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"Tomorrow belongs to the people, belongs to the workers. Humanity advance toward the conquest of a better world".
(Salvador Allende)
To José Gómez López y Eugenio Lira Massi, sharing the same dream
Puro Chile
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We stand for peace and justice
..."I stand for a policy that redirects the money used for war and military spending to provide healthcare, education, housing, and jobs. I stand for ...” ...
Project for the First People's Century
"..."we... believe that the huge majority of the world's people are by now bitterly opposed to neo-con policies, which make a total mockery of the basic principles of freedom and democracy..."

 

Popular Unity
The crimes of the Chilean generals
United States and Chile
United States and Latin America
Chile and Latin America today
The exile and the words
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Project for the First People's Century
RRojas Databank
Books by Róbinson Rojas
Papers and notes by Róbinson Rojas
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Kontrainformación Mapuche en la red
AZKINTUWE: Periódico Nacional Mapuche
Centro de Documentación Mapuche
Criminal Records: Augusto José Ramón Pinochet Ugarte  Imperialism  Ronald Reagan
M. Benjamin, 18 August 2004
Why Hugo Chávez won a landslide victory
Go to the barrios of Caracas, and it becomes obvious why the recall effort against Hugo Chavez failed: providing people with free health care, education, small business loans and job training is a good way to win the hearts and minds of the people.
The Economist, 12 August 2004:
The Latinobarómetro poll
Democracy's low-level equilibrium
Latin Americans believe their democracies benefit a privileged few, not the many-but they don't want a return to dictatorship
From The Economist:
Country briefings: CHILE
Chile: Low-intensity democracy
Despite its economic stability and the substantial improvements that the Government has achieved in the rates of poverty and education, 52% of Chileans “feel they are losing out, and 74% have negative feelings about the country’s economic system”. This is no paradox, since according to the World Bank, Chile is among the 15 countries with the worst income distribution in the world. Things are not much better in politics, where the principle of “one person, one vote” is not viable in the “protected democracy” inherited from the military dictatorship. Centro de Estudios de la Mujer (CEM) Solidaridad y Organización Local (SOL) Programa de Ciudadanía y Gestión Local Fundación de Superación de la Pobreza ACTIVA Ana María Arteaga / Carlos Ochsenius, 2004
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Chile: The brutal rationale of privatisation
. «Beyond euphemisms, privatisation of health, social security and education operated by neo-liberals has imposed a brutal rationale: depending on the amount of money you have, you will have so much health care, quality of education for your children and pension upon retirement. If you are privileged, you will have access to privileged services. If you are poor, you will have to make do with what the public system is able to give you.» ANA MARÍA ARTEAGA. 2003.

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Chile: growth without equity
At the beginning of the twenty-first century, Chile shows paradoxical characteristics. While Chile is being touted as a champion of economic liberalisation, the country is finding that the free trade measures adopted are not reactivating its economy or reducing the persistent and high unemployment rate and the serious and prevailing inequality. The private sector is not receptive to monetary and tax incentives, and the old government is financing thousands of emergency jobs, an intervention that reminds us of the hardest times of the 1980s. C. Pey, D. Donoso and L. Arellano. 2002
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Chile: Stagnant and disenchanted
In 2000, the countries of the region were strongly affected by a variety of problems: the political crisis in Peru; sharp social unrest in Bolivia, which literally paralyzed the country; and the strong financial, political, ethical and social crisis affecting Argentina. In this company, Chile appears to be an exception, demonstrating a “healthy economy” and political stability. L. Arellano, D. Donoso and C. Pey.2001
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Chile: precarious progress
...«having created an efficient system for controlling movements of capital.»... The weight and presence of transnational capital in the Chilean economy has kept growing, however, and the decisions and interests of those who control this capital are becoming more powerful in determining not only the economic, but also the social, political and cultural structure and dynamics of Chile. D. Donoso, M. Hidalgo and O. Torres. 2000.
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Chile: Inequality. The latest data
The nineties show no reduction of social inequality in the countries of Latin America and the Caribbean. The region maintains growth rates of greater than 5% per year but this is not reflected in a reduction of inequality. High and sustained economic growth has not assured greater social equity. On the contrary, economic processes have increased income concentration. (United Nations, ECLAC, «The Equity Gap. Latin America and the Caribbean in the Social Summit» ). The Chilean economy is characterised by high and sustained growth rates. In the last decade, it has shown the enduring nature of income concentration in the hands of the rich and a tendency towards regression in income distribution. .. X. Valdés. 1998
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Chile: Economic growth and poverty
The economic growth sustained in Chile over the last ten years requires a detailed analysis to ascertain the directions taken by the Chilean economy and society in the nineties. The figures which have been published lately in the CASEN Survey1 carried out in November 1994, show the tendencies with which this huge economic growth has been distributed within society. Four main conclusions can be derived from these facts:... X. Valdés, T. Valdés and J. Bengoa. 1997
Róbinson Rojas, 1997
15 years of monetarism in Latin America: time to scream

