A retired general in Chile killed himself on Tuesday (August 29) before his conviction for 1973 murder of beloved folk singer Victor Jara, said the attorney general's office. The murder had taken place in the aftermath of the military coup that installed dictator Augusto Pinochet.

Hernan Chacon, 85, was among seven former soldiers who had jail terms confirmed on Monday after an appeal.&nbsp;

Prosecutor Claudio Suazo said that Chacon "took a firearm, firing a shot that caused his death" when police went to his home to bring him to prison.

The singer Jara, 40, was arrested the day after the September 11, 1973, CIA-backed coup that overthrew Salvador Allende.&nbsp;

His body was found days later, riddled with 44 bullets. He had been held, along with some 5,000 other political prisoners, in a sports stadium where he was interrogated, tortured and killed.&nbsp;

The singer-guitarist's fingers were crushed by rifle butts and boots,&nbsp;among other horrors.

Jara was a member of Chile's Communist Party and a fervent supporter of the Popular Unity coalition that backed Marxist president Allende, who came to power by popular vote in 1970.&nbsp;

The body of a fellow detainee, Littre Quiroga (33) was found with signs of torture near that of Jara.

The ruling on Monday confirmed 15-year sentences for Jara's murder and another 10 years for their kidnapping. The sentences were to be handed to Chacon and five other ex-army officials.

Eight year sentence was handed to another former soldier for the role he played in cover-up of the crimes.

Jara was known for his pacifist views. The lyrics of his songs spoke of love and social protest. The singer became an icon of Latin American music. "The right to live in peace"&nbsp;is one of his popular songs.

He inspired musicians from U2 to Bob Dylan, and at a 2013 concert in Santiago, Bruce Springsteen paid tribute to him.&nbsp;

Pinochet was ruler of Chile until 1990. He died in 2006. He was never convicted for crimes committed by his regime. It is believed that the regime is responsible for killing 3200 leftist activists and other opponents.

A few days ahead of the anniversary of the coup, the Supreme Court on Tuesday posthumously bestowed the title of lawyer on eight people murdered under Pinochet -- including Allende's former interior minister Jose Toha.&nbsp;

(With inputs from agencies)

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A retired general in Chile killed himself on Tuesday (August 29) before his conviction for 1973 murder of beloved folk singer Victor Jara, said the attorney general's office.

A retired general in Chile killed himself on Tuesday (August 29) before his conviction for 1973 murder of beloved folk singer Victor Jara, said the attorney general's office. The murder had taken place in the aftermath of the military coup that installed dictator Augusto Pinochet. Hernan Chacon, 85, was among seven former soldiers who had jail terms confirmed on Monday after an appeal. Prosecutor Claudio Suazo said that Chacon "took a firearm, firing a shot that caused his death" when police went to his home to bring him to prison. The singer Jara, 40, was arrested the day after the September 11, 1973, CIA-backed coup that overthrew Salvador Allende. His body was found days later, riddled with 44 bullets. He had been held, along with some 5,000 other political prisoners, in a sports stadium where he was interrogated, tortured and killed. The singer-guitarist's fingers were crushed by rifle butts and boots, among other horrors. Jara was a member of Chile's Communist Party and a fervent supporter of the Popular Unity coalition that backed Marxist president Allende, who came to power by popular vote in 1970. The body of a fellow detainee, Littre Quiroga (33) was found with signs of torture near that of Jara. The ruling on Monday confirmed 15-year sentences for Jara's murder and another 10 years for their kidnapping. The sentences were to be handed to Chacon and five other ex-army officials. Eight year sentence was handed to another former soldier for the role he played in cover-up of the crimes. Jara was known for his pacifist views. The lyrics of his songs spoke of love and social protest. The singer became an icon of Latin American music. "The right to live in peace" is one of his popular songs. He inspired musicians from U2 to Bob Dylan, and at a 2013 concert in Santiago, Bruce Springsteen paid tribute to him. Pinochet was ruler of Chile until 1990. He died in 2006. He was never convicted for crimes committed by his regime. It is believed that the regime is responsible for killing 3200 leftist activists and other opponents. A few days ahead of the anniversary of the coup, the Supreme Court on Tuesday posthumously bestowed the title of lawyer on eight people murdered under Pinochet -- including Allende's former interior minister Jose Toha. (With inputs from agencies) You can now write for wionews.com and be a part of the community. Share your stories and opinions with us here. WATCH WION LIVE HERE ×

Chilean general, to be jailed for 1973 murder of folk singer Victor Jara, kills himself 

Chilean lawmakers agreed late on Wednesday to fast-track reforms to beef up security, warning that a resurgence in violence and vandalism was threatening to derail the country's 30-year-old democracy.

