosecution.
(WSJ, 6/28/96, p.A9)(SFC, 12/9/96, p.A18)(AP, 12/12/04)

1981 May 1, Chile completely privatized Social Security as part of its economic reforms.
(SFC, 6/16/96, Z1 p.7)(SFC, 6/25/96, p.A18)

1981 Jul 2, L.E. Gonzalez discovered asteroid #3495, Colchagua, from the astronomical station of Cerro El Roble in Chile.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_asteroids_(3001-4000))

1981 In Chile Paul Schaefer (b.1921) of the Dignity Colony was accused of child molestation but the case file disappeared at the courthouse in Parral. The judge lived in a house owned by the colony.
(SFC, 6/27/97, p.A14)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paul_Sch%C3%A4fer)

1982 Jan 22, Eduardo Frei Montalva, former Chilean President (1964-1970), died from septic shock as he recovered from stomach surgery at a Santiago clinic. In 2007 his family filed a court complaint claiming that Frei had been assassinated by poisoning after a Belgian university investigation found mustard gas in the body of the former Christian Democratic leader.
(AP, 1/24/07)

1982 Feb 23, Tucapel Jimenez, a Chilean labor leader, was found with his throat cut and face shot in his car. Gen. Humberto Gordon Rubio (d.2000), secret police chief, was implicated in the killing.
(SFC, 6/17/00, p.A20)(www.ilo.org/ilolex/cgi-lex/single.pl?query=0319822171117)

1982 An economic crises in Chile caused the establishment of capital controls and a minimum permanence period for foreign capital of ten years.
(WSJ, 10/1/98, p.A17)

1983 May, Chile’s Gen'l. Pinochet reacted to protests with strong repression.
(SFC, 12/11/06, p.A4)

1984 Alpacas from Chile began arriving in the US after the US lifted a ban.
(WSJ, 4/5/07, p.A10)

1985 Feb 5, The US halted a loan to Chile in protest over human rights abuses.
(HN, 2/5/99)

1985 Mar 29, In Santiago, Chile, police killed Rafael and Eduardo Vergara. The 2 young brothers, active members of the often violent “Movement of the Revolutionary Left” (MIR), were peppered with bullets by military police during an anti-Pinochet protest in the low-income Villa Francia district. The event became known as the “Day of the Young Combatants.”
(SFC, 3/31/08, p.A3)(http://english.people.com.cn/90001/90777/90852/6384027.html)

1985 Jan 5, Boris Weisfeiler (43), a Russian émigré and naturalized US citizen, disappeared while hiking in Chile. US declassified documents in 2000 indicated that Boris, a mathematics professor, was detained by the Chilean military and handed over to Colonia Dignidad.
(SFC, 6/19/00, p.A8)(SFC, 6/12/08, p.A10)

1986 Sep 7, Chile’s Gen’l. Pinochet narrowly survived an assassination attempt involving 70 terrorists. 5 of his escorts were murdered.
(WSJ, 10/30/98, p.A19)(SFC, 3/25/99, p.A3)

1986 Chile’s military discovered a clandestine arms shipment that was traced to Cuba. There were enough arms to support 5,000 men.
(WSJ, 10/30/98, p.A19)

1987 Cecilia Bolocco of Chile won the Miss Universe crown.
(WSJ, 8/3/01, p.A1)

1987 In Chile a secret police unit killed 12 members of a pro-communist urban guerrilla gang. In 2007 retired Col. Ivan Quiroz was convicted as a member of the secret police unit and sentenced to 10 years in prison. Sentenced along with Quiroz were 10 other agents of Dina, including its director at the time, retired Gen. Hugo Salas, who received a life sentence.
(AP, 1/24/08)

1988 Apr 2, Police Corp. Alfredo Rivera Rohas (35) was murdered by 3 youths while carrying home groceries in Santiago, Chile.
(WSJ, 10/30/98, p.A19)

1988 Sep 29, In Chile a 17-year-old girl died from electric torture by military police. This case was later cited by a Spanish judge as part of the 1998 warrant against Gen’l. Pinochet.
(SFC, 11/13/98, p.D3)

1988 Oct 5, The Chilean population agreed at referendum their opposition to the Pinochet regime.
(http://tinyurl.com/ew36c)

1988 Oct 6, Gen. Augusto Pinochet, the president of Chile, conceded defeat in a referendum held the day before to determine whether he should receive a new eight-year term of office. He was forced to call for an open election but stayed president until his term ran out in 1990.
(AP, 10/6/98)(SFC, 3/25/99, p.A3)

1988 Jacobo Timerman (d.1999 at 76), Argentine journalist, published "Chile: Death in the South."
(SFC, 11/12/99, p.D6)

1988 Chile was kicked out of America’s system of preferences and cut its average tariffs from 20% to 15% in a bid to lower the cost of imports.
(Econ, 5/28/05, p.78)

