Welcome to Chile: Otherwise known as Anaconda Copper/CIA/Nixon's playground. This isthmus of fat to Argentina's NY Strip has spent the better part of 35 years recovering from US actions in a previously-stable, democratic nation. Chileans are fucked.
Chile was, until the 16th Century, part of the Inca dynasty. Then the Spanish came with a great deal on blankets, and the nation came under the rule of that nation. In 1810, Chile declared independence (and was mocked); then again in 1818 it claimed its independence (not mocked quite so much). Only after kicking the shit out of those military powers Peru and Bolivia (and taking a nice heaping of its northern lands) did Chile get taken seriously.
From that moment until 1969, things progressed smoothly. Then center-left beloved Allende gets elected, and -in a big time mistake- nationalizes Anaconda Copper. The Nixon administration (led by anti-Christ Kissinger) toppled the gov't in a military coup led by murderous bastard Pinochet. Enter the assassination of Allende, the soccer stadiums filled with executed prisoners and the use of "disappearances" as a political terrorism. In 1990 Pinochet was evicted, then arrested, then put on trial and died before he could face the music for his human rights abuses.
Ever since 1990, Chile has really been getting over its CIA-induced coup hangover. To the Chileans credit, they're not as fucked as they could be. Their government is stable, their currency has rebounded, and reasonably free representative elections are still held. Chile still exports a shitload of copper, some illegal drugs, and otherwise keeps a low-profile, except for the rocking capital of Santiago...one of the most luxuriant, Euro-style cities in the Western Hemisphere.
No comments:
Post a Comment