<a href="https://www.wionews.com/world/as-chiles-violent-unrest-enters-into-fifth-week-death-toll-rises-to-23-263990">Five weeks of unrest</a> over inequality and shabby social services have left at least 26 dead and more than 13,500 injured, prosecutors said. Riots have hobbled the capital's public transport system, once the envy of Latin America, and caused billions in losses for private business.

The deal, struck between ruling party and opposition lawmakers, acknowledged the government had done too little, too late to stem the crisis. "The country is confronting a crisis of violence and vandalism that threatens our democracy," begins the two-page document.

A fresh round of attacks and rioting earlier this week sent Chile's peso plummeting to a new low against the dollar at the market close on Wednesday. Forecasts for economic growth and unemployment are increasingly grim.

President <a href="https://www.wionews.com/world/police-may-have-violated-protocols-chiles-president-pinera-263751">Sebastian Pinera </a>urged Congress earlier on Wednesday to push forward with bills he introduced weeks ago to ramp up intelligence gathering and toughen penalties against still-rampant looting and destruction.

"Violence is causing harm that may become irreparable to the body and soul of our society," Pinera said from the La Moneda presidential palace.

Lawmakers agreed in the Wednesday-night deal to push forward with "resolve" the security reforms, urging Pinera to use the "constitutional tools" at his disposal to quell the violence, while protecting human rights.

Similar riots have erupted in countries across Latin America, including <a href="https://www.wionews.com/world/colombia-holds-another-national-strike-as-week-of-protests-rolls-on-264843">Colombia</a>, Ecuador and Bolivia in recent months as unrest has spiraled into violence and demands for political, social and economic reforms.

Chile´s Interior Ministry reported that police arrested 915 people Tuesday, while the number of "serious incidents" overnight had nearly doubled from the previous day.

Vandals looted a major hotel in the seaside tourist city of La Serena, turning over tables, ripping paintings off walls and breaking windows. Protesters also targeted upscale areas of Santiago, marching through a shopping mall in the ritzy mountainside suburb of La Dehesa earlier in the week and another in Las Condes on Wednesday.

Officials had shut key commuter metro stations by mid-afternoon Wednesday throughout the capital's business area, known as Sanhattan for its gleaming skyscrapers and designer stores, as protests grew.

Pinera's efforts to quell the violence have so far come up short, despite promises to beef up pensions, the minimum wage and healthcare benefits. The country's normally fractious political parties have agreed to work together on a new constitution, though differences remain.

Protests appear driven by mistrust that politicians will keep their promises to bring significant change, and enduring fury over police handling of demonstrators.

Chilean lawmakers agreed late on Wednesday to fast-track reforms to beef up security, warning that a resurgence in violence and vandalism was threatening to derail the country's 30-year-old democracy.

