The contemporary political history of Chile

  The history of Chile in general

  Documents for the struggle to bring Pinochet to justice

Policies and reforms

In Pursuit of "Growth with Equity:" The Limits of Chile's Free-Market Social Reforms

By Pilar Vergara, NACLA Report on the Americas, May/June, 1996. Democracy came to Chile in 1990 with inauguration of President Aylwin, but its neoliberal principles meant the price was a growth of social inequity.

Government rejects municipalities' request. Says re-centralization of health and education funding would be a setback

ChilNet extract from El Mercurio, 13 May 1997. Finance Minister refuses to fund deficits in local health and educational services or face their re-centralization.

Chile's Labor Laws Molded Under Dictatorship

From ICFTU Online 23 September 1997. Labor standards in Chile carry marks of military regime says ICFTU report. The climate of anti-trade unionism which was a clear feature of the Pinochet dictatorship still prevails today.

Report for the WTO General Council Review of the trade policies of Chile (Geneva, 23-24 September 1997)

ICFTU Online, 24 September 1999. This report on Chile, prepared in consultation with the ICFTU affiliate the Central Unitaria de Trabajadores (CUT), considers in turn the situation with regard to respect of each of the core labour standards in Chile.

Chile's underfunded social security system

Jay Hecht, 13 November 1997. The "Personal Savings Account System" supposedly avoids unfunded liabilities because workers only gets a return only on what they contribute. However, the system is way underfunded.

Sexual Harassment Not a Crime, Say Lawmakers

By Gustavo Gonzalez, Workers World, 14 August 1998. The majority of the members of a parliamentary commission refused to classify sexual harassment as a crime, arguing that it was too difficult to define and to prove.

Labour Reforms Rejected, Gov't Awaits Fallout

By Gustavo Gonzalez, IPS, 2 December 1999. The Chilean Senate voted down government-proposed labour reforms, raising questions about the failed bill's political impact on upcoming presidential elections, and leaving the country in a tricky situation for future international trade negotiations.

The hard right come back in force

Le Monde Libertaire, 5 January 2000. Analysis of the effect of the Pinochet legacy on democracy in Chile.

The political opposition

Chilean activist speaks out

By Robyn Marshall, Green Left Weekly, 3 September 1995. Miriam Ortega, a long-time activist in Chilean left politics, arrived in Australia at the end of July on a one-month speaking tour. Miriam spent 11 years in Pinochet's prisons.

The reemergence of social struggle

By Samuel Rojas, November 1995. Historical analysis of the opposition. Symptoms of emergent social struggle.

Chilean Rebels End Armed Struggle

Weekly News Update on the Americas, 27 May 1997. The Manuel Rodriguez Patriotic Front (FPMR) is abandoning armed struggle to become a legal political organzation.

Chile Still Divided 25 Years After Coup

By Gustavo Gonzalez, IPS, 11 September 1998. Chile split by an event that radically changed national history and left wounds that have not yet healed. Critics upbraided the government for ordering a police cordon around the presidential palace of La Moneda to keep people from paying homage to socialist president Salvador Allende, who died there during the coup.

Rebel Attack in Chile?

Weekly News Update on the Americas, 11 January 1998. A Jan. 8 clash between police agents and alleged members of a guerrilla organization in La Legua, south of Santiago. One of those killed, Jorge Riveros, is alleged to be linked to the Manuel Rodriguez Patriotic Front (FPMR); police sources say he underwent paramilitary training in Cuba and the former Czechoslovakia.

Coup Anniversary Brings Heavy Repression

Weekly News Update on the Americas, 13 September 1998. On Sept. 11, Chileans commemorated the 25th anniversary of the bloody 1973 coup that overthrew democratically elected socialist president Salvador Allende Gossens. This was the last year in which Sept. 11 will be a state holiday Marchers commemorating the event were attacked by Carabineros (militarized police) special forces.

A Voice of the Left Is Heard Again in the Land

Clifford Krauss, Valparaiso Journal, 30 April 1999. Ricardo Lagos, 61, the presidential candidate of the Socialist Party (that brought Allende to power nearly 30 years ago), campaigns with a former Communist Party congressman.

Lagos, Modern-day heir to Allende's Socialism

By Gustavo Gonzalez, IPS, 9 December 1999. Ricardo Lagos hopes to become the second Socialist president in the history of Chile, but in a context that has little to do with the one in which the late Salvador Allende was elected in 1970.

Electoral politics

Legislative Elections in Chile

Weekly News Update on the Americas, 14 December 1997. Elections on Dec. 11 for all 120 members of the Chamber of Deputies, and for 20 of the 38 senators who are chosen by popular vote. The ruling Democratic Concertation coalition of President Eduardo Frei maintained its majority among voters, but his party, the Christian Democratic Party (PDC), lost votes.

Army Defiant on Eve of Inauguration of New Gov't

By Gustavo Gonzalez, IPS, 10 March 2000. The Chilean army reiterated on the eve of the inauguration of president-elect Ricardo Lagos, its support for former dictator Augusto Pinochet, who faces the possibility of being tried for human rights violations.

Lagos, Chile's Second Socialist President

By Gustavo Gonz alez, IPS, 11 March 2000. Ricardo Lagos became the second socialist president in the history of Chile nearly 30 years after president Salvador Allende took office. Chile's first leftist governing coalition was toppled by a bloody coup led by General Augusto Pinochet on Sep 11, 1973, in which Allende died.

Human rights

Viviana Diaz Caro, human rights defender

Amnesty International, 19 November 1999. Viviana Diaz Right wing attacks, probably from the FNL associated with Pinochet, against this human rights worker.