1989 Mar 13, The U.S. Food and Drug Administration began a quarantine of all fruit imported from Chile after traces of cyanide were found in two Chilean grapes.
(AP, 3/13/99)

1989 Dec 14, Opposition leader Patricio Aylwin, representing the left and center opposition alliance, was elected president in Chile's first free election since 1970. However the generals maintained great power that included the right to veto political decisions.
(AP, 12/14/02)(WSJ, 1/9/96, p.A-10)(http://web.mit.edu/17.508/www/week8.html)

1989 Sebastian Pinera (b.1949), Chilean businessman and politician, was elected senator in Chile. His fortune in 1996 was estimated at $300 mil.
(WSJ, 3/26/96, p.A-10)

1990 Mar 11, Chile’s General Augusto Pinochet gave up power after 16 years of rule, but remained commander of the army. Some 3,200 people were murdered under his dictatorship and 30,000 more were tortured.
(SFC, 8/23/96, p.A20)(SFC, 3/25/99, p.A3)(Econ, 12/16/06, p.89)

1990 Mar 12, Vice President Quayle met in Santiago, Chile, with Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega, who promised to peacefully relinquish power to Violeta Chamorro, the U.S.-backed candidate who had won Nicaragua's presidential election.
(AP, 3/12/00)

1990 Chile’s Gen’l. Pinochet sent troops into the streets of Santiago as a warning to drop an official investigation into his son’s business dealings.
(SFC, 12/9/96, p.A18)

1990 Patricio Aylwin was elected president of Chile.
(WSJ, 12/1/95, p.A-15)

1990 Inflation in Chile hit 26%.
(Econ, 4/30/05, p.74)

ETC.
http://timelines.ws/countries/CHILE.HTML

[Zorro]

12. Complex issues are rarely cut-and-dry

I have stated before that I prefer debating the topics at hand. An honest review of my remarks will reveal that I don't initiate personal insults, and that I give fair warning those who do; to their regret some posters choose to ignore that advice.

I recognize there are a number of posters (including yourself) who have valuable insight regarding Latin American issues based on personal experience, and wish to share those insights. I respect that effort, even if I challenge those opinions and the opinions of pedants who have a clear agenda.

The clever snark is fine with me, since I appreciate clever thought. Cogent debating is fine with me also, because I appreciate cogent discourse. Snotty insults should be avoided, unless one is a masochist.


BTW, you seem to be very fond of the term "mewling"; you should use it less frequently -- makes it more effective that way.

[Judi Lynn]

23. The CIA, hot to bump off Fidel Castro since the 1950's doesn't share your opinion, apparently.

From an article written several years ago:

CIA: Most Cubans loyal to homeland
Agency believes various ties to island bind the majority
By Robert Windrem
NBC NEWS PRODUCER

NEW YORK, April 12 <2000> — Cuban-American exile leaders — and many Republicans in Congress — believe that no Cuban, including Juan Miguel Gonzalez, could withstand the blandishments of a suburban American lifestyle, that he and all other Cubans would gladly trade their “miserable” lives in Cuba for the prosperity of the United States — if only given the chance. Witness House Minority Leader Dick Armey’s invitation to Gonzalez, offering him a tour of a local supermarket. But U.S. intelligence suggests otherwise.

THE CIA has long believed that while 1 million to 3 million Cubans would leave the island if they had the opportunity, the rest of the nation’s 11 million people would stay behind.

~snip~
The CIA believes there are many reasons Cubans are content to remain in their homeland. Some don’t want to be separated from home, family and friends. Some fear they would never be able to return, and still others just fear change in general. Officials also say there is a reservoir of loyalty to Fidel Castro and, as in the case of Juan Miguel Gonzalez, to the Communist Party.

U.S. officials say they no longer regard Cuba as a totalitarian state with aggressive policies toward its people, but instead an authoritarian state, where the public can operate within certain bounds — just not push the envelope.

More important, Cuban media and Cuban culture long ago raised the banner of nationalism above that of Marxism. The intelligence community says the battle over Elian has presented Castro with a “unique opportunity” to enhance that nationalism.

There is no indication, U.S. officials say, of any nascent rebellion about to spill into the streets, no great outpouring of support for human rights activists in prison. In fact, there are fewer than 100 activists on the island and a support group of perhaps 1,000 more, according to U.S. officials.