Chilean lawmakers agreed late on Wednesday to fast-track reforms to beef up security, warning that a resurgence in violence and vandalism was threatening to derail the country's 30-year-old democracy. Five weeks of unrest over inequality and shabby social services have left at least 26 dead and more than 13,500 injured, prosecutors said. Riots have hobbled the capital's public transport system, once the envy of Latin America, and caused billions in losses for private business. The deal, struck between ruling party and opposition lawmakers, acknowledged the government had done too little, too late to stem the crisis. "The country is confronting a crisis of violence and vandalism that threatens our democracy," begins the two-page document. A fresh round of attacks and rioting earlier this week sent Chile's peso plummeting to a new low against the dollar at the market close on Wednesday. Forecasts for economic growth and unemployment are increasingly grim. President Sebastian Pinera urged Congress earlier on Wednesday to push forward with bills he introduced weeks ago to ramp up intelligence gathering and toughen penalties against still-rampant looting and destruction. "Violence is causing harm that may become irreparable to the body and soul of our society," Pinera said from the La Moneda presidential palace. Lawmakers agreed in the Wednesday-night deal to push forward with "resolve" the security reforms, urging Pinera to use the "constitutional tools" at his disposal to quell the violence, while protecting human rights. Similar riots have erupted in countries across Latin America, including Colombia, Ecuador and Bolivia in recent months as unrest has spiraled into violence and demands for political, social and economic reforms. Chile´s Interior Ministry reported that police arrested 915 people Tuesday, while the number of "serious incidents" overnight had nearly doubled from the previous day. Vandals looted a major hotel in the seaside tourist city of La Serena, turning over tables, ripping paintings off walls and breaking windows. Protesters also targeted upscale areas of Santiago, marching through a shopping mall in the ritzy mountainside suburb of La Dehesa earlier in the week and another in Las Condes on Wednesday. Officials had shut key commuter metro stations by mid-afternoon Wednesday throughout the capital's business area, known as Sanhattan for its gleaming skyscrapers and designer stores, as protests grew. Pinera's efforts to quell the violence have so far come up short, despite promises to beef up pensions, the minimum wage and healthcare benefits. The country's normally fractious political parties have agreed to work together on a new constitution, though differences remain. Protests appear driven by mistrust that politicians will keep their promises to bring significant change, and enduring fury over police handling of demonstrators.

Chilean lawmakers warn democracy at stake as violence spikes

After several weeks of massive protest Chilean lawmakers agree on referendum to replace Pinochet era constitution. Watch this video to find out more in details.

After several weeks of massive protest Chilean lawmakers agree on referendum

Chile has announced it will move to draft a new constitution and replace one dating back to the Augusto Pinochet dictatorship, a <a href="https://www.wionews.com/photos/constitutional-conundrum-why-chileans-demand-to-change-their-constitution-260474">key demand of protesters </a>who have rocked the country for three weeks.

The new constitution will be drafted by a body called a constituent assembly and then put to a referendum for ratification, Interior Minister Gonzalo Blumel said Sunday.

Blumel made the announcement after meeting a coalition of center-right and right-wing parties, which until now had been the most reluctant to change the constitution inherited from the era of the US-backed general Pinochet, from 1973 to 1990.

The government was in the process of preparing "a draft amendment of the constitution", President Sebastian Pinera said in an interview published Saturday by the daily El Mercurio.

Among the proposed changes are "a better definition of human rights" and their means of enforcement, plus clarification on "the obligations of the state" and "better mechanisms of participation" for citizens, added the president.

The current constitution, in force since 1980, has already undergone more than 200 changes in more than 40 articles, Pinera said.

But it does not establish the state's responsibility to provide education and healthcare,&nbsp;two demands made by millions of Chileans who have taken to the streets.

A general public sector strike has been called on Monday, in the midst of the biggest crisis since Chile's return to democracy in 1990, which has left 20 dead,&nbsp;five at the hands of state forces,&nbsp;and more than 1,000 injured.

The <a href="https://www.wionews.com/world/protesters-in-chile-set-fire-to-university-loot-church-260963">unrest</a> that began on October 18 with protests against a rise in rush-hour metro fares has mushroomed into a broader outcry against the status quo, with burning, looting and daily clashes between demonstrators and police.

Protesters cite low wages, high costs for education and healthcare and a yawning gap between rich and poor in a country dominated politically and economically by a few old, elite families.

After weeks of sometimes violent and deadly demonstrations, most polls show the protest movement is supported by 75 percent of Chileans.

A similar number,&nbsp;87 percent, according to a survey by pollster Cadem published early this month,&nbsp;also say they favour the protesters' demand for constitutional reforms.

A few days after Pinera became president in March 2018, his government announced it would not allow the consideration of a bill to amend the constitution that the previous president, the socialist Michelle Bachelet (2014-2018), had submitted to congress.

Chile has announced it will move to draft a new constitution and replace one dating back to the Augusto Pinochet dictatorship, a key demand of protesters who have rocked the country for three weeks.

