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By Arturo Valenzuela

This paper is the rapporteur's report for a May 15-17, 1980 workshop on "Six Years of Military Rule in Chile" sponsored by the Latin American Program of the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars.

From the Introduction

To the surprise of many observers, the military coup that overthrew President Salvador Allende in Chile on September 11, 1973 created a remarkably durable military regime in a country long characterized by democratic government. Indeed, the government of General Pinochet has been not only the longest-lasting military regime in Chilean history, it has also become the single longest-lasting government in the nation's history. At the same time, this government has also proven to be the most revolutionary in Chile's history, transforming politics and society in a far more profound and far-reaching manner than the socialist Popular Unity coalition. Pinochet and his advisors not only have sought to reverse the policies of the reform administrations of the 1960s and 1970s but have dramatically altered economic, social, and political traditions and practices going back several generations. In the economic sphere, the junta has reversed the long-standing policy of government protectionism of domestic industry and direct government ownership and participation in productive activities. The success of the government's economic advisors in opening up the Chilean economy to the world market and applying laissez-faire economic policies domestically has been widely noted in international financial circles at a time when other governments, notably in Britain and the United States, are also experimenting with more orthodox economic policies.

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