More:
http://members.allstream.net/~dchris/CubaFAQ019.html

[struggle4progress]

10. Here are a couple of links on Pinochet and Chile under his rule, for those who are confused

Augusto Pinochet Ugarte
http://www.moreorless.au.com/killers/pinochet.html

Report of the Chilean National Commission on Truth and Reconciliation (English translation)
http://www.usip.org/library/tc/doc/reports/chile/chile_1993_toc.html

[struggle4progress]

11. OK, the claim that Castro has executed 16000 Cubans apparently comes from CANF,

which provides no evidence:

"... executing or eliminating 16,000 people ..."
http://www.canf.org/2006/1in/ensayos/2005-ene-05-sad-anniversary.htm

It is worth noting that CANF estimates vary widely: in 1997, CANF estimated 12 000 political executions; in 1998, they instead estimated 18 000.

Again, it would be interesting to know how these large numbers are obtained, since more careful accounts seem to find about 620 executions between the Revolution and the end of 1961, and a lower execution rate thereafter; see, for example, http://www.historyofcuba.com/history/time/timetbl4.htm

[Mika]

16. The CANF is a terrorist organization inhabited by terrorists.

The CANF is a terrorist organization.


Figures that Pinochet apologists would consider the CANF some kind of legitimate source.

[struggle4progress]

18. Terrorist or not, they seem to pull statistics from thin air

[Mika]

19. Terrorist org it is. They also paid the bombers of Cuban hotels to do their dirty work.

Check some of the links from my prior post. Assassinations, bombings, murder.. its all in a day's work for this filthy foundation.

Amazing thing is that one of their former wingnut officers, Joe Garcia, was running against wingnut M Diaz Balart this last election - on the Dem ticket. :crazy:

[Judi Lynn]

22. Imagine a revolution prior to which the dictator, like Bastista, used death squads & his own forces

to pick people off the street, torture them, some of them to death, kill many of them, flinging them out of speeding cars, throwing them out on the streets of towns, by the roadsides in the country, or, as they did in Santiago de Cuba, dismembered and hung from trees, triggering rage and rebellion there, and even a march by the mothers of the murdered young men across town to meet with the U.S. ambassador to ask him to get Bastista to end the violence against Cubans.

When they got there, the state police turned fire hoses on them. The photos have been noted around the world. That's another thing, at some point Batista started having the news totally censored. Couldn't have Cubans being too informed about what was going on there, and didn't want the rest of the world to know what he was doing.

What new government following a butcher with henchmen, death squads, the most famous being the one operated by Cuban Senator and newspaper publisher Rolando Masferrer, called "Masferrer's Tigers," would simply get busy and issue blanket pardons to the very people who had chased them all down, tortured their friends to death, slaughtered them in great numbers? Turning the other cheek didn't happen in the U.S., either, following its Revolution, nor in its civil war, etc. Just as torturers and henchmen murder, they seem to attract retribution to themselves!

[EFerrari]

20. Gerald Warner: New lease of life beckons for the Grand Old Party

New lease of life beckons for the Grand Old Party

Published Date: 16 November 2008
AMERICA'S Republican Party, in the aftermath of defeat, faces the task of restoring its cohesion and reinventing itself as the natural party of government.

It will start from a reasonable base: the presidential election was lost 53% to 46%; unlike 1984, when Ronald Reagan won every state of the Union bar one, 22 states stayed with the GOP. This was no wipe-out.

The re-energising of conservatism in America is an ideological imperative that engages, at second hand, conservatives around the world. The United States is still the most powerful nation on earth, so a strong conservative pulse in America is as important to right thinkers elsewhere as the Soviet Union once was to global communism.

The Republican machine is what most urgently needs to be repaired. During the recent election it looked like an old-fashioned steam traction engine trying to race Obama's Ferrari. The Obama campaign had hit the ground running years, rather than months, ahead of the Republicans. It had colonised cyberspace in the most sophisticated style. It also banked almost half a billion dollars, leaving McCain's people incapable of competing.

http://news.scotsman.com/comment/Gerald-Warner-New-lease-of.4698643.jp

lol

[Judi Lynn]

21. Gerald Warner'd better start getting his Palin for President signs ready.

These clowns are going to have to get organized fast, or hope to start another war to bind them altogether. Th is particular asshole is WAY into American politics. Here's more from your posted article:

~snip~
....It is time for donors to dig deep. Serious money has to be spent on hiring teams of cyber-geeks to end Democrat hegemony on the internet. Surely everybody in the GOP realises that. Nor is it a good idea to select the next presidential standard bearer a week after losing this year's election, as some have been trying to do. Jindal, Romney, Palin, Huckabee – whoever is flavour of the month now, it is a fair bet he/she will be out of contention by 2012. Working out a strategy and policies might be a better idea.

As for the Sarah Palin question, it is time for some sober assessment. She is not a fool or she would not have run Alaska so successfully (and smoked out corruption there).

Isn't that pathetic? "Smoked out corruption there?" Oh, christ! They'll stoop to anything to try to paint themselves as upstanding, good people.