Chile has announced it will move to draft a new constitution and replace one dating back to the Augusto Pinochet dictatorship, a key demand of protesters who have rocked the country for three weeks. The new constitution will be drafted by a body called a constituent assembly and then put to a referendum for ratification, Interior Minister Gonzalo Blumel said Sunday. Blumel made the announcement after meeting a coalition of center-right and right-wing parties, which until now had been the most reluctant to change the constitution inherited from the era of the US-backed general Pinochet, from 1973 to 1990. The government was in the process of preparing "a draft amendment of the constitution", President Sebastian Pinera said in an interview published Saturday by the daily El Mercurio. Among the proposed changes are "a better definition of human rights" and their means of enforcement, plus clarification on "the obligations of the state" and "better mechanisms of participation" for citizens, added the president. The current constitution, in force since 1980, has already undergone more than 200 changes in more than 40 articles, Pinera said. But it does not establish the state's responsibility to provide education and healthcare, two demands made by millions of Chileans who have taken to the streets. A general public sector strike has been called on Monday, in the midst of the biggest crisis since Chile's return to democracy in 1990, which has left 20 dead, five at the hands of state forces, and more than 1,000 injured. The unrest that began on October 18 with protests against a rise in rush-hour metro fares has mushroomed into a broader outcry against the status quo, with burning, looting and daily clashes between demonstrators and police. Protesters cite low wages, high costs for education and healthcare and a yawning gap between rich and poor in a country dominated politically and economically by a few old, elite families. After weeks of sometimes violent and deadly demonstrations, most polls show the protest movement is supported by 75 percent of Chileans. A similar number, 87 percent, according to a survey by pollster Cadem published early this month, also say they favour the protesters' demand for constitutional reforms. A few days after Pinera became president in March 2018, his government announced it would not allow the consideration of a bill to amend the constitution that the previous president, the socialist Michelle Bachelet (2014-2018), had submitted to congress.

Chile to amend constitution, a key demand of protesters

Support for&nbsp;Chile's Sebastian Pinera has plunged to just 14per cent&nbsp;amid recent unrest, according to a poll published on Sunday, the lowest approval rating for a&nbsp;Chilean president since the country's return to democracy three decades ago.

The survey, published in local daily La Tercera, was conducted by&nbsp;Chilean pollster Cadem between Wednesday and Thursday. It came just before a rally that saw <a href="https://www.wionews.com/world/chilean-president-vows-major-reshuffle-after-week-of-protests-258314">1 million&nbsp;Chileans</a>, or just under one-fifth the city's population, take to the streets Friday to call for reforms to the country's social and economic model.

Daily La Tercera called Pinera's 14per cent&nbsp;approval rating a "historical minimum," and the lowest since the 1973-1990 military rule of dictator Augusto Pinochet. More than three-quarters of&nbsp;Chileans disapproved of the centre-right Pinera's administration, the poll found.

Chile, the world's top copper producer, has long been one of the region's most prosperous and stable free-market economies. But entrenched inequality and spiralling costs of living ignited massive, and sometimes violent,<a href="https://www.wionews.com/videos/chile-anti-govt-protests-escalate-258114"> protests</a> last week.

Similar scenes have played out in cities across the world in recent months, from <a href="https://www.wionews.com/world/protests-erupt-in-hong-kong-police-fire-tear-gas-to-clear-rally-258401">Hong Kong</a> to Beirut to Barcelona, sharing in common anger at ruling elites.

In&nbsp;Chile, a hike in subway fares more than a week ago proved the breaking point. Small protests quickly boiled over into riots that have killed at least 17 people, resulted in more than 7,000 arrests and caused upwards of $1.4 billion in losses to&nbsp;Chilean businesses.

Pinera, a billionaire businessman, last week called for a new "social pact," to stem the unrest. He promised higher taxes on the rich to help boost the minimum wage and pensions, lower the prices of medicines and assure proper health insurance.

The Cadem poll found that 80 per cent&nbsp;of&nbsp;Chileans did not think his reforms were adequate.

Roberto Izikson, a pollster and political scientist with Cadem, told Reuters Pinera's ratings were already trending downwards before the protests began.

"We will see how the government plays the last few cards it holds to confront this new scenario," Izikson said.

