Angus Reid Global Monitor : Polls & Research

Chile Still Reeling Over 1973 Coup

July 07, 2003

(CPOD) Jul. 7, 2003 - The military dictatorship of general Augusto Pinochet is still controversial in Chile, according to a poll by Fundación Futuro. 87 per cent of respondents say the country has not reconciled.

Pinochet led a coup d'etat to bring down the government of socialist Salvador Allende on Sept. 11, 1973. A crackdown on political parties and dissidents, known as the "Caravan of Death", killed an estimated 3,000 people, and thousands more went missing. Pinochet ruled the country until 1990, when free democratic elections were once again held in Chile.

Despite several efforts to try Pinochet, most recently by Spanish justice Baltasar Garzón, the general keeps diplomatic immunity as a "Senator for Life." 42.8 per cent of respondents say those responsible for human rights violations must be brought to justice.

Polling Data

Thirty years after the coup, do you feel the country is reconciled?

Yes

13%

No

87%

How can the country be reconciled?

Truth, trials for human rights violations

42.8%

Topic should be set aside

17.2%

Full disclosure of truth

13.2%

Military officers should apologize

10.5%

Trial for those responsible

6.8%

Monetary compensation for families of victims

5.0%

Taking those responsible out of the government

4.5%


Source: Fundación Futuro
Methodology: Telephone interviews to 400 Chilean citizens, conducted from on Jun. 30 and Jul. 1, 2003. Margin of error is 4.9 per cent.

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