Our first episode about South America gives us a very different perspective on the American fight against Communism. Was promoting America’s interests in the Cold War really worth propping up a brutal dictatorship? And why did the international attempt to bring Pinochet to justice involve British Law Lords, a fake case of dementia, and a law that gave Spain carte blanche to prosecute all crimes against humanity… except for the ones that happened in Spain?
Content note: This episode includes a discussion of what Pinochet’s regime did to dissenters and suspected leftists. This included torture, sexual assault, and mass murder. The facts of these cases may be disturbing. Please be aware that there are detailed victims’ testimonies about these events in the source links.
Featured image: A portrait of Pinochet taken in 1986. (Image source)
Pinochet with other members of the military junta. (Image source)
Soldiers burn Marxist imagery in 1973. (Image source)
Soldiers using the National Stadium as a detention center in 1973. (Image source)
Pinochet palling around with Henry Kissinger in 1976. (Image source)
Pinochet with American President Jimmy Carter in 1977. (Image source)
A mass protest against Pinochet in 1988. (Image source)
Sources
- A Nation of Enemies: Chile Under Pinochet
- Operation Condor
- Chile: Testimonies of victims of the Pinochet government
- Chile dictatorship victim toll bumped to 40,018
- Truth without reconciliation in Chile: Testimonies of the tortured and the case against Augusto Pinochet
- The arrest of Augusto Pinochet: ten years on
- Immunity vs. Human Rights: The Pinochet Case
- Thatcher sent Pinochet finest scotch during former dictator’s UK house arrest
- Chilean Judge Says Pinochet Is Fit for Trial
- Augusto Pinochet, Dictator Who Ruled by Terror in Chile, Dies at 91
- The Legacy of the Pinochet Trial