For the majority of countries in Latin America the new gospel of 'free-market plus non-intervention of the state in economic affairs' began to be standard economic policy in the early eighties. For Chile, though, the new gospel was inaugurated earlier, in 1974, and the military junta in charge of imposing it did that via murdering, torturing, imprisoning, and exiling score of thousands of workers, peasants and intellectuals who tried to oppose the implementation of yet another variety of "savage capitalism". For those who praise savage capitalism, Chile is an "economic miracle" and the rest of the Latin American nations are "deregulating", "rolling back" and "liberalizing" to become the "miracles" following the one created by the murderous Chilean military junta.
Róbinson Rojas, 1997
The Chilean way to socialism. Popular Unity

In 1970, before the presidential election, the income differentials for the urban population ( 75 % of the population), were as follows (taking average income of blue-collar workers as one): Employers 40.0, High rank civil servants 20.8, White-collar workers 3.3, Blue-collar workers 1.0, (Source: R.Rojas, "La Unidad Popular, Hacia donde?", 1973)... By 1970, a large sector of the Chilean population was openly advocating a revolution. The prevailing revolutionary ideology was one based in the enormous economic power of the "mobilising state". This ideology posed the strategy of "making the revolution from inside the state", gaining the government, that is. That was the basis for the political programme presented by the Popular Unity (Unidad Popular) for the presidential elections in 1970...
S. B. Crofts Wiley, 1997
Becoming Modern: Capitalism, Agency and the Left in Neoliberal Chile

In Chile, a significant segment of the left has moved into the state and finds itself co-governing one of the most radically capitalist societies in Latin America.
Pilar Vergara, 1996
Structural adjustment in Chile
Over the past decade, the social reforms carried out by the Chilean military regime have been celebrated as a model for other Latin American countries anxious to overcome the endemic crises of their social-security systems. The policies introduced by the Aylwin and Frei governments to reduce poverty levels within the free-market system, and the initial success of those efforts, reinforced the belief that Chile was a viable model for other countries engaging in social reform. Little attention has been paid, however, to the way the Concertacion governments' redistributive efforts have been hampered by the new social institutions established by the Pinochet regime. An examination of the successes and limitations of Chile's social policy reveals how neoliberal social reforms have fundamentally restricted the scope and impact of the Concertacion's attempts to achieve "growth with equity."
Chile:
The Popular Unity's Programme (A case of Alternative Development)
This programme, in 1970, represented an alternative way for development, based on ECONOMIC GROWTH WITH EQUAL ACCESS TO ECONOMIC RESOURCES AND SOCIAL DEVELOPMENT WITH EQUAL ACCESS TO POLITICAL RESOURCES for the Chilean population. Students of development should take a deep look at  this text, because today, thirty years after the murderers led by the White House and the Chilean generals killed Salvador Allende, still is a valid and consistent "programme for sustainable development" alternative to the capitalist model which exclude a large portion of society from the fruits of economic growth, and which also unleashes environmental destruction and "unhuman" development. (Róbinson Rojas, 2003)
Salvador Allende
Speech to the UN General Assembly, 4th Dec. 1972
Salvador Allende's speech is a historical document which scholars should read when trying to understand what kind of reality is faced by societies struggling for development in a context where national strategies are brutally constrained by "international forces". These forces being grouped under banners like "defense of the democratic system" during the Cold War, or "market forces"/ "globalization" in the post-Cold War era. In this excerpts of Salvador Allende's speech the "international forces" are very well individualized...there is no difference between those forces in 1972 and now, in the 1990s... (Robinson Rojas, 1998)
Hunger strike ended on 06/09/03
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Noam Chomsky: solidarity with the Hunger Strike
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Children of the Disappeared and Murdered by the Pinochet Dictatorship Declare an Indefinite Hunger Strike on 18 August 2003

WE DON'T ACCEPT NOR WILL WE EVER ACCEPT IMPUNITY

To the public:

Almost 30 years since the military coup, the Right, the Concertación Government and the high command of the Armed Forces, have pulled together a historic political agreement that intends to perpetuate impunity in our country.

None of the points of the plan presented by the Government, today applauded by the assassins, allow for advancing down the road of justice in our nation. What's worse, it offers alternatives to those who participated in these crimes, allowing them to receive complete immunity in exchange for information and the reduction of sentences for those who are already indicted for their participation in these crimes.

We think that this is one more insult, just like the Human Rights Roundtable (Mesa de Dialogo), to those judges who today are honestly carrying out their functions, to the families, and to society as a whole.

In Chile, the vast majority of those responsible for murders, torture, and the disappearances committed during the Dictatorship, are walking free on the streets or are detained in luxurious centers provided by the Army.

We appreciate the efforts of some Ad Hoc Judges and other judges who are handling human rights cases. Nonetheless, we think this is insufficient, because the courts need a greater number of judges dedicated to these cases and more resources to investigate.

