Duration 13:53
The Awful Story of South America's Most Evil Dictator
Published 18 Dec 2021
This is the story of state terror in Argentina in the ‘70s and ‘80s: what is traditionally called the “Dirty War.” It’s the story of how a military regime, led mainly by a dictator named Jorge Videla, tortured and killed tens of thousands of people while implementing neoliberal economic “reforms.” But it’s also the story of how they were helped along in that process by people like Henry Kissinger and Elliot Abrams – and how those accomplices were never punished. Pablo Pryluka, PhD student in Latin American history at Princeton University, explains. Citations: shorturl.at/fwBY6 These videos are 100 percent funded by small donations from people like you. And we really need your help. So if you can, join us on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/gravelinstitute Or, if you prefer, give a one-time donation: https://secure.actblue.com/donate/gi-youtube/?refcode=VIDEO&amount=4.20 And if you want, get some Institute merch: https://merch.gravelinstitute.org/ 0:00 Argentina's coup 2:25 State terror 6:11 Economic "reform" 7:52 American support 10:52 The regime falls 13:15 Credits
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In our case, extreme inequality and poverty lead to the election of President Salvador Allende, a socialist and the first Marxist to ever be democratically elected. Allendes government immediately set out to redistribute wealth, reform healthcare (his reforms as both President and his prior reforms as health minister were so effective that despite all that happened after, his reforms are the reason 91% of Chileans are fully vaccinated against COVID), nationalize our main natural resource (copper), reform education, and tried to unify the communist activists and party with his party, the socialist party, and center-left parties like the Democracia Cristiana (DC)(Cristian Democracy).
In response, the US sent in the CIA to coordinate right-wing resistance and propaganda (including right-wing newspaper El Mercurio) and support the Chilean armed forces. They helped the nascent fascist activist group Patria y Libertad grow to prominence so that they could act as brown shirts, helped fund trucker strikes to internally sabotage the economy, externally blockaded the country financially, worked to make the DC hostile to Allende, helped get Allendes loyalist head of the army assassinated, and caused a fake shortage of goods so that breadlines and inflation would happen, among other things. Eventually, Allende declared hed do a public referendum to decide if he should stay or if new elections should happen. Initially, he wanted to do (or announce? Can't remember) this referendum on the 11th of September, 1973, however his new head of armed forces, General Augusto Pinochet, convinced Allende to move it forward a few days.
The reason became clear on the 11th of September, 1973: the Chilean navy blockaded and invaded our main port city of Valparaiso, and the Chilean army besieged the government building, La Moneda, while two Chilean airforce bombers bombarded La Moneda. Allende, refusing to surrender, committed suicide after one last public broadcast, and then it was revealed that Augusto Pinochet was a leading member of the cue, becoming Chiles dictator.
This is where it becomes familiar to Argentina: people were kidnapped, tortured, raped, and killed in an attempt to purge communism while the dictatorship implemented neoliberal policies by force, and Pinochet personally enriched himself through shady means.
This came to an end with a referendum on 1988 and subsequent democratic elections in 1989. Pinochet and many others would not be prosecuted, and he would die in his home, surrounded by family, of old age in 2006. The Constitution written during the dictatorship is still ongoing today (although we recently elected to change it, and a new one is in process of being written). This Sunday, we will see if we can finally unshackle from the legacy of Pinochet and the CIA by either electing a social democrat Gabriel Boric, or a Pinochet supporter. Wish us luck.
Edit: El Mercurio and the DC are still around and very influential in Chile. As for the artificial shortages, they were relieved the day of the 9/11 cue because soldiers found lots of unsold produce tucked away in storage rooms.
Edit 2: the channel 3 Arrows talks about the Brazilian dictatorship, if youre interested in seeing how Operation: Condor affected the rest of South America. (
Edit 3: Gabriel Boric has won a crushing victory against the Pinochet supporting candidate. .. ...Expand 1898
also america: 107
To note, a fall of intern food market in Argentina, a country specialized in agriculture.
This, display junta governement's incompetence. .. ...Expand 16
fantastic work. Thank you.
please consider doing some about places in the caribbean. 2