Pinochet Dies

[ethics]

You won't get an objective source on his life, ever.

But passing this along nevertheless.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20061210/ap_on_re_la_am_ca/chile_pinochet

[Reason Bot]

http://blog.foreignpolicy.com/node/system/files?file=images/pinochet.jpgMARTIN BERNETTI/AFP/Getty Images
December 10th is Human Rights Day. Today marks the 58th anniversary of the adoption of the UN's Universal Declaration of Human Rights (http://www.un.org/Overview/rights.html).
How fitting, then, that former Chilean military dictator Augusto Pinochet (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Augusto_Pinochet) died today (http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2006/12/10/MNPinochet10.DTL) before he could stand trial for gross human rights abuses during his tenure. He was 91.
As you can see from the photograph above, even Pinochet had his supporters—many of them clashed today (http://www.cnn.com/2006/WORLD/americas/12/10/pinochet/) with riot police as they demonstrated in favor of the late general.


More... (http://blog.foreignpolicy.com/node/2581)

[ethics]

Case in point...

[ravital]

I visited Chile during his latter years (this was years after the soccer stadium and the disappearances and so on), and I got the sense that Chileans by and large regarded themselves as one of the more successful countries in the hemisphere. No one said it out loud, but it was my (completely subjective, so I could be wrong) impression that for stability and a viable economy, they were willing to put up with curfews and other restrictions on personal liberties, at least for a while. I know I would have a very difficult time with that compromise, I don't believe anyone should ever make it, but there it was.

I don't necessarily disagree with you on the general lack of objectivity displayed in the media, after all a dictator is a dictator, it's a topic that lends itself to easy and quick conclusions, but I'd be curious to hear what you think or what sources you have that might be more objective on this.

Thanks.

[SixofNine]

I visited Chile during his latter years (this was years after the soccer stadium and the disappearances and so on), and I got the sense that Chileans by and large regarded themselves as one of the more successful countries in the hemisphere. No one said it out loud, but it was my (completely subjective, so I could be wrong) impression that for stability and a viable economy, they were willing to put up with curfews and other restrictions on personal liberties, at least for a while. I know I would have a very difficult time with that compromise, I don't believe anyone should ever make it, but there it was.
That's certainly the vibe that I get from Chilean step-in-laws, but these are folks from, if not the upper crust of Chilean society, close to it.

[Swamp Fox]

I'm curious as to how the economy did. Apparently it did quite well, until certain problems with following the extreme form of Milton Friedman's monetarism caused it to crash. Still, it's doing quite well now (http://www.economist.com/countries/Chile/profile.cfm?folder=Profile-Forecast), though its growth rate of 5% plus is modest by the standards of Asian Tigers.