The centre-right Pinera trounced the leftist opposition during 2017 elections. But mass rallies forcing Pinera to change his tone and upend his policy goals.

On Saturday, Pinera promised a major cabinet shake-up, though he has yet to announce details.

Support for Chile's Sebastian Pinera has plunged to just 14per cent amid recent unrest, according to a poll published on Sunday, the lowest approval rating for a Chilean president since the country's return to democracy three decades ago.

Support for Chile's Sebastian Pinera has plunged to just 14per cent amid recent unrest, according to a poll published on Sunday, the lowest approval rating for a Chilean president since the country's return to democracy three decades ago. The survey, published in local daily La Tercera, was conducted by Chilean pollster Cadem between Wednesday and Thursday. It came just before a rally that saw 1 million Chileans, or just under one-fifth the city's population, take to the streets Friday to call for reforms to the country's social and economic model. Daily La Tercera called Pinera's 14per cent approval rating a "historical minimum," and the lowest since the 1973-1990 military rule of dictator Augusto Pinochet. More than three-quarters of Chileans disapproved of the centre-right Pinera's administration, the poll found. Chile, the world's top copper producer, has long been one of the region's most prosperous and stable free-market economies. But entrenched inequality and spiralling costs of living ignited massive, and sometimes violent, protests last week. Similar scenes have played out in cities across the world in recent months, from Hong Kong to Beirut to Barcelona, sharing in common anger at ruling elites. In Chile, a hike in subway fares more than a week ago proved the breaking point. Small protests quickly boiled over into riots that have killed at least 17 people, resulted in more than 7,000 arrests and caused upwards of $1.4 billion in losses to Chilean businesses. Pinera, a billionaire businessman, last week called for a new "social pact," to stem the unrest. He promised higher taxes on the rich to help boost the minimum wage and pensions, lower the prices of medicines and assure proper health insurance. The Cadem poll found that 80 per cent of Chileans did not think his reforms were adequate. Roberto Izikson, a pollster and political scientist with Cadem, told Reuters Pinera's ratings were already trending downwards before the protests began. "We will see how the government plays the last few cards it holds to confront this new scenario," Izikson said. The centre-right Pinera trounced the leftist opposition during 2017 elections. But mass rallies forcing Pinera to change his tone and upend his policy goals. On Saturday, Pinera promised a major cabinet shake-up, though he has yet to announce details.

Support for Chile President Pinera lowest since Pinochet era: Poll

&nbsp;The Andes Mountains are the longest mountain range in the world, dominating South America.&nbsp;They continue north through Central America and Mexico to become the Rocky Mountains of the United States and Canada.&nbsp;In South America, the Andes has numerous peaks over 5,000 meters, so it is quite a formidable range.&nbsp;The Republic of Chile is a narrow strip of land from the Andes to the Pacific Ocean, 4,270 km in length but with an average width of only 177 km and relatively isolated from its neighbours by the towering mountains to the east, the dry Atacama desert in the north, and the waters of the Pacific to the south and west.

Because of its unique geography, the territory was sparsely settled before Spanish conquest and colonisation, so that today the population is as much European as indigenous in origin. Copper mining has been a mainstay of the economy and in 1905 the US-owned Anaconda Copper Company came to control most of the production, so that through the course of the 20th century, copper provided the bulk of Chile&rsquo;s exports and Anaconda Copper dominated economy and politics.

&nbsp;With booming copper exports and a relatively small population, Chile enjoyed a generally higher standard of living than its neighbours but still suffered from underdevelopment, lack of industrialisation, low wages, mass poverty, and extreme inequality of wealth and power.&nbsp; A small, mostly white oligarchy retained control of politics.&nbsp;Following a military coup in 1924 and a subsequent return to democracy, Leftist political parties slowly became more popular, in large part influenced by radicalised copper miners and their increasingly militant trade unions.&nbsp;In 1970, a coalition of the Socialist and Communist parties elected Dr Salvador Allende, a physician, to the presidency.

&nbsp;I started graduate study in history at UCLA that same year, with a concentration in Latin American labour history.&nbsp;I passed my Ph.D. exams in May 1973 with a dissertation project on Chile because it seemed to have the most successful labour movement in Latin America, one that had brought a socialist into the presidency.&nbsp; I received a Doherty fellowship to go to Chile for a year for archival research towards the dissertation and arrived in Santiago, the capital, in late August 1973.&nbsp; I had taught myself to read Spanish in graduate school but could hardly speak anything except the rudiments, and certainly didn&rsquo;t know a single person in the country when I arrived.

