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Simeon Mitropolitski is a Canadian analyst, of Bulgarian origin, and a former syndicated columnist with the Bulgarian News Agency (BTA). He is the author of several hundred articles dealing with hot political and economic topics, both national and international.
He was part of the first group of Bulgarian intellectuals and students that began the opposition movement that finally put an end to the communist regime in this country in 1989, and in 1996-1997 participated in international observation teams during the elections in several Balkan countries - Romania, Albania and Bulgaria.
In 2002 Simeon and his family moved from Bulgaria to Canada where they live now in Montreal, province of Quebec. Simeon is a Master of Political Science from McGill University and a B.A. of Political Science and History.
Global Real Estate Project
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Chile: The past revisitedAnalyzing Chile during the first half of September is like talking about dead persons around the dates of their funerals. No facts of our present days, either economic or political, are salient enough to erase the burden of the past, the moment when the fate of the country was sealed by the military coup of September 11, 1973. The murder of an elected president, the triumph of the brutal force over the democratic procedures, thousands of dead, kidnapped, disappeared. After this we have stable finances, growing economy, returning investors, thousands retirees looking for quiet silver age. How could the first led to the second? Is it possible to imagine this country without one of them, a prosperous Marxist-oriented economy or a military dungeon where the force is the only law? To begin with the recent news coming from this land, Chile is doing remarkably well, especially when compared to some of its Latin America neighbors. There aren't brusque economic ups and downs. The economy may slow down but usually this is temporarily. Financial system is more or less sound. The country is among the worst places for corrupt politicians and among the best places for smaller investors. Recently it has signed a free trade agreement with the United States. This makes Chile even more attractive for international companies, looking for the vast American market. To be more precise, Chile isn't paradise on earth, but for sure it's far away from the standard pictures of typical Third World countries. The left critics form around the world point out at the origins of this economic success. They look at the military coup of 1973 that made possible, but not necessary this progress. The modern country was born out of blood and in this sense the progress was only apparent. Chile won't be able to become really a developed country because the foundations were laid down on the bones of thousands of innocent victims, the leftist from many shades claim. My argument is that the leftist government of Salvador Allende couldn't be able to modernize the country without even bigger bloodshed. From what we see as examples from Central and Latin America, Cuba, Nicaragua, Venezuela, some underground movements in South America, in the earlier stages of modernization the leftist groups succeed only when they decide to apply terrorist methods. Sometimes even this isn't enough, but without mass terror these regimes can't last for a long time. The tragedy of Allende was that he wasn't prepared to shed the blood of his countrymen. He, unlike many of his supporters, was too civilized and didn't make the first step toward a civil war. Even without the coup of general Pinochet, Allende's fate could have been tragic as was the fate of any moderate Marxist leader in the world in countries experiencing communist revolutions. He was killed by the military and that made him a martyr. His own men could have eliminated him shortly and then his name could have been forgotten by our time. The successful economic modernization of Chile under Pinochet was rather an exception, not a rule. Usually the military regimes anywhere in the world, especially in Latin America, are much less competent in managing the complex economic systems. What Pinochet did was something extraordinary, which couldn't erase the blood from his dungeons. Without this brutal coup Chile would have shown the world another socialist economic mismanagement, followed like in Cuba and Nicaragua by forced labor camps, and perhaps by a civil war.
Chile country profile: --------------------
See also the directory of companies providing real estate services in, and general real estate information of Chile.
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