September 11th, 1973

Salvador Allende committed suicide (or was assassinated by the Chilean military).

Today in class we learned about the role Salvador Allende played in Chilean history during 1970-1973. He was for the people of Chile and tried to help the poor by fixing the price of milk, and bread. He gave out land to people who didn't own land. He also reformed agriculture, and the educational system but created a major economic and financial crisis. But this, along with many other things, made the United States worried that he was acting in a communistic way.

The CIA tried to find ways to stop Allende from becoming the president in the first place, but after he was elected they indirectly hurt Chile. We boycotted Chile and would not trade with them, we created a school where military men can come and learn ways to torture people, and we funded Pinochet's plan to oust Allende. How crazy is that?

Towards the end of 1973 there are many accounts and videos where you can see the Chilean military, specifically the navy from Valparaiso murdering and torturing their people. In class today, we watched videos recapping this and heard stories about the brutality that Chileans felt due to the traitors that pledged to protect Chile, but then on the other hand decided to hurt it.

This class was very intense but it definitely helped me understand some of the political unrest that can still be felt in Chile. My host family lived through this and so did many of my teachers. It is such a crazy thing to think about. My teacher explained that many of the people in Chile, when asked about Allende, will recount the amount of food that they couldn't get because the owners of supermarkets closed their doors when Allende fixed the price of certain goods. This caused a large black market to emerge and prices to be outrageous.

One of these days I am going to ask my family about their experiences, but it is too soon for that right now. September 11 is such a tragic day for us as Americans, but it also is for Chileans.

The following are links to videos that I watched in class and I 100% recommend watching them if this interests you at all.

His last speech before he died/was killed:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NYGxGeLAMBE
Video of destruction
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hkn-BmyDIoE