Pinochet makes Statement on Birthday
This article is sourced from here Reuters News. Nothing makes me more disgusted than a brutal Bourgeois miltary Dictator who apologizes and offers excuses...I wonder what people think of Chile and its history...thoughts an comments? I hope to return to Chile in the future, my short time in Chile was one of the most marking experiences in my life.
SANTIAGO, Chile, Nov 25 (Reuters) - Former Chilean dictator Augusto Pinochet celebrated his 91st birthday on Saturday with a mea culpa, taking "political responsibility" for acts committed following his 1973 military coup.
In a letter read by his wife, Lucia Hiriart, from the doorstep of his upscale Santiago home, Pinochet said loyalty to his country had motivated all his actions.
"I assume the political responsibility for all of the works carried out with no other motive than to make Chile a great place and prevent its disintegration," he said in the letter.
Pinochet did not accompany his wife to the porch of his home while she read the letter, but could be seen behind her. Later, he stood from a chair just inside the house to wave to a band of mariachi musicians who came to serenade him with his favorite song, the Mexican ballad "El Rey" (The King).
"Today, close to the end of my days, I want to make clear that I hold no rancor toward anybody, that I love my country above all else," Pinochet said in the letter.
The legal noose is tightening around Pinochet and he was recently, briefly under house arrest for crimes including torture, murder and kidnapping during his regime.
Around 3,000 people were killed or "disappeared" during the former general's rule and some 28,000 were tortured after he overthrew Marxist president Salvador Allende and came to power. While thousands of Chileans left the country and went into exile.
Most recently an appeals court stripped Pinochet of immunity -- a privilege of former presidents -- to face charges relating to the kidnap and disappearance of a Spanish priest in 1974 who was arrested by agents of Chile's DINA, the dictatorship's most oppressive police unit. (Additional reporting by Rodrigo Gutierrez and Victor Ruiz)
SANTIAGO, Chile, Nov 25 (Reuters) - Former Chilean dictator Augusto Pinochet celebrated his 91st birthday on Saturday with a mea culpa, taking "political responsibility" for acts committed following his 1973 military coup.
In a letter read by his wife, Lucia Hiriart, from the doorstep of his upscale Santiago home, Pinochet said loyalty to his country had motivated all his actions.
"I assume the political responsibility for all of the works carried out with no other motive than to make Chile a great place and prevent its disintegration," he said in the letter.
Pinochet did not accompany his wife to the porch of his home while she read the letter, but could be seen behind her. Later, he stood from a chair just inside the house to wave to a band of mariachi musicians who came to serenade him with his favorite song, the Mexican ballad "El Rey" (The King).
"Today, close to the end of my days, I want to make clear that I hold no rancor toward anybody, that I love my country above all else," Pinochet said in the letter.
The legal noose is tightening around Pinochet and he was recently, briefly under house arrest for crimes including torture, murder and kidnapping during his regime.
Around 3,000 people were killed or "disappeared" during the former general's rule and some 28,000 were tortured after he overthrew Marxist president Salvador Allende and came to power. While thousands of Chileans left the country and went into exile.
Most recently an appeals court stripped Pinochet of immunity -- a privilege of former presidents -- to face charges relating to the kidnap and disappearance of a Spanish priest in 1974 who was arrested by agents of Chile's DINA, the dictatorship's most oppressive police unit. (Additional reporting by Rodrigo Gutierrez and Victor Ruiz)
"I assume the political responsibility for all of the works carried out with no other motive than to make Chile a great place and prevent its disintegration,"
what a great place it is now, as one of the most impoverished and and undeveloped countries in Latin America.
Posted by
LeftyHenry |
8:28 AM
great blog! this doesn't have anything to do with the thread, but, i was wondering if i could get some reading recommendations for getting into communist and Maoist theory from you and the others here. thank you.
-mac
Posted by
Anonymous |
9:17 PM
Dear Mac,
We would be glad to recommend literature introductions of Maoist theory. Just message us on how to contact you online, since you are on anonymous currently.
Posted by
AntonRuminator |
10:05 PM
why not post the recommendations in the thread? with everything happening in the world, i'm sure i'm not the only one who's interested.
or, drop me a line at internationalistblog_@_yahoo.com.
many thanks,
mac
Posted by
Anonymous |
12:31 PM
Sorry Mac,
My Comrade, EightOneUnderRedStar should have done just exactly that. I think there is a lot things out there worth reading that interrelate with Maoist theory. Of course I always recommend checking out www.marx2mao.com which contains a much greater wealth of text from Stalin, Mao, and other anti-revisionist Communist writers.
There are also a number of links I have made on this site to articles and works of interest by Althusser to Sartre. I would also recommend checking out www.massline.info for a good look into the methodology of Mass Line, which is the essence of Maoist theoretical rupture from Marxism-Leninism.
I would recommend to begin with reading Political theory of Marx in "Critique of the Gotha Programme" and Lenin's "What is to be Done?," "The Proletarian Revolution and the Renegade Kaustky," and "Left-wing Communism an Infantile Disorder." I would also suggest "Origins of Family, Property and the State" by Engels as a place to begin to understand Historical Materialism. On Dialectics, I recommend reading Mao's "On Practice" and "On Contradiction."
I would also recommend taking a look at Louis Althusser's Ideology and the Ideological State Apparatus as a starting point to understanding Culture and consciousness.
Posted by
ShineThePath |
3:07 PM
i found these two pieces in mao's selected works, which may be of interest. -mac
Classical Works Recommended to High-Ranking Cadres
http://www.marxists.org/reference/archive/mao/selected-works/volume-8/mswv8_56.htm
Principles Of Educating Youth
http://www.marxists.org/reference/archive/mao/selected-works/volume-8/mswv8_57.htm
Posted by
Anonymous |
5:53 PM
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