Chp. 6, 7, & Conclusion

Chapter six is called “Toward Endgame”. This chapter begins by explaining the concern that there was no good alternative for government. First they worked with the United Nations General Assembly to draft a human rights resolution. Their next step was to work on ways to make sure the upcoming plebiscite would be as fair as possible and that Pinochet would not be able to fix the vote. Additionally, the US devised a plan to postpone loans for Chile in order to send a message that they were firmly against Pinochet at this point. With a conditioned postponement, they would be able to leverage Chile and keep the White House and Congress united in the stance against Pinochet. Secretary Schultz convinced Reagan to issue a joint statement on democracy in Chile and how it the human rights situation will be monitored up to the vote to ensure legitimacy. The US also moved to suspend Chile’s trade benefits costing Pinochet several million dollars and affirming Washington’s stance. Even so, the State Department was working on a way to interact with the plebiscite more directly to ensure fair vote. The US also approved a 1 million dollar grant to the National Endowment for Democracy to ensure watchers at the polls, registration drives, public opinion polling, and other measures to ensure fair participation to all. The US urged the opposition to present a credible replacement for the military rule in the event of democratic victory. Meanwhile in Chile, sixteen opposition parties joined together to form the National Command of the No which urged people to vote no against the continuation of the junta. The US directly threatened Pinochet that if they tainted the vote in any way the US would go public and blow the whistle. The results of the plebiscite showed that Pinochet lost by 56 percent. Yet, this plebiscite only meant that there would be a presidential election. The threat of Pinochet’s reelection remained and Chile was not out of the woods yet. Chapter 7 named “Return to the Fold” begins with the new presidency of George W Bush beginning in 1989. With this came the end of the Cold War and the threat of communism. Even so the situation with Chile was still fragile. Pinochet was reluctant to relinquish power and in retaliation to the US policy towards Chile, two crates of grapes imported to the US were laced with cyanide. After this incident the US spent many resources monitoring the Chile situation to ensure a presidential and congressional election would take place fairly in December of 1989. Additionally, the search for presidential candidates that would keep the junta’s open economy system was underway. Finally, Patricio Aylwin was presented and approved by Washington. The day of election came and Aylwin won over Pinochet’s candidate Buchi. Aylwin urged Pinochet not to interfere, but Pinochet did and refused to give up his post as army commander. While the transition was a little rocky at first, democracy had returned to Chile. In conclusion, Reagan was mostly into anticommunist action. It was not him personally but his cabinet that worked against Pinochet and his human rights violations. At the end of the day, Pinochet’s own constitution defeated him and the US made sure that the plebiscite and presidential election was fair. It also made sure that the new democracy didn’t fall into the hands of communism and maintained an open economy.