We think that the country, together with repudiating the bloody acts that many Chileans lived through, should sanction, both socially and legally, all of those who participated in these crimes, even if they were accomplices or helped cover up the crimes. This is the only way that our children and future generations will be able to live in peace knowing that in Chile, no political or military official will ever again commit the wrongs that we have so unjustly been forced to live through.

We are tired of lies, promises, and false hopes. Conscious of the fact that there is no possible reparation because nothing can ever bring back our families or Chile's lost compatriots, we declare an indefinite Hunger Strike so that our country and the world knows that, in Chile, the political authorities have refused to recognize these crimes as crimes against humanity, meaning that they cannot be amnestied nor can they benefit from statutes of limitations; to do so is in violation of all international treaties that have come into existence since the Second World War.

We call upon all those people and social organizations that wish to live in a just and democratic nation to publicly express their support and speak out for justice. The families are willing to continue fighting and we will not end this Hunger Strike until we see some advance towards justice in Chile. But this task is that of everyone; today more than ever, silence is on the side of impunity.

THIS IS WHY WE ARE ALIVE; NO FORGIVENESS, NO FORGETTING

We need your solidarity and support. Your solidarity is critical. Until the last criminal pays.

Support messages can be sent to:
huelgalucianocarrasco@correo.nodo50.org

Alexandra Benado; Iván Carrasco; Natalia Chanfreau; Yuri Gahona; Fahra Nehgme; Juan José Parada; Michelle Retamal; Alberto Rodríguez; Daniela Taberna; Carolina Valdés; Bárbara Vergara; Pablo Villagra; Eduardo Ziede

Huelga Luciano Carrasco
Place: Compańía # 2404
Contact telephones:

Fasting group: (56-2) 672.98.97
Natalia Chanfreau: 09-219.45.99
Yuri Gahona: 09-886.86.56

S. Kangas: The Chicago boys and the "Chilean economic miracle"
O. Letelier: Chile: economic 'freedom' and political repression
Andre Gunder Frank
Economic Genocide in Chile. Monetarist Theory versus Humanity
K. Coughlan: The dark side of Chile's economic miracle. 1992
A. Hejslet: The Chilean Experience 1974-1998
C. Schneider: Chile: the underside of the miracle
Washington Post: Chile
CIA World Factbook 1997: Chile
The World Bank: Chile
Interamerican Development Bank
Chile: as seen by the IADB
Agriculture Indigenous People Reform of the State
Civil Society Information Technology Rural Development
Education Infrastructure Small & Medium Enterprise
Energy Integration & Trade Urban Development
Environment Labor & Training Women
Finance Microenterprise Youth
Fiscal Reform Poverty & Equity
Health Private Sector
Chile Sustentable (Sustainable Chile)
Urgent message from Cuba:
Dreams and nightmares
UNESCO: Chile
R.Rojas: Dependent capitalist development: Chile(1960s)(notes)
S. Larrain: Chilean Ecological Action Network
Chilean Ecological Action Network (RENACE)
J. Jontz : Chile, forests, investments and NAFTA  
Chile Sustentable (Sustainable Chile)
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Bolsa de Comercio de Santiago
Bolsa Electronica de Chile
Camara Nacional de Comercio de Chile
Chilean-American Chamber of Commerce
Chile Electronic Yellow Pages
 Universidad de Chile: Centro de Economía Aplicada
Working papers 1996, 1997, 1998, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004

Export Promotion Bureau of Chile [Prochile]
Trade Data [U.S.A.I.D.]
Chile Business Guide 1996/97
Chile Trade and Investment Guide 
Foreign Direct Investments 1974-1996
 Official statistics
 Banco Central de Chile-Central Bank of Chile 
 Instituto Nacional de Estadisticas -Agosto 1998
 (National Institute of Statistics -August 1998) 
 Instituto Nacional de Estadisticas
Business News Americas
M. Benjamin, 18 August 2004
Why Hugo Chávez won a landslide victory
Go to the barrios of Caracas, and it becomes obvious why the recall effort against Hugo Chavez failed: providing people with free health care, education, small business loans and job training is a good way to win the hearts and minds of the people.
Chavez wins
Venezuela's Chavez Triumphant: History Making Democracy in Latin America

Sharmini Peries
Monday, Aug 16
President Hugo Chavez of Venezuela, first elected in 1998 made democratic history today in a triumphant defeat of the recall referendum on his Presidency, winning with a solid 58% of the vote

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Robin Nieto - Venezuelanalysis.com --16 August 2004
Thousands Gather Outside Venezuelan Presidential Palace for Chavez Victory
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Interview with Tariq Ali. Venezuela: Changing the World by Taking Power
By Claudia Jardim and Jonah Gindin
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The Economist, 12 August 2004:
The Latinobarómetro poll
Democracy's low-level equilibrium
Latin Americans believe their democracies benefit a privileged few, not the many-but they don't want a return to dictatorship
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