&nbsp;On the morning of September 11, 1973, I left my apartment and headed downtown for the National Archives, where I was beginning my research on the origins of the Chilean labour movement.&nbsp;On the walk there, I noticed many military tanks on the streets and when I reached the Archives, located across the street from the National Palace, I found it closed for reasons I didn&rsquo;t understand at the moment. &nbsp;

Suddenly, all hell broke loose as the tanks I had seen earlier opened fire on the Palace where President Allende was, military jets flew overhead, and with militants trying to defend the president, the area turned into a war zone.&nbsp; I dived under a car parked on the street in front of the Archives to avoid getting shot, then realised if I stayed there, I&rsquo;d probably die, so I took off running.&nbsp; &nbsp;

A full-scale civil war was under way, bullets and rockets were flying about, people all around me were dropping, and it was just random who lived and who died.&nbsp; I made it out of the fire zone and back to my apartment, where my neighbour told me that there was a military coup underway.&nbsp;

&nbsp;I was probably the only person in the entire country unaware of the coup that morning as I had no radio, no television, no friends, hardly any acquaintances.&nbsp; With the news of the military uprising, which I had just witnessed minutes earlier, I was scared and didn&rsquo;t know what to do, so I went to the apartment of an American graduate student I had met in the archives. He spoke English and had been in the country for a year, so I thought I might get some advice. &nbsp;

He told me that there was a 24-hour military curfew, which meant that I was trapped at his place for the time being.&nbsp; And there I was when a few days later there was a loud knock on the door followed by dozens of soldiers pouring into his apartment.&nbsp;They grabbed us, dragged us out to the courtyard of the apartment complex, and immediately began to beat us, stomp on us, cut us with bayonets, pound us with rifle butts, threaten us with machine&nbsp;guns in the ear, occasionally stopping to ask questions.&nbsp; Of course, with my meager Spanish and scared to death, I couldn&rsquo;t understand anything, but they interpreted my silence as resistance and redoubled the beatings. &nbsp;

After some hours of this, they dragged us off to a prisoner bus parked nearby which they were filling with folks mostly in the same condition as us. &nbsp;Just before the bus took off, an officer came up to the two American prisoners, handed us our American passports that they had discovered in the process of tearing up my friend&rsquo;s apartment, apologised and said we could go.&nbsp; From the looks of it, since we were not permitted to talk with the other prisoners, we were the only Americans on the bus, the rest apparently Chileans or Latin Americans.&nbsp; The bus left and to the best of my knowledge, my fellow prisoners were taken off to torture and death.&nbsp;If I had to guess, they didn&rsquo;t want to kill US citizens.

&nbsp;A few days later, the curfew lifted and I went to the U.S. embassy, which then put me on the first embassy-arranged flight out of Chile, a shaky DC-4 flying over the towering Andes to safety in Buenos Aires, Argentina, where after a week in a seedy hotel and without money, I was able to get a flight back to Los Angeles.&nbsp; The torture had taken its toll, I suffered internal injuries and bleeding and needed time to heal, along with the psychological scars.&nbsp; After a couple of months, I regained my health, still needed to write a dissertation and had not spent much of the fellowship money in Chile, so in December I went to Mexico City to see if I could figure out a topic on a country I had never studied and about which I knew nothing.

At the time of the coup and for some time after that, I didn&rsquo;t really understand what had happened in Chile except the basics.&nbsp;The Chilean oligarchy had aligned with the armed forces to tear down, smash democracy and terrorise the civilian population through mass torture and mass murder.&nbsp; Over time, reports began to filter in about U.S. participation in destroying Chile&rsquo;s Constitutional government and the extent and depth of the torture regime that the leader of the coup, General Augusto Pinochet, implemented. &nbsp;

Some years later, in 2007, Naomi Klein published The Shock Doctrine, The Rise of Disaster Capitalism, a brilliant volume that for me was an eye opener.&nbsp;It explained how the U.S. orchestrated the rise of neoliberalism and austerity programmes via military coups throughout Latin America:&nbsp;Argentina (1976), Brazil (1964), Chile (1973), and Uruguay (1973), along with similar actions around the world. However,&nbsp;I was most interested in the chapter on Chile, the details of which both explained the coup and brought back the horror I had experienced. &nbsp;

Torture was only a tool to subdue the local population, to allow such neoliberal policies as breaking the unions, imposing austerity, carrying out free market reforms which inevitably punished the poor.&nbsp; With U.S. planning and support, the new military governments freely employed torture, murder, and repression as methods to achieve unpopular economic policies.&nbsp; The books strikingly emphasised the role of then U.S. Secretary of State Henry Kissinger in working with Pinochet to organise the coup.&nbsp; It is a powerful book and given what I lived through, accurate in its account.

&nbsp;Pinochet remained in power until 1990, and though the country eventually returned to democracy, the Socialists, Communists, and trade unions never recovered their influence. Too many people had been tortured and killed.&nbsp; Personally, I had no interest in going back, had fallen in love with Mexico, where I lived and ended up teaching at the university until 1984, when I returned to the U.S. with my Mexican wife. &nbsp;

Chile had taught me that, however, old a democracy may be, when the rich and powerful feel threatened, they will act.&nbsp; It won&rsquo;t be peaceful and it won&rsquo;t be nice. Growing up in the United States simply had not prepared me for the world outside. As it turns out, according to the Shock Doctrine, for the machinations of a government that I thought I knew, but in truth, did not know at all.

The coup in Chile taught me that, however, old a democracy may be, when the rich and powerful feel threatened, they will act.

