Salvador Allende Gossens
(June 26, 1908 ? September 11, 1973) was a
physician
,
senator
,
minister
of
health
and the 28th
President
of
Chile
from November 3, 1970 until his death on September 11, 1973. He was a socialist and the first socialist president elected democratically (voted for by people) in South America.
[2]
Salvador was in politics for nearly forty years, having been a senator, deputy, and cabinet minister. He had run for president in 1952, 1958 and 1964, but had failed. He won as the leader of the Popular Unity coalition (a group of political parties) in a very close race.
Allende was born on June 26, 1908 in the port city of
Valparaiso
,
Chile
to a well-to-do family.
[3]
Like many Chileans, Allende had a
mestizo
(mixed) racial background (
European
and other races mixed with
Native Americans
). His father Salvador Allende (senior), a lawyer, was of
Basque
background and his mother Laura Gossens had a Belgian
Jewish
background (though converted to
Catholicism
).
In 1918 his father sent Allende to study at the
Instituto Nacional
(National Institute) in
Santiago
. He then did his compulsory military service and entered the
University
of Chile to study
medicine
.
[3]
Allende was a gifted, friendly and popular student; a great
debater
and public speaker and quickly becomes a student leader and vice-president of the FECH. (Student Federation of Chile). As an
undergraduate
student Allende requested to his parents to let him earn his own livelihood and he started to work as a paramedic in the
ambulance
services and as an assistant in pathology. He graduated with a medical degree in 1933.
He was one of the founders of the
Socialist
Party of Chile and in 1938 became a
minister
of
health
. He was a
senator
from 1945 until 1969 and was President of the Chilean
Senate
from 1966 until 1969.
Allende first ran for the presidency in the 1952
elections
but failed. Determined to succeed he tried again in 1958 and then in 1964. In both instances he failed again.
Allende would tour Chile from
Iquique
to
Magallanes
, for example one end to the other, speaking to
peasants
in the south and
miners
in the north and held rallies in the big cities. Allende found it hard to win an
election
because of the successful scare campaigns launched by opposing parties, many financed by large multi-national corporations and powerful national institutions such as private
banks
and schools.
Finally, and to the surprise of many working people - who had voted for him in previous elections and felt he would never win - in 1970 he won and became the President of Chile.
Allende always ran for election on the same
socialist
platform (plan) proposing the same resolutions (things to be done), focusing on the persistent
inequality
in the country and the underdevelopment (
poverty
for large part of the population) which Allende saw as being rooted in the lack of control the Chilean people had over their natural
resources
and vital industries. (e.g.
banks
,
copper
mines
,
electricity
companies etc.).
Allende promised that he would nationalize (put under control of government) vital industries and then create an advanced public
health
system and
educational
system that would be free and accessible to all. During the
cold war
(between the
U.S.
and the former
U.S.S.R
) many people feared that Chile would fall under the influence of the USSR and after the 1960s under the influence of
Cuba
.
Allende’s speeches were said to be very
radical
(extreme) and Allende’s vision for Chile seemed completely different to the Chile that most people were familiar with. For example: Allende was said to be an
atheist
and
Marxist
. He was a non-practicing
Catholic
. This was considered odd in a country that was very Catholic, held
traditional
family values, and in which people were taught that
political freedoms
(the freedom to elect politicians from different parties) was more important than solving problems such as extreme poverty or economic inequality (division between the poorest and the wealthiest people).
Allende also wanted
revolutionary
change, i.e. he wanted deep changes to Chilean society very quickly, such forms of changes have been said to have tended to cause great divisions in society between those who oppose the changes (called reactionaries) and those who support the drastic changes (revolutionaries). Through
history
such situations tend to end up resolved
violently
. For example,
civil war
(where one group of people fight another group of people of the same country), or
military coup
(when a government is overthrown before it finishes its term).
As a result, many Chileans, especially professionals like
University professors
,
doctors
and
business
people left the country?this had a negative effect on Allende’s
reforms
. E.g. Allende increased health services and places at Universities for the
underprivileged
while many professors, specialists and doctors were leaving the country.
However, Allende was unique in that he did all he could to prevent this sort of
violence
, calling his
revolution
a “
peaceful
one within
democracy
” or calling it “the Chilean road to
socialism
.” In 1973, Allende’s enemies accused him of preparing a
secret
war
and that his supporters were hoarding stocks of
illegal
weapons
(in
shanty towns
and in rural areas) that were being sent from
communist
Cuba
. To prove that this was not true, Allende allowed the Chilean
Army
to enforce a “
weapons
control’s
law
” that allowed the Chilean military to search and comb for any illegal weapons anywhere in the country. The Chilean army confirmed that after thoroughly searching for such weapons throughout the country they had found no significant stocks as the
opposition
was claiming. This ended up creating more support for Allende and allowed Allende to begin to focus on the upcoming
election
.
Allende came to power with a
socialist
plan. His vision for Chile was one in which the country's resources and wealth would be owned by Chileans and distributed more democratically. Allende started his program by nationalizing (put under control of government) major industries. Such as, Chile's
copper
mines (Chile had one of the largest copper mines in the World) but these mines were not owned by Chileans but by very powerful
U.S.
business people.
This created a serious problem with the U.S.
government
who saw Allende's nationalisation as an attack on
U.S.
interest and a threat to U.S. money investments in South America.
The
American
Central Intelligence Agency
was said to be involved in the
overthrowing of his government
on September 11, 1973.
[4]
Allende was a
socialist
. Many of his reforms and programs revolved around socialism. He created universal
health care
for all, made
education
better, and took a stronger level of control within the economy. He died in 1973. His death has been disputed for years; some feel that he killed himself by committing
suicide
, but others feel that he was murdered by
Augusto Pinochet
's soldiers. Pinochet would then become the
military
dictator
of Chile until 1990.
Allende was replaced by those who overthrew him as
president
. Allende committed
suicide
by shooting himself. The new ruling
Junta
justified their
coup
claiming that “
Chile
could no longer tolerate the cancer of Marxism”. The
Pinochet
regime claimed Allende had violated the Chilean
Constitution
even though Pinochet ended up writing a completely new one.
Also, after the coup many rumors and myths emerged about Allende’s death and life. Many of these myths attempted to discredit the character of Allende i.e. make him appear as a
coward
, weak or cruel person:
Allende became of interest to people all over the
world
because he was the first democratically elected
socialist
in
Chile
and the first democratically elected Marxist in the world. Many people felt Allende was the beginning of a new era in which great changes to
society
- especially in developing countries - could be brought about
peacefully
through an
election
.
Allende has become one of the most commemorated
Latin American
polital figures in history. Since his death
monuments
,
statues
,
parks
and
streets
have been named in his honour all over the world. In
France
alone there are more than 320 public places named in honour of Allende. Ministries and municipalities in many countries have also officially approved the naming of schools and educational departments in his honour.
Despites
Pinochet
’s 17 years of military rule and an attempt to deny Allende his proper place in Chilean history, he was officially honoured in
Chile
as a defender of representative
democracy
(i.e. people’s right to elect their political representatives through free and fair elections) with a state
funeral
in 1990. A
monument
was also erected outside the
Moneda Presidential Palace
(Chile's house of Government) where he died defending the democratically elected Popular Unity government he lead.