Terrorist Attack In Chile

[camberiu]

Chile's extreme rebels are a response go the comparatively very authoritarian society they have over there. One of the last Latin American countries to still have mandatory draft and where the police dress like army.

Mandatory military conscription is prevalent in most of Latin America, including Brazil, Colombia, Venezuela, Chile, Bolivia, Paraguay, Mexico and Cuba. Argentina is an exception on this, not the rule. And that change only happened in the 90s due to a massive backlash against the military dictatorship.
And in most of Latin America, the police is militarized (dressing and acting like soldiers).

 

[ajoknoblauch]

Mandatory military conscription is prevalent in most of Latin America, including Brazil, Colombia, Venezuela, Chile, Bolivia, Paraguay, Mexico and Cuba. Argentina is an exception on this, not the rule. And that change only happened in the 90s as a massive backlash against the military dictatorship.
And in most of Latin America, the police is militarized (dressing and acting like soldiers).

In Chile, conscription is obligatory but not universal. I don't know the percentages, but the Chilean military do not take every eligible individual (from the male population).

 

[camberiu]

In Chile, conscription is obligatory but not universal. I don't know the percentages, but the Chilean military do not take every eligible individual (from the male population).

That is true for pretty much all countries here in LATAM.

 

[ajoknoblauch]

That is true for pretty much all countries here in LATAM.

In Argentina, I believe, it was obligatory and universal. My older brother-in-law escaped service because he was a widower who was the sole support of a young child (thanks to the military themselves, who had kidnapped and killed the mother). My younger brother-in-law was conscripted, but lived at home in Olavarría because the milicos didn't want to pay to house and feed him.

 

[camberiu]

In Argentina, I believe, it was obligatory and universal.

I don't know if it was universal, but it would not surprise me if it was. It was such a militaristic society back then that it would make sense to make it universal.

 

[ajoknoblauch]

I don't know if it was universal, but it would not surprise me if it was. It was such a militaristic society back then that it would make sense to make it universal.

Militarism and "making sense" is an oxymoron.

 

[Matt84]

I thought Chile's conscription was harsher and taken more seriously than in other countries (not Mexico). I remember Peru abolished it at the same time as Argentina and it truly comes as a surprise that it's still mandatory in Brazil, I can't conceive it could be implemented as universally and harshly as in Chile - even for the fact that Chile is more completely censused and controlled than Brazil...

 

[camberiu]

I thought Chile's conscription was harsher and taken more seriously than in other countries (not Mexico). I remember Peru abolished it at the same time as Argentina and it truly comes as a surprise that it's still mandatory in Brazil, I can't conceive it could be implemented as universally and harshly as in Chile - even for the fact that Chile is more completely censused and controlled than Brazil...

In terms of press freedom index (the lower the better), Argentina scores a 25.27. Chile scores 25.34 (ahead of the likes of Japan and Israel). Brazil scored a 34. So I think you have some misconceptions about Chile.

Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Press_Freedom_Index

 

[ajoknoblauch]

I thought Chile's conscription was harsher and taken more seriously than in other countries (not Mexico). I remember Peru abolished it at the same time as Argentina and it truly comes as a surprise that it's still mandatory in Brazil, I can't conceive it could be implemented as universally and harshly as in Chile - even for the fact that Chile is more completely censused and controlled than Brazil...

There have been cases of very harsh treatments of conscripts in Chile - in one case that I recall, officers marched a number of them to their deaths in a snowstorm. I'm pretty sure Argentina's was at least as bad, though.

Do you mean Chile's census is more accurate than Argentina's? If so, the INDEC standard is not hard to beat.

 

[camberiu]

There have been cases of very harsh treatments of conscripts in Chile - in one case that I recall, officers marched a number of them to their deaths in a snowstorm. I'm pretty sure Argentina's was at least as bad, though.

Again, this is very common in all of LATAM. Every few years or so, some drill sergeant in the Brazilian army goes on trial for killing recruits (due to negligence or poor judgement) during training. On the latest case (2013), the drill sergeant used as a defense the argument that "The Brazilian Army boot camp is not a daycare center, and shit happens".