AUGUSTO PINOCHET: THE MYTH OF THE HONEST DICTATOR

Justifications abound among fanatic followers who attempt to set "their" dictator from the rest. In fact, all dictators have mythology that surrounds their figure and their regime. In the case of Chilean dictator Augusto Pinochet one of such myths was the idea that he unlike other Latin American rulers he was a model of "honesty."

Recent historical evidence provided by the National Security Archive in Washington DC however proved otherwise. In fact, the so called "honest" dictator had over 133 secret bank accounts and used 10 false names.

Pinochet (Ugarte), Augusto
Born , Nov. 25, 1915, Valparaiso, Chile

Leader of the military junta that overthrew the Marxist government of President
Salvador Allende of Chile on Sept. 11, 1973. He subsequently headed Chile's military government from 1974 to 1990.

Pinochet's objective was to extirpate leftism in Chile and to reassert the primacy of free market policies in the country's economy. His junta was widely condemned for its harsh suppression of dissent at the same time that its reversal of the Allende government's socialist policies resulted in a lower rate of inflation and an economic boom in the period from 1976 to 1979. A modest political liberalization began in 1978, after the regime announced that, in a plebiscite, 75 percent of the
electorate had endorsed Pinochet's rule.

A new constitution went into effect in March 1981. Under its terms, the military junta's candidate for president, Pinochet, would serve as president for another eight year term, and in 1989 the military's candidate would be submitted to a national referendum for either approval or rejection by a majority of the voters. During Pinochet's 1980-88 term, his free market policies were generally credited with maintaining a low rate of inflation and an acceptable rate of economic growth despite a severe recession in 1980-83.

Pinochet continued to maintain tight controls over the political opposition, but he fulfilled his constitutional obligation to hold the plebiscite scheduled for 1989. The actual plebiscite, held in October 1988, resulted in a 'no' vote of 55 percent to a 'yes' vote of 43 percent for Pinochet's continuation as president. Thus rejected by the electorate.

Pinochet remained in office until after free elections installed a new president, the Christian Democrat Patricio Aylwin, on March 11, 1990.

Pinochet died in Santiago de Chile in 2006 at the age of 91 after more than a decade of unsuccessful attempts by the victims of his regime to bring him to justice.

Source: Brief description and profile from the website: Augusto Pinochet


Source: National Security Archive Electronic Briefing Book No. 149

Washington, D.C., March 15, 2005 - Washington D.C.: The National Security Archive tonight posted key documents released on March 15 by the Subcommittee on Investigations of the Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Government Affairs showing conclusively that former Chilean dictator Augusto Pinochet had used multiple aliases and false identification to maintain over 125 secret bank accounts at the Riggs National Bank and eight other financial institutions in the United States. In a review of banking records, Senate investigators found ten false names used by Pinochet to disguise his accounts, among them Daniel Lopez, A.P. Ugarte and Jose Pinochet. Records obtained from the Riggs Bank and Citibank showed that Pinochet presented falsified passports under the names of Augusto Ugarte and Jose Ramon Ugarte for account identification.

Source: National Security Archive

See an extensive compilation of articles on the life of Pinochet in the Latin American Studies Website