Former Mayor, Minister of State, and Chancellor of the Republic of Bolivia
2 November 2021
Fidel, Pinochet and Prosperity
I have extracted from my memoirs a colossal incident. In the early 1990s, the Cuban Ambassador to Chile visited Andrónico Luksic Abaroa, the great-grandson of the Bolivian hero Eduardo Abaroa Hidalgo and an important businessman, to extend an invitation to visit his country. As Andrónico was about to accept the proposal, the Cuban Ambassador clarified that the businessman would be received by Fidel Castro.
Faced with this singular invitation, Andrónico and his son Guillermo flew to Havana and were received by Fidel at the House of the Revolution late at night. Andrónico, who expected to face the tropical heat, wore a thread guayabera shirt, while Castro received them in an olive green uniform and military cap, warmly clothed for the freezing, fully air-conditioned room.
Andrónico, who in addition to his son was accompanied by the Chilean Ambassador to Cuba and his counterpart in Santiago, had been warned that he had to expect long monologues from the Commander. Nothing like that happened. Castro was all ears that night. He asked Andrónico about the economy in Chile, private investments, the business climate, etc. And he raised the possibility that Luksic Abaroa could invest in Cuba in the beer industry.
Towards the end of the night, Castro asked Andrónico to summarize the economic and social situation in Chile in his opinion. Andrónico explained to Castro the dynamics of economic reforms in Chile during the previous two decades and how this country had achieved a degree of economic progress with its consequent social transformation translated into general prosperity of the middle classes and a radical reduction in poverty. Andrónico explained that this new situation that placed Chile at the head of South America had also generated high expectations in the people, who would not accept in the future anything less than maintaining economic progress and sustaining the prosperity achieved.
Andrónico said that Castro kept a long silence, after which he said verbatim: “That, boy, prosperity, you owe it to Pinochet!” Andrónico, very confused, believed he had misheard, and to his disbelief, Castro repeated his statement: “Yes, boy, you owe it to Pinochet.”
Back in Santiago, a few days later, Andrónico received an invitation from Pinochet to a formal dinner. The dinner was attended by the entire military hierarchy, the Chilean Ambassador in Havana and Andrónico. At dessert time, Pinochet addressed the latter and asked him to tell the audience what Castro had said. Surely the Chilean diplomat accredited to Cuba had reported that curious as well as implausible conversation. Unsure, Andrónico asked Pinochet to specify what he was asking him to tell. To which Pinochet clarified: “That, what Castro said about me and prosperity.”
For many years I have kept this family anecdote, reserved for my memoirs. But in these unfortunate moments for Bolivia, with a tyrannical, abusive, inept, and arrogant government, I wonder if Castro, deep down inside, was not questioning himself about the path he adopted for his miserable Cuba, unlike the one chosen by the other dictator that transformed Chile. Pinochet was also a tyrant, but he made his country modernize and develop, not impoverished, as was the case with Castro. And, in addition, he kept his word, respected the result of the referendum, organized free elections, and left power.
I sense that Andrónico was correct in his diagnosis: Chileans have already tasted prosperity, and no matter how unhappy they may be today, they will not hand over their fate to the Chilean left-wing. Between the extremes, they will choose who will continue along the capitalist route that has modernized Chile.
Source: http://www.cabildeodigital.com/2021/11/fidel-pinochet-y-la-prosperidad.html
