Augusto Pinochet
From Wikiquote
Augusto José Ramón Pinochet Ugarte (November 25, 1915 – December 10, 2006) was a general and de facto head of state of Chile. He led a military junta to power in 1973 through a coup d'état, deposing the elected Socialist president Salvador Allende and establishing a military dictatorship.
Contents |
[edit] Sourced
[edit] As de facto head of state
- The country is safe, because we count with a good intelligence service. (September 1974)[1]
- I will die. The person who succeeds me will also have to die. But elections, you won't have. (June 17, 1975)[2]
- If senator Kennedy is elected President of the United States, the government of Chile will take appropriate measures. (September 11, 1979)[3]
- Not a single leaf moves in this country if I'm not the one moving it. I want that to be clear! (October 1981)[4]
- I devaluated the peso only looking at the poor. (June 29, 1982)[5]
- This is not a 'dictadura,' but a 'dictablanda.' (September 1983, a play on the Spanish word for dictatorship, dura means tough, blanda means soft)[6]
- My face is sour. Maybe that's why they say I'm a dictator. (April 24, 1986)[7]
- My library is full with UN condemnations. (December 26, 1986)[8]
- Nation is to make Chile a country or proprietors, not proletarians. (April 24, 1987)[9]
- I'm looking at them from above, because God put me there. (July 1987)[10]
- We practically wiped this nation clean of Marxists. (February 23, 1988)[11]
- The rich people are the ones making money and you have to treat them well so they continue making more money. (May 26, 1988)[12]
- 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. (October 25, 1988) [13]
- 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. (April 17, 1989)[14]
[edit] As army commander-in-chief
- What a wonderful space-saving measure! (September 1991, following the discovery of coffins containing two or three bodies at Patio 29)[15]
- Who are we going to forgive? The ones who tried to killed us? The ones who tried to destroy the Fatherland? (September 11, 1994)[16]
- The only solution to the issue of human rights is oblivion. (September 21, 1995)[17]
- Rome cut the heads of Christians but they continued to reappear. Something similar occurs with Marxists. (November 10, 1995)[18]
- Had I been a dictator, I would still be governing. (December 31, 1995)[19]
[edit] As senator for life
- I was only an aspiring dictator. I was never a real dictator. (November 1998, during detention in London)[20]
[edit] Unsourced
- Two-thousand is nothing. (July 1994, while comparing the population of Chile to the number of disappeared during his regime)
- Tell my friends to get me out of here. (October 27, 1998, nine days after being arrested in London)
- I don't remember, but it's not true. It's not true, and If it were true, I don't remember. (November 16, 2005, in response to the question of whether he as president was head of DINA)
