The nation is called Chile.
A country which had one of the
better living standards in Latin
America.
But many lived in poverty.
So President Slavador Allende
nationalized the largest
copper mine in the world,
so everyone might have a better
life.
But Washington didn’t like that.
So, almost all financial aid was
cut off,
and military officers were spoken
to
about altering the political
climate.
Then, a nation which never had a
military coup,
had a military coup.
Salvador Allende and thousands
more
were murdered, tortured, or
imprisoned.
General Augusto Pinochet took
over,
and had a talk with Nobel Peace
Prize winner
Milton Friedman who taught at the
University of Chicago.
Friedman said Chile needed the shock treatment.
Friedman’s Chilean students
carried out the shock treatment.
They came from affluent families
and became known as the Chicago Boys.
They cut back on all public
spending,
except the military.
They allowed corporations to operate
free of government interference.
On Wall Street they called it a
miracle.
President George Bush called it
an
“economic model” which
“inspires the hemisphere.”
One million acres of native
forest were cut down.
The ecology of this area will
never recover.
The Monterey pine was introduced,
cut down, and made into wood
chips.
Exports of wood products
increased by about 200%.
But the number of workers
remained the same.
Union membership decreased from
50 to 5%.
Workers routinely labor for two
years and are sent home.
Today 90% of the grapes in the
world come from Chile.
Eight thousand dollars can be
made from one hectare* of land.
Young college educated women work
in packing sheds
earning between two and four
dollars per day.
These workers have increased
production
from forty million to one billion
dollars per year.
They may work 12 to 16 hours per
day,
but may only toil three months
per year.
Fishing exports increased from
forty-eight million
to nine-hundred thirty-four
million dollars.
But there are only so many fish
in the sea,
and many were fished to the brink
of extinction.
Ships the size of football fields
took 43% of the business.
They hired Chilean captains
and claimed they would pay $20
per ton of fish.
They didn’t pay, but they did
deplete the fish stock.
Today many can not afford bus
fare,
but Santiago has the most busses
in the world.
Half empty busses clog the
streets at rush hour.
Gas masks are recommended due to
the pollution.
Today children have respiratory
problems.
Even the New York Times said,
“The free market fever . .
. of Milton Friedman . . .
was pushed at all costs,
creating an atmosphere in which
concern for the environment did not exist.”
But with all this new money
one might think social services
were dramatically improved.
But that costs money,
and the Chicago Boys want that
money.
Today patients need to bring
their own
sheets and medicines to the
hospital.
Families pool resources so a
relatives
might receive medical care.
Typhoid fever and hepatitis are
on the rise.
A new hospital for the wealthy
costs $14 million.
A new plane for the Air Force
costs $24 million.
New planes are on order.
Today there are less students
going to school,
more students dropping out,
and a smaller percentage of
students going to college.
But after all, school costs
money.
By 1998 the price of copper was
cut in half.
40% of the Chile’s export
earnings come from copper.
The affluent are scratching their
heads,
While the miners tell their
children there will be no Christmas presents.*
This overall reality has
delighted
Washington and Wall Street.
However, those who are overjoyed
with Chile
are not so happy with another
nation.
President William Jefferson
Clinton said that Cuba
is the only nation in the
hemisphere which is not a democracy.
If he feels Chile is a democratic
model,
it is easy to understand his
reasoning.
Cuba has one of the highest
literacy rates in the world.
Medical care and education are
guaranteed to all.
Infant mortality is at an all
time low.
All of this is in spite of an
economic embargo by the US.
No, Cubans don’t have many of the
things
affluent Chileans have.
But they have a government that
will not rob them blind.
Cuba clearly is the kind of place
where the Chicago Boys would not be happy.
By Steve Halpern
The information in this poem was
taken largely from the book by Joseph Collins and John Lear, Chile’s Free-Market Miracle: A second
Look. Published by:
Institute for Food
and Development Policy
398 60th
Street, Oakland, CA 94618
510-654-4400
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