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History and Government
History: The Araucanian Indians were the original inhabitants of Chile. The Spanish conquered the country in the 16th century and ruled until the country’s independence in 1818 following a war led by Bernard O’Higgins and Jose de San Martín. As a result of the War of the Pacific (1879-1883), Chile gained Tarapacá, Tacna and Arica from Bolivia, and took control of the Atacama. Border disputes between Chile and Bolivia have been a recurrent element in Chile’s history ever since. In 1891 civil war broke out and a parliamentary principle of government was established.
Elections in 1970 brought Unidad Popular, led by the Marxist Dr Salvador Allende, to power. A military coup followed during which Allende was killed. General Augusto Pinochet Ugarte was declared Supreme Chief of State and President, and remained in power despite considerable opposition from many sectors of society. The ruling military junta assumed wide-ranging powers, its main aim being to eliminate the Communist Party and other leftist opposition. During the ‘state of siege’, political opponents were imprisoned (and many of them ‘disappeared’), censorship was systematic and all non-government political activity banned. These powers were gradually relaxed during the 1980s until the Government felt that the Marxist menace was no longer a threat to the country and arranged a gradual return to representative government. Patricio Aylwin, leader of the Concertación de los Partidos de la Democracia (CPD), a 17-party coalition in which the Christian Democrats (PCD, usually classified as centre-left, in contrast with European practice) were the largest component, stood against the General and won in the presidential elections of December 1989.
Although Pinochet’s days as dictator were over, the powers of the civilian government were severely circumscribed in certain areas, notably defence policy and investigations of previous human rights abuses. In 1998, Pinochet officially retired, although he retained lifetime membership of the Chilean Senate and consequent immunity from prosecution. However, the following year, he encountered unexpected problems during a visit to the UK in the form of a Spanish extradition warrant (issued on the basis of the alleged murder of Spanish nationals). After lengthy deliberation, the British concluded in January 2000 that Pinochet was medically unfit to stand trial and allowed him to return to Chile. The Chilean authorities would probably wish to prosecute him (indeed, his senatorial immunity was removed in May 2000) but are wary of the reaction, especially from the military.
Particular care in handling the Pinochet case was required given that its denouement coincided with presidential elections. The previous poll in December 1993 had brought another comfortable victory for the Concertación candidate, Eduardo Frei, who had succeeded Aylwin. In January 2000, a member of the socialist bloc in Concertación, Ricardo Lagos, fought a close but ultimately victorious campaign against Joaquin Lavin, standing for the right-wing Unión Democrata Independiente. Concertación has now won each of the three post-dictatorship elections.
Abroad, relations between Chile and its neighbours, including Argentina, have been improving, principally as a result of the development of the southern cone trading bloc, Mercosur. However, the Chileans are deeply concerned by the possible knock-on effects off the political and economic crisis that overtook Argentina in 2001 and 2002. Further north, Chile is the first South American country to have entered into formal discussion with the North American Free Trade Association (NAFTA, covering the USA, Canada and Mexico). Negotiations have been in progress in earnest since 1996 but the US Congress has imposed a number of obstacles which require protracted work to overcome them.
Government: Executive power is held by the President as head of the Government, elected for a six-year term. The bicameral Congress is responsible for legislation and comprises a 47-member Senate and a 120-member Chamber of Deputies, both elected by universal suffrage.
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