Dr. Michelle Bachelet Victor In Chilean Election.
Brian McAfee brimac6@hotmail.com
Dr. Michelle Bachelet Victor In Chilean Election.
Michelle Bachelet, a pediatrician and former health and defense
minister, soundly defeated her opponent; billionaire tycoon
Sebastian Pinera in Chile's presidential run-off Sunday.
Bachelet's 53.5 percent to Pinera's 46.5 percent marked a trend
throughout Latin America of leftist electoral victories.
Leftists now run Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Uruguay, and
Venezuela, with the inclusion of Chile, the political sentiment
of the region is unmistakable.
The U.S. response to Bachelet's electoral victory is of course
not yet evident, but her historic reality is directly tied to
U.S. hegemonic impulses. On September 11 of 1973 in Chile
popularly elected president Salvador Allende, was overthrown in
a bloody coupe carried out by General Augusto Pinochet and his
military of which 10 of the 30 of the Chilean officers charged
with Pinochet for crimes against humanity were graduates of the
U.S. School of the Americas. In Chile, SOA graduates ran the
Chilean secret police (DINA) and 3 concentration camps. Michelle
Bachelet's father, Alberto Bachelet, an air force general loyal
to Salvador Allende, was tortured to death by DINA in 1974. Also
in 1974, Bachelet and her mother, Angela, were kidnapped by the
junta, locked in a cage without food for a number of days.
Other women in their cell were raped by guards. Because of
family connections Michelle Bachelet and her mother were able to
get out after being beaten. Escaping torture, rape, and murder
by the junta, they were exiled to Australia. After spending some
time in Australia, Michelle Bachelet went to East Germany,
became a doctor and returned clandestinely to Chile. She treated
the victims of rape and torture and organized against the
Pinochet regime.
Pinochet presented a ceremonial sword to the School of the
Americas, it hung in the commandant's office until the early
1990s over 3,000 civilians were murdered by the Pinochet regime.
The junta fell from power in 1990. Bachelet, a divorced single
mother of three, and an agnostic, is an enigmatic figure in a
traditional, Catholic, machismo society, she seems to buck the
social norms. Despite the violence and loss she experienced
during the Pinochet era, her outlook and vision for Chile is
positive. She said, after her electoral victory, "We are
breathing the air of liberty and unity. Violence came into my
life, destroyed what I loved, because I was a victim of hate I
have dedicated my life to reversing that hate, converting it
into understanding, tolerance and, why not say it, love."
While the Bachelet win in Chile and the increasingly likely win
of leftist-populist Ollanta Humala in Peru further signal Latin
America's move to the left. The U.S. appears to be preparing for
something. In July of last year, 500 U.S. troops arrived in
Paraguay, fully equipped with planes, weapons, etc. Earlier in
2005 the Paraguayan government granted the U.S. troops total
immunity. Many believe Bolivia and Venezuela, both significant
oil producers, are the next target before Bush exits the world
stage. Whether oil or copper, the U.S. seems to have a hegemonic
penchant toward resources in other countries, particularly if
those countries wish to use their resources to help their poor.