Un repaso (incompleto) a la nómina de dictadores

Todo régimen político, sea del tipo que sea, necesita tener un suficiente apoyo social para establecerse, persistir y lograr sus objetivos declarados.

Tal fue el caso del régimen de Pinochet en Chile, como lo fue antes el de Franco en España. Sobre este último, el halcón neocon Otto J. Reich podría afirmar casi lo mismo que ha hecho respecto del primero (vid. infra).

Si meditamos de fondo sobre el contenido del artículo de la irreverente (reparen en las fotos) revista estadounidense Radar, podremos concluir que a los dictadores allí repasados no les faltó ni les falta ese apoyo social... y no poco del internacional preciso para alimentarlos...

***

Otto J. Reich (en National Review Online)

Augusto Pinochet was a tragic figure. Instead of being remembered for saving Chilean democracy from a communist takeover, and starting the country on the longest-lasting economic expansion in Latin America, which he did, he will be remembered mostly for carrying out a brutal campaign of human-rights abuses.

Contrary to revisionist history and mainstream media myths, Pinochet’s military coup against President Salvador Allende was supported by a majority of Chileans, two-thirds of whom had voted against Allende in the 1970 election. The three-way electoral tie had been decided by the Chilean Congress in favor of Allende. By 1973, however, Chileans were demonstrating in the streets against shortages, inflation and unemployment brought about by Allende’s failed socialist policies.

Facing widespread opposition to his rule, Allende secretly prepared a “self-coup,” with the help of Fidel Castro, who surreptitiously sent large quantities of weapons to arm Allende’s minority of supporters. Army Commander Pinochet beat Allende to the coup, which was justified by the Allende-Castro plans. What was not justified was the bloodbath which followed, when Allende supporters and innocents alike were summarily executed, imprisoned and tortured, including loyal military officers who disagreed with the coup.

Today, thanks to the KGB files smuggled out of Russia by Vasily Mitrokhin, we know that Allende was receiving payments from the KGB. There is no doubt that if he had succeeded in his plans, Chile today would be an impoverished Communist prison like Cuba, instead of a shining example of democracy and prosperity. With some compassion and self-discipline, Pinochet could have been remembered as a liberator and not a despot. He was both.—

Otto J. Reich served President Bush from 2001 to 2004, first as assistant secretary of State for the Western Hemisphere and later in the National Security Council. He now heads his own international government-relations firm in Washington.

***

Y, de entre los dictadores vivos, Radar olvida a uno. Así:

Según la agencia oficial IRNA, el presidente (Ahmadineyab) dijo a los investigadores extranjeros que Irán es su casa y la de todos aquellos que piensan libremente en el mundo. El dirigente iraní volvió a atacar a Israel, al asegurar que su destino es "desaparecer pronto", como sucedió con la antigua Unión Soviética. "Gracias al deseo del pueblo y a la voluntad de Dios, la tendencia de la existencia del régimen sionista está en declive, y esto es lo que Dios ha prometido y lo que las naciones quieren".

Ahmadineyad advirtió a los países que apoyan a Israel que "sus intereses se están deteriorando con la existencia de este Estado". "Nuestro consejo es que disuelvan este régimen tal como lo han creado", añadió el presidente de Irán.