DANIEL FOX.

DIRECTED READINGS: LATIN AMERICAN HISTORY

Bread, Justice, and Liberty Summary

Introduction

The book Bread, Justice, and Liberty was written by Alison Bruey and was only recently

published in 2018. The work is about the lived experience of the Chilean Pinochet dictatorship

and the activism against the regime entirely from the perspective of anti-regime activists in the

shanty neighborhoods of the capital of Chile, Santiago. Bruey uses years of research mainly

composed of first-hand interviews and accounts from Chilean citizens who lived through the

Pinochet regime from 1973 to 1990. The resulting work is a cohesive narrative that provides

real-life examples and experiences of the people most impacted by the Pinochet regime's human

rights abuses and most responsible for organizing a resistance that would eventually lead to a

national movement to remove the regime from power. Bruey’s thesis that intertwines the

narrative is that the national activism in Chile during the 1980s was directly connected to 1970s

activism born out of the poor neighborhoods of Santiago and that the organized resistance of

those neighborhoods during the early years of the Pinochet regime was the foundation for future

national activism.

The “Pobladores”

The scope of Bread, Justice, and Liberty is limited to two poor neighborhoods in

Santiago, La Legua and Villa Francia. These neighborhoods were born out of the “Pobladores”

movement during the late 1960s. Pobladores is the terminology used to define the lower-class,

blue-collar residents of the shantytowns of Chile, specifically the city of Santiago. During the

early 20th century, Chile (much like the rest of the world) experienced mass population growth,

creating an urban housing crisis around Santiago. Many lower-class Chilean citizens found

themselves homeless as more and more citizens flooded the capital city searching for work.
DANIEL FOX. DIRECTED READINGS: LATIN AMERICAN HISTORY

Eventