Quote:
Originally posted by Sidd Finch
You had a rather different opinion about the democratically elected regime in Chile, I recall.
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No I didn't - you should review my posts. All I said is that there is no question that Chile is better off because of Pinochet. Under Allende the economy was crashing. Because of the crisis his own economic policies were creating, Allende was putting curbs on liberties and the democracy (to deal with the crisis). Under Allende the clear result was going to be economic collapse and the subsequent authoritarian regime. Pinochet created an economic miracle in Chile and because of it Chile is the most stable and propserous democracy in South America. The "left wing socialist government" that has been in power since he left has never changed is free market policies. His economic policies in Chile have become sancrosanct.
However, at the time there was no way to know that Pinochet was going to be such an effective overseer of the economy. We supported other dictators in South America, that unlike Pinochet, instituted bad economic policies and did not help their countrys.
Helping Pinochet at the time was a dicey moral question, but there is no question that we got lucky. The debate we had earlier was whether or no Pinochet was good for Chile.
