Left Wing Terrorism in Chile
The MIR (Revolutionary Left Movement, Chile), Manuel Rodríguez Patriotic Front and other Left Wing guerillas waged a revolutionary war in Chile from 1965 until 1989. The Chilean Left Wing guerrillas initially advocated revolution to overthrow the longest-standing democracy in Latin America in order to establish a Communist dictatorship.[1]
On 4 September 1970, when Chileans elected as president Salvador Allende Gossens a Marxist, the MIR decided to carry out his socialist reforms by force. This resulted in the military coup led by General Augusto Pinochet on 11 September 1973 who largely defeated the Left Wing guerrillas and civilian supporters MIR through detentions, disappearances and counterinsurgency warfare.[2]
Guerrilla warfare
During the first three months of the Augusto Pinochet regime (Chile, 1973–90), the Chilean armed forces and carabiniers suffered 162 killed in operations against the Marxist guerrillas and civilian supporters of the MIR and Chilean Communist Party.[3]In all, 200 carabiniers, members of the Army, Air Force, Navy, private security and prison guards were killed in the line of duty from 1973 to 1989.
At the end of March 2013, it was announced that the Chilean government was considering a proposal by parliamentarians to compensate the nearly 30,000 Chilean conscripts mobilized after the Coup d'etat and that remained almost double the expected time in uniform.[4]
Civilian losses
During the 1980s, 53 civilians were killed and hundreds wounded as a result of bombings and raids carried out by Left Wing guerrillas and their supporters from the civilian population.
Another 60 civilians died and 510 were injured after the collision and derailment of two trains when Marxist guerrillas or left wing radicals sabotaged one of the train lines in Limache.[5]
Terrorism in the 1970s
Terrorism in the 1980s
In the last week of August 1983, General Pinochet reminded army cadets at the Military Academy that "The forces of order are waging total war to the death against communism."[6]
On 30 August 1983, guerrillas gun down and kill the Military Governor of Santiago, General Carol Urzúa Ibáñez and his two bodyguards, army corporals Carlos Riveros Bequiarelli and José Domingo Aguayo Franco.[7]
In October and November 1983, MIR guerrillas detonate bombs against four Chilean companies that do business with the United States.[8]
On 28 December 1983, the guerrillas kill in an ambush two policemen, carabinier Francisco Javier Pérez Brito and sergeant Manuel Jesús Valenzuela Loyola.[9]
Notes
- ↑ "The Movement of the Revolutionary Left (MIR) waged a revolutionary terrorist struggle in Chile from 1965 until 1989. The MIR initially advocated revolution to overthrow the longest-standing democracy in Latin America in order to establish a Marxist regime." World Terrorism: An Encyclopedia of Political Violence from Ancient Times to the Post-9/11 Era, James Ciment, p. 196, Routledge, 2015
- ↑ "In 1970, when Chile elected as president Salvador Allende a Marxist, the MIR decided to implement his policies by force. This prompted a military coup led by General Augusto Pinochet who struck a blow against the Left from which the MIR never recovered." World Terrorism: An Encyclopedia of Political Violence from Ancient Times to the Post-9/11 Era, James Ciment, p. 196, Routledge, 2015
- ↑ Latin America's Wars: The Age of the Professional Soldier, 1900–2001, Robert L. Scheina, p. 326, Potomac Books, 2003
- ↑ Los conscriptos de entre 1973 y 1990 podrían recibir US$ 40 millones de indemnización
- ↑ "The crash occurred on a single line of track which had been damaged in early 1986 by a bomb attack." Keesing's Contemporary Archives, Volume 32, Keesing's Limited, 1986
- ↑ Undercover Police Shoot, Kill 8 Anti-Government Suspects
- ↑ [Despierta Chile/Mártires del terrorismo
- ↑ "...the MIR bombed four offices of US-affiliated corporations in a 10-day period in October and November of 1983..." Historical Dictionary of Terrorism, Stephen Sloan, Sean K. Anderson, p. 447, Scarecrow Press, 2009
- ↑ La verdad olvidada del terrorismo en chile