Ex-dictator Pinochet off greatest Chileans list

To some he was the man who saved Chile from a communist takeover and helped transform the country’s economy. To others he was a brutal dictator who died in impunity and was the mastermind behind the deaths of thousands of innocent civilians. He was Augusto Pinochet and he continues to be a divisive figure among Chileans to this day.

Chilean television network TVN created a series of the greatest Chileans ever and the first episode aired last night. Poet Pablo Neruda, war hero Arturo Prat, folk singer Violeta Parra, and even Pinchot’s predecessor- Salvador Allende- where some of the ten finalists selected. Pinochet was omitted from the preliminary list of sixty; a decision that irked some Chileans:

"They avoided 'by committee' the possibility that the authoritarianism of the masses would rush to their computers and vote in favor of Pinochet," wrote historian Alfredo Jocelyn-Holt in a column for the newspaper La Tercera. "The final list, nevertheless, came out slanted toward a certain politically correct leftism."

Pinochet's influence and power played a pivotal role in Chilean history but go ask the orphans of those whose parents where killed or “disappeared” if he deserves to be the "greatest"? Or the thousands who were tortured by the state and fortunate to make it out alive or the families of Carlos Prats and Orlando Letelier.

Augusto Pinochet as the greatest Chilean ever makes as much sense as Stalin being considered as the greatest Russian ever. In other words: no.

Image- Guardian UK (“General Augusto Pinochet, left, and President Salvador Allende pose together in August 1973, before the coup in which Pinochet seized power.”)

Sources (English)- Inside South America, The Latin Americanist, Guardian UK, Foreign Policy Passport

Sources (Spanish)- chile.com, Grandes Chilenos de la Historia