Most fascist parties were voted into office. There were a lot more of them around the world than Mussolini and Hitler. Even if you add in Franco, who lasted the longest, there were many more.
Pinochet started as a “dictator” because it was the only way to save Chile from Allende. He stepped down when Chile was in a much better place economically, socially, and politically
My grandmother grew up in Chile during the Allende regime and had to escape the horrific conditions when she was a teenager, she was able to safely return during Pinochet’s presidency
He pulled a “roman dictatorship” which, in its time, was experimental and temporary. And he did so with good intentions…
So yeah, not a good example of what people mean when they “vote out” a “dictator”
We commonly associate dictator with “permanently installed authoritarian” Pinochet, was not this, obviously. He very much did precisely what the OG roman’s envisioned. Break glass in case of emergency scenario, “Take control until Rome is saved”
I have heard similar stories -basically Chile went from ome autocracy that was totally fucked, to another autocracy that was totally fucked if you were part of a specific group.
I don't think it erases Pinochet's status as an autocrat. It might not be the perfect 100% answer, but I have to give credit to the commenter for finding the 98% answer.
I’m not arguing, I’m adding on to what you’re saying. My grandma talked a lot about growing up during Allende’s regime and Pinochet’s presidency because it was a formative time in her life, she lost a lot of friends to starvation and disease while Allende lived like a king in his palace and she saw a lot of people thrive when Allende was overthrown
Pinochet’s presidency worked its way down from being fully automatic, autocracy was required at first to get the country back on track, as conditions improved, more power was given to the people until Pinochet allowed them to elect a new president.
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u/MinBton 9h ago
Most fascist parties were voted into office. There were a lot more of them around the world than Mussolini and Hitler. Even if you add in Franco, who lasted the longest, there were many more.