“Chile is not Cuba thanks to Augusto Pinochet’s dictatorship”, said Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro, thus praising Chile’s 1973 military coup d’état. He never ceases to shock us. Alongside, he attacked Michelle Bachelet: «Among the communists during that era was her brigadier father”, he said. Some reminders. The socialist government of Salvador Allende was overthrown on September 11 (what a date!) 1973, and the country was ruled by a military junta headed by Augusto Pinochet until 1990. Human rights violations, suppression of political parties, persecution of opponents, thousands of dead and missing dissidents, thousands of Chileans forced into exile. How can anyone praise something like this? He´s likely to say something similar about General Jorge Rafael Videla and the 1976 coup in Argentina. Just wait and see.
Published on Buenos Aires Times