Letter: Death of Chile's dream

IN RESPONSE to the letter from the water engineer working in Chile at the time of Allende, the country was, of course, in a mess. That is the usual fate of an idealist state after years of corruption and poverty.

It didn't stand a chance. The haemorrhage of cash as the rich, fearing the communist and the educated peasant, wired their money to foreign accounts and the interference of the USA didn't help either. America does not like freely elected states when they want to redistribute the wealth that is in the hands of a few to others who are starving.

It would much rather have a dictator on its payroll and cheap labour for the plantations. The CIA ensured chaos, paralysing utilities and the economy, organising strikes, paving the way for Pinochet to "save the country". Did Allende deserve such a fate? Did Chile deserve Pinochet?

D LaSALLE

London N8