Quotes & Sayings About Pinochet

I was only an aspiring dictator. I was never a real dictator. — Augusto Pinochet

It (the Chinese move to embrace capitalism in 1989) is a mirror of the corporatist state first pioneered in Chile under Pinochet: a revolving door between corporate and political elites who combine their power to eliminate workers as an organized political force. The creation of today's market society was not the result of a sequence of spontaneous events but rather of state interference and violence. — Naomi Klein

I never blamed Pinochet, or my torturers, or external circumstances. — Fernando Flores

Those who hated the crimes of Pinochet closed their eyes when the same crimes were committed by Castro. The posture of many countries was governed by their hostility against the United States, and they excused Castro out of a reflexive anti-Americanism. (The enemy of my enemy is my friend.) These political games still take place today. — Armando Valladares

My message to France and Europe is that we will make sure Venezuela won't witness the rise of another Pinochet. And we will do it the democratic way. — Nicolas Maduro

The freedoms which had been so hard won from colonial domination were being crushed by Soviet-inspired and funded military and political forces. Their clear intention was to deprive the people of their democratic freedoms. As history shows, this is what had happened in the Soviet Union and in Cuba, and continues to be the case in other parts of the world. — Augusto Pinochet

I will die. The person who succeeds me will also have to die. But elections, you won't have. — Augusto Pinochet

I'm looking at them from above, because God put me there. — Augusto Pinochet

Today, near the end of my days, I want to say that I harbor no rancor against anybody, that I love my fatherland above all and that I take political responsibility for everything that was done which had no other goal than making Chile greater and avoiding its disintegration ... I assume full political responsibility for what happened. — Augusto Pinochet

I am a strong supporter of the recent extradition proceedings against General Pinochet. It would be quite intolerable that the perpetrator should decide not only whether he should get amnesty but that no one else should have the right to question the grounds on which he had so granted himself amnesty and for what offense. — Desmond Tutu

Pinochet took power in a 1973 military coup that the United States supported. — Elliott Abrams

My moral and spiritual formation does not allow me to be a dictator ... If I were a dictator, You can be sure that many things have happened. — Augusto Pinochet

I have lived with my conscience and my own memories for over quarter of a century since the events of 1973 ... These are not easy reflections for me. But I am at peace with myself, and with the Chilean people, about what happened. I am clear in my mind that the return to Chile of true democracy, and from that the true freedom to which all individual people are entitled, could not have been achieved without the removal of the Marxist government. — Augusto Pinochet

Had I been a dictator, I would still be governing. — Augusto Pinochet

Executive power is exercised by the President of the Governing Board who, with the title of President of the Republic of Chile, administers the state and is the Supreme Chief of the Nation. — Augusto Pinochet

Pinochet and Barack Obama both have the same primary goal, and that's to be president and stay president as long as allowed. — Viggo Mortensen

He could have a thousand faults, but I do not blame anyone in particular and I despise brutality with which the Nazis acted against Israelites; but the fault is not only of Hitler, but a group of high-ranked dignitaries. — Augusto Pinochet

I devalued the peso solely looking after the poor. — Augusto Pinochet

I'm not a dictator. It's just that I have a grumpy face. — Augusto Pinochet

My face is sour. Maybe that's why they say I'm a dictator. — Augusto Pinochet

During 65 years, I have walked the path of duty and discipline ... And today, looking back at that long path of service, my soldier's heart stirs and murmurs from deep within: Thank you. Thank you, my homeland. — Augusto Pinochet

I regret and suffer those losses, but it's God's will. He will pardon me if I committed excesses, but I don't think I did. — Augusto Pinochet

Capitalism was reasonably content under Hitler, happy under Mussolini, very happy under Franco and delirious under General Pinochet. — John Ralston Saul

The rich people are those who create wealth, and you have to treat them well so they continue to give wealth. — Augusto Pinochet

Sometimes democracy must be bathed in blood. — Augusto Pinochet

The only solution to the issue of human rights is oblivion. — Augusto Pinochet

My response to those who still try to justify Castro's tyranny with the excuse that he has built schools and hospitals is this: Stalin, Hitler and Pinochet also built schools and hospitals, and like Castro, they also tortured and assassinated opponents. They built concentration and extermination camps and eradicated all liberties, committing the worst crimes against humanity. — Armando Valladares

Everything I did, all my actions, all of the problems I had I dedicate to God and to Chile, because I kept Chile from becoming Communist. — Augusto Pinochet

My library is filled with UN condemnations. — Augusto Pinochet

Democracy is the breeding ground of communism, — Augusto Pinochet

So Lorenzo grew up in Chile without arms, an unfortunate situation for any child, but he also grew up in Pinochet's Chile, which turned unfortunate situations into desperate ones, on top of which he soon discovered that he was homosexual, which made his already desperate situation inconceivable and indescribable. Given these circumstances, it is not surprising that Lorenzo became an artist. (What else could he do?) — Roberto Bolano

We have no political prisons. We have political internal exiles. — Augusto Pinochet

Naturally, I asked him what it'd been like to live through Pinochet's coup and the fall of Allende. Naturally, he regarded me with an expression of utter boredom; then he said:
'Like a Marx Brothers' movie, but with corpses. Unimaginable pandemonium. — Javier Cercas

tried to understand what I'd seen. I felt as if I'd just stepped out of a limn on twentieth-century book burnings: gaunt, vampiric Goebbels screaming beside a seditious inferno; Stalin; Mao and his Red Guards; Iranian forces in the Republic of Mahabad burning anything in Kurdish; midcentury New York school kids incinerating comics in Binghamton; Ray Bradbury's firemen; apartheid-era librarians; Pinochet; Pol Pot; Serbian nationalists setting fire to the National and University Library. — Alena Graedon

Not a leaf moves in this country if I'm not moving it. — Augusto Pinochet

The nation is trying to make Chile a country of proprietors, not of proletarians. — Augusto Pinochet

Don't forget that in the history of the world, there was a plebiscite, in which Christ and Barabbas were being judged, and the people chose Barabbas. — Augusto Pinochet

Rome cut off the heads of Christians and they continued to reappear one way or another. Something similar happens with Marxists. — Augusto Pinochet

I'm not someone who usually sends out threats. I warn only once. The day they touch one of my men, the rule of law is over. — Augusto Pinochet