>>Let Zolt! have his flights of fancy. He is harmless to most folks equipped with the facts
And that obviously includes you OUT.
>>---its the others I worry about.
So that is you on the cover of Mad Magazine!
From the web site of José Piñera www.pensionreform.org/.
Letter from the Editor No 11
Pinochet: The Historic Truth
October 21, 1998
The worst of all the condemnations made of ex President Pinochet is that of having brought down Salvador Allende's "democratic government". Here we have a monumental historic falsehood.
It is true that Salvador Allende was elected in 1970 by means of a democratic election, although only with 36.6% of the vote. Nevertheless, it is equally true that his government lost its democratic character by having repeatedly violated the Constitution.
In effect, President Allende became a tyrant when he broke his solemn oath to respect the Constitution and the Chilean laws. This was not just obvious to the great majority of Chileans in their daily lives, but was also established by almost two thirds of the House of Deputies (the Lower House of the Chilean Congress) in its momentous Agreement of 23 August 1973 (there was also a statement to the same effect from the Supreme Court).
In this Agreement, it is presented a list of the legal and constitutional violations of President Allende's government and it is agreed to "make representations" of this "grave breach of the legal and constitutional order of the Republic" to, among other authorities, "the Armed Forces". At the same time it agrees to "make representations to them that, by virtue of their function, of their oath to remaim faithful to the Constitution and the law, ... it is up to them to put immediate end to all the situations referred to above, which infringe the Constitution and the law".
Since no feasible mechanism existed in the Chilean Constitution to remove a President who had lost his democratic nature, the House of Deputies, with the support of all the representatives of then Christian Democratic Party, "made representations" to the Armed Forces that "it was up to them to put immediate end" to this grave situation. This was, in fact, an inequivocal call to remove President Allende.
The Armed Forces, led by the person who was then the Commander in Chief of the Army, General Augusto Pinochet, complied with the Agreemend of the House of Deputies eighteen days later, on 11 September 1973.
Therefore the origins of the military government were as "democratic" as it was possible in a revolutionary process in which only the use of force was left in order to remove a tyrant. And, as Benjamin Franklin, one of the signatories of the Declaration of Independence of the United States, once said, "rebellion against a tyrant is obedience to God".
When a President elected by a third of the population is removed, and especially if his government has fomented the creation of armed militias, it is inevitable that a state of "civil war" should ensue. In some countries conflicts of this nature have produced hundreds of thousands of victims. For example, the Spanish civil war brought one million deaths. Even the United States civil war, also the product of a Constitution which was not clear concerning whether the right for a state to opt out of the Union existed or not, resulted, more than a century ago now, in 650,000 deaths (more than the total of the fallen in all U.S. wars of the 20th century).
Lamenting each one of the victims, Chileans and foreigners, who fell in Chile, and condemning each one of the abuses which both sides committed in the embryonic civil war which lasted for years, it is important to point out that the Chilean revolution produced a minimal number of deaths when compared to any historic standard. Even the Report of the Commission which President Aylwin's government, antagonistic to President Pinochet's, set up (the so-called "Rettig Report"), concluded that in the 17 year period around 2,000 people died.
Of course, there were some unnecessary and unjust restrictions on individual rights during President Pinochet's government. I denounced them, not without receiving personal attacks in a country in which reigned the unconditionality of some and the fanaticism of others, in this very publication on many occasions (see www.economiaysociedad.com the article "What Jose
Piñera said about democracy and human rights during the military government?"). For which reason, I can affirm with the same independence that, although some policies of the government,
such as exile, were unjust and unnecessary, the deaths out of combat and the disappearances still not cleared up today were excesses of the intelligence services in their fight against terrorism and those whom they considered the terrorists' allies.
The guilty should have the full rigour of the relevant laws applied to them, and that is exactly why, at this present time, the General who was head of the DINA (National Intelligence Service) when these violations were committed is in prison serving a seven year sentence. But to try to blame some of these specific acts on ex President Pinochet is absolutely unjustified and, therefore, his arrest in London has not only trampled underfoot that priciple of diplomatic immunity, but also constitutes a grave breach of his human rights.
In addition to the successful economic transformation carried out by his government, the momentous achievement which meant avoiding a war with Argentina, and the voluntary transition to a democratic government, the historical truth demands recognition that Presidente Pinochet led a legitimate rebellion against tyranny and that during his government the price was a minimal cost in human lives, the majority the result of the quasi civil war.
If there is a document which should be read at this point in time, it is the historical Agreement of the House of Deputies of 23 August 1973. I have called it the "Declaration of the Breakdown of Chile's Democracy". pensionreform.org
I ask you to circulate it widely, especially among the young, so that the attempts to falsify history do not triumph.
By so iniciating a campaign to reestablish the historic truth about this key moment in Chile's history, we will not only be serving our country, but also helping the ex President whose government saved Chile, and who today lies, at the age of 82, in his sick bed, kidnapped illegally and cowardly by the neo-socialist British government.
José Piñera |
