h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Hello,

This is a very good entry, well constructed and researched. I myself am interested in the story of Bernado O'Higgins as I am also of Irish ancestry in a foreign country. I am currently researching an entry on this fascinating figure from history.


Myriad.

According to Dr Sheila Cassidy (who would have been a cast-iron reason to arrest Pinochet while he was in Britain, as she ws a British citizen tortured by Chilean military thugs) one route used to destabilise Allende was the creation of an artificial shortage of essential consumer goods in shops and markets. These were held back in warehouses and at Chilean impoort centres, until Allende was deposed and his price constraints could be abolished - then they were allowed to shoot up in value so that the capitalists could make what they considered to be a fair profit on them. Anyone insisting that this was unfair or who demanded price control was then arrested as a dangerous communist...

This presupposes collusion and conspiracy by the capitalist and mecantile classes to destabilise Allende and bring about a government of their choosing. As Cassidy pointed out, the fact the "shortage" dissappeared within a day of Pinochet's takeover is good evidence of this.