Chile is not yet at peace. Al-Jazeera reports; A half-century on, the country struggles with revisionism and denial as survivors continue their quest for justice.
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Many in Chile credit Pinochet’s rigid privatisation policies and free-market values for boosting the country’s economy and making it one of South America’s wealthier nations.
But Consuelo Contreras Largo, director of Chile’s National Human Rights Institute, believes such comments are deeply troubling, evidencing the persistent spread of misinformation.
“You still hear people condemn the violence of the dictatorship, but then defend the economic progress of the time,” she told Al Jazeera.
“To me, it’s not only inconceivable that someone would say something so brutal, but it’s also false. After the dictatorship, [around 40 percent of] Chileans were living below the poverty line.” In such circumstances, “you can’t talk about a successful country”.
Broadcast media in the UK have not made much of the anniversary, possibly because of the shameful way the Thatcher regime and local FO staff at the time supported Pinochet.
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