Capitalists are opponents of democracy

Businessmen: Disciples of Pinochet and Opponents of Democracy

By Marcos Roitman Rosenmann on September 23, 2020




https://www.resumen-english.org/2020/09/13868/




Saved by the unlawful action of three governments including the British, the Spanish and the Chilean, the defenders of Pinochet were encouraged and regained their strength. Their disciples relaxed – they could continue to defend him. They were given a free pass to shelve his violations of human rights. In Chile, the Vice-president of Michelle Bachelet’s government, Alejandro Foxley took the lead.

He will be remembered for his polished phrase: “Augusto Pinochet will go down in Chilean history for having changed the lives of all the people of Chile, for better, not for worse, and this places Pinochet in the highest level of history.” But those who have elevated him to the rank of hero have been the businessmen. In Mexico, during a ceremony honoring Joan Garcés, legal expert and attorney who built the legal case against Pinochet, with the Ignacio Loyola Award for her contribution to the defense of human rights, I witnessed a horrible scene. One of the guests, a rich businessman, a former Olympic medal-winning asked who the person being honored was, to which I responded with pride. The response of the businessman was a string of expletives directed at the honoree, with insults at the same time directed at Salvador Allende, as he described Pinochet as a visionary, defender of freedom, of whom Chile should feel proud. This businessman from Monterrey, overwhelmed by rage, did not mention his ties with the dictator and his financial schemes in biotechnology and genetic engineering which didn’t stop him from swindling more than a million dollars from the dictator.

This information was gathered by Mary Anastasia O’Grady, of the Wall Street Journal, and published there. This was later published by Carlos Fernández Vega, in his column “Mexico SA” in La Jornada of March 28 2005. The businessman of whom I am speaking is Alfonso Romo Garza whose belligerent defensive attitude toward the tyrant is not unique. I have seen this phenomenon in Spain and in Latin America. Politicians and businessmen have no qualms about making him a martyr. Lifting him to the level of statesman and political visionary. When this occurs, the only possible response is to get up and leave, for the sake of decency, dignity, and respect to the victims; this is my usual response.

If democracy ever paid off for the businessmen, now it is a value without any profit margin. They do not invest in democracy and, when they do, it is only to assassinate it. They feel a visceral hatred when proposals of social justice and equality are raised. A resentment bordering on psychotic delirium. This also happened with the businessmen of the Third Reich, financing the Nazi Party. The banker Kurt von Scröder, steel king Gustav Krupp, Bayer, corporations including Mercedes Benz, BMW, Hugo Boss, Kodak and Telefunken – all promoted and praised the Nazis to satisfy their desires for power. In Spain it was Juan March and his bank that financed the military coup of Francisco Franco. In Chile, Edwards, Yarur, Matte or Alessandri, who felt a personal aversion to Allende and his democratic program. In Argentina, General Videla counted on the support of the financial groups and the businessmen. In Paraguay, they made Stroessner stronger. In the Dominican Republic, Trujillo was useful to them. In Cuba, Batista was a kept man of the sugar interests and the U.S. mafia. Not to mention the trans-national companies that hate all desires for social justice: IBM, Coca-Cola, Ford, Nestlé, in Germany; United Fruit Company, in Guatemala; ITT, in Chile, or Repsol in Bolivia. There are thousands of examples.

The disdain of businessmen for democracy forms part of a sales message with its main argument defining it as a conspiracy of the poor, especially those on the edges who have to beg for social benefits. They pay and others loaf and enjoy themselves at their expense.

In short, democracy is a project of people who are incapable of initiative. It threatens freedom of markets, corporate initiative and private property. They are endlessly critical of public spending for health, education, housing, or culture, and of paying taxes on capital. As soon as a democratic project is successful, we habitually hear them proclaim, “They will take away your house; they will take away your children and teach them communist slogans; they will expropriate your business; your savings will be taken by the government; we will all have to dress the same way; you will not have the right to choose your future; they will burn the churches and shoot the priests; they will rape women; they will twist your brain with drugs.” How does one refute their diatribes? Any sensible argument is discarded. And so they justify killing, torturing, and disappearing people. It is them or us. Good against evil, and the evil is always democracy. Human rights, for them, they are a perfectly dispensable cosmetic question.

Businessmen of the world feel a true love for Pinochet. Some hide this for shame. But they all mention the success of the Chilean model and the place that Pinochet holds in its triumph. His determination to transform Chile into an Eden of neoliberalism was his masterpiece. Everything is perfect, they can run amok. Poverty, inequality, and hunger aren’t part of this, much less torture, assassination, and disappearances of people. They are the owners of the country and everyone else are their slaves. Democracy doesn’t concern them. Makes no difference if it’s Chile, Mexico, Colombia, or the United States. For businessmen, Pinochet is the very embodiment of their law and order project.




Source: Correo del Alba, translation Resumen Latinoamricano, North America bureau