Margaret Thatcher Will Always Be Remembered For Her Support Of Right Wing Military Dictatorship In Chile
On September 11, 1973, a military coup d'état led by fascist General Pinochet. violently removed the democratically elected President of Chile, Salvador Allende.
The military coup was extremely violent from the very beginning. The military surrounded the La Moneda Palace with tanks and infantry troops and bombed it with Hawker Hunter fighter jets. The president and some of his aides were besieged in the palace. Allende refused to surrender, and addressed the nation for a last time in a potent farewell speech. President Salvadore Allende was murdered by soldiers in the presidential palace. The coup was supported and aided by the US Central Intelligence Agency.
The worst violence occurred in the first few months after the coup, with the number of suspected trade union leaders and members killed or "disappeared" soon reaching into the thousands. In the days immediately following the coup, the National Stadium was used as a holding tank for 40,000 citizens with labour or social democratic political leanings.
Some of the most famous cases of "desaparecidos" are Charles Horman, a U.S. citizen who was tortured and killed during the coup itself; Chilean songwriter Víctor Jara, murdered while held prisoner at the Chile Stadium immediately after the coup, and the October 1973 Caravan of Death (Caravana de la Muerte) where at least 70 persons were killed.
Approximately 130,000 individuals were arrested in a three-year period. These were mostly trade unionists, social democrats, basically anyone whose politics leaned to the left. The number of dead and "disappeared" reaching into the thousands within the first few months. Most of the people targeted had been supporters of Allende.
This evil dictator was never brought to justice to account for the his crimes.
The fact that British Conservative Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher actively supported the murder of thousands of Chilean trade union members, is a crime in itself.
-Stephen Harper praises former British PM who supported Right Wing dictatorships
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UPDATE:
Cher fans confused by 'Thatcher Dead" Twitter #hashtag ... think Cher died ...
Let's not forget that she supported South-African Apartheid.
She was also the milk snatcher--as she cut a program that provided school children with milk.
Also, I don't get how many say she "saved Britain". From what, pray tell? From that uppity working class? Gee, I never knew that putting millions out of work was the way to economic salvation.
Posted by
CK |
11:29 am, April 08, 2013
Good points! Thanks. I have been listening to a Right wing radio 'open mouth' show host this am ... simply gushing with praise and love for Thatcher. No mention of her pro-apartheid government stance, nor her sheltering of mass murderer, General Augusto Pinochet
Posted by
leftdog |
12:17 pm, April 08, 2013
CK:
Incorrect. The Thatcher government opposed apartheid but also opposed economic sanctions against South Africa. Even today people debate whether economic sanctions are a good idea against rogue nations such as Cuba.
As an MP, Thatcher also applied pressure to the South African government not to invoke the death penalty to Nelson Mandela and other defendants. One of defendants, Kathrada, believes that Thatcher's actions made a difference.
Posted by
rabbit |
3:09 pm, April 08, 2013