The Andes Mountains are the longest mountain range in the world, dominating South America. They continue north through Central America and Mexico to become the Rocky Mountains of the United States and Canada. In South America, the Andes has numerous peaks over 5,000 meters, so it is quite a formidable range. The Republic of Chile is a narrow strip of land from the Andes to the Pacific Ocean, 4,270 km in length but with an average width of only 177 km and relatively isolated from its neighbours by the towering mountains to the east, the dry Atacama desert in the north, and the waters of the Pacific to the south and west. Because of its unique geography, the territory was sparsely settled before Spanish conquest and colonisation, so that today the population is as much European as indigenous in origin. Copper mining has been a mainstay of the economy and in 1905 the US-owned Anaconda Copper Company came to control most of the production, so that through the course of the 20th century, copper provided the bulk of Chile’s exports and Anaconda Copper dominated economy and politics. With booming copper exports and a relatively small population, Chile enjoyed a generally higher standard of living than its neighbours but still suffered from underdevelopment, lack of industrialisation, low wages, mass poverty, and extreme inequality of wealth and power. A small, mostly white oligarchy retained control of politics. Following a military coup in 1924 and a subsequent return to democracy, Leftist political parties slowly became more popular, in large part influenced by radicalised copper miners and their increasingly militant trade unions. In 1970, a coalition of the Socialist and Communist parties elected Dr Salvador Allende, a physician, to the presidency. I started graduate study in history at UCLA that same year, with a concentration in Latin American labour history. I passed my Ph.D. exams in May 1973 with a dissertation project on Chile because it seemed to have the most successful labour movement in Latin America, one that had brought a socialist into the presidency. I received a Doherty fellowship to go to Chile for a year for archival research towards the dissertation and arrived in Santiago, the capital, in late August 1973. I had taught myself to read Spanish in graduate school but could hardly speak anything except the rudiments, and certainly didn’t know a single person in the country when I arrived. On the morning of September 11, 1973, I left my apartment and headed downtown for the National Archives, where I was beginning my research on the origins of the Chilean labour movement. On the walk there, I noticed many military tanks on the streets and when I reached the Archives, located across the street from the National Palace, I found it closed for reasons I didn’t understand at the moment. Suddenly, all hell broke loose as the tanks I had seen earlier opened fire on the Palace where President Allende was, military jets flew overhead, and with militants trying to defend the president, the area turned into a war zone. I dived under a car parked on the street in front of the Archives to avoid getting shot, then realised if I stayed there, I’d probably die, so I took off running. A full-scale civil war was under way, bullets and rockets were flying about, people all around me were dropping, and it was just random who lived and who died. I made it out of the fire zone and back to my apartment, where my neighbour told me that there was a military coup underway. I was probably the only person in the entire country unaware of the coup that morning as I had no radio, no television, no friends, hardly any acquaintances. With the news of the military uprising, which I had just witnessed minutes earlier, I was scared and didn’t know what to do, so I went to the apartment of an American graduate student I had met in the archives. He spoke English and had been in the country for a year, so I thought I might get some advice. He told me that there was a 24-hour military curfew, which meant that I was trapped at his place for the time being. And there I was when a few days later there was a loud knock on the door followed by dozens of soldiers pouring into his apartment. They grabbed us, dragged us out to the courtyard of the apartment complex, and immediately began to beat us, stomp on us, cut us with bayonets, pound us with rifle butts, threaten us with machine guns in the ear, occasionally stopping to ask questions. Of course, with my meager Spanish and scared to death, I couldn’t understand anything, but they interpreted my silence as resistance and redoubled the beatings. After some hours of this, they dragged us off to a prisoner bus parked nearby which they were filling with folks mostly in the same condition as us. Just before the bus took off, an officer came up to the two American prisoners, handed us our American passports that they had discovered in the process of tearing up my friend’s apartment, apologised and said we could go. From the looks of it, since we were not permitted to talk with the other prisoners, we were the only Americans on the bus, the rest apparently Chileans or Latin Americans. The bus left and to the best of my knowledge, my fellow prisoners were taken off to torture and death. If I had to guess, they didn’t want to kill US citizens. A few days later, the curfew lifted and I went to the U.S. embassy, which then put me on the first embassy-arranged flight out of Chile, a shaky DC-4 flying over the towering Andes to safety in Buenos Aires, Argentina, where after a week in a seedy hotel and without money, I was able to get a flight back to Los Angeles. The torture had taken its toll, I suffered internal injuries and bleeding and needed time to heal, along with the psychological scars. After a couple of months, I regained my health, still needed to write a dissertation and had not spent much of the fellowship money in Chile, so in December I went to Mexico City to see if I could figure out a topic on a country I had never studied and about which I knew nothing. At the time of the coup and for some time after that, I didn’t really understand what had happened in Chile except the basics. The Chilean oligarchy had aligned with the armed forces to tear down, smash democracy and terrorise the civilian population through mass torture and mass murder. Over time, reports began to filter in about U.S. participation in destroying Chile’s Constitutional government and the extent and depth of the torture regime that the leader of the coup, General Augusto Pinochet, implemented. Some years later, in 2007, Naomi Klein published The Shock Doctrine, The Rise of Disaster Capitalism, a brilliant volume that for me was an eye opener. It explained how the U.S. orchestrated the rise of neoliberalism and austerity programmes via military coups throughout Latin America: Argentina (1976), Brazil (1964), Chile (1973), and Uruguay (1973), along with similar actions around the world. However, I was most interested in the chapter on Chile, the details of which both explained the coup and brought back the horror I had experienced. Torture was only a tool to subdue the local population, to allow such neoliberal policies as breaking the unions, imposing austerity, carrying out free market reforms which inevitably punished the poor. With U.S. planning and support, the new military governments freely employed torture, murder, and repression as methods to achieve unpopular economic policies. The books strikingly emphasised the role of then U.S. Secretary of State Henry Kissinger in working with Pinochet to organise the coup. It is a powerful book and given what I lived through, accurate in its account. Pinochet remained in power until 1990, and though the country eventually returned to democracy, the Socialists, Communists, and trade unions never recovered their influence. Too many people had been tortured and killed. Personally, I had no interest in going back, had fallen in love with Mexico, where I lived and ended up teaching at the university until 1984, when I returned to the U.S. with my Mexican wife. Chile had taught me that, however, old a democracy may be, when the rich and powerful feel threatened, they will act. It won’t be peaceful and it won’t be nice. Growing up in the United States simply had not prepared me for the world outside. As it turns out, according to the Shock Doctrine, for the machinations of a government that I thought I knew, but in truth, did not know at all.

September 11 in Chile: A personal account of torture and mass murder

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