The victory of #GabrielBoricPresidente will not stop the growth of fascist forces in Chile, let alone, as the Democratic Party-DSA's @jacobinmag claims, "move the country toward social democracy..." Remember the lessons of the Chilean coup of 1973. 1/
wsws.org/en/articles/20…
wsws.org/en/articles/20…
Nearly 50 years ago, in February 1972, Luis Figueroa, head of the Chilean trade union federation (CUT), addressed a press conference in NY organized by the Stalinist Daily World. He spoke with rapture about Chile's unstoppable march to socialism under Allende's leadership. 2/
As a reporter for the Bulletin (predecessor of the WSWS), I asked Figueroa what his trade union federation was doing to prepare workers to defeat an inevitable attempt by the Chilean military, allied with the CIA and local fascists, to overthrew the Allende government. 3/
Figueroa replied angrily that a coup d'etat was impossible in Chile, there was a 140 year tradition of democracy, and the military was a bulwark of the constitutional order. Stalinist goons then escorted me out of the press conference. 4/
Detained by the military following the 1973 coup, Figueroa was able to leave the country and died in exile in Sweden in 1976. But Pinochet's dictatorship lasted for nearly 20 years, during which time tens of thousands of Chilean workers and youth were tortured and murdered. 5/5
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