Chp. 4 & 5

Chapter 4 is titled “Changing Tack” and focuses on new policy. The policy had shifted to a more active role to get the ruling generals to improve the human rights situation and accelerate the transition to democracy. Despite the national accord, Pinochet refused to make any steps forward. The biggest problem with pushing Chile was that despite earlier hopes, there was no real replacement for Pinochet and the future after the regime was unclear. The biggest goal was to keep the leftist out of power and Chile out of the communists’ hands. Because of this, many issues were not raised to Reagan and he was not forced to make decisions giving clear policy guidance. The rise of the Civic Assembly in Chile which was a formation of over two hundred social organizations that opposed the junta posed the biggest threat to Pinochet. He responded by dispatching the police and the army on a hunt for political agitators. With nobody prepared to replace Pinochet, the US had to settle on removing him from his support to make him cooperate with human rights requests and bring democracy center while weakening and dividing the communists. They planned to threaten Pinochet through economic sanctions and voting against loans. Things began to unravel for Pinochet as there were army officials questioning his leadership in the midst of the political turmoil. The military agreed that in order to back transition they would need their rights protected and the communists held at bay. Yet, they too would hold back support until someone was found to replace Pinochet. The US pushed the democratic opposition to cut ties with the communist left. This gave US officials hope of a democratic candidate for the future. Chapter 5 is titled, “Abandoning Pinochet” and speaks on the move away from Pinochet support. While many still questioned Pinochet politically, he was in a wave of power entering 1987. Due to this he made “concessions” regarding curfews and the legalization of non-Marxist parties. Senator Kennedy and other officials stated publicly that US policy on Chile had gone soft. Many congress and State members stated that they would not approve aid or their new policy until it was certified that there were improvements in human and labor rights. With no changes being made, Pope John Paul II took a trip to Chile to meet with Pinochet in hopes to spur transition. After the Pope’s visit came preparing for the plebiscite which Chileans hope would end Pinochet’s rule. The US held meetings with democratic opposition in an attempt to help them gain popular support in Chile. During this time, the US also kept ties with Chile military to promote transition support. The biggest goal the US had was to legitimize the plebiscite and prevent fraud on Pinochet’s part. All that being said US officials were still quarreling between themselves as they did not want to support Pinochet, but could not move away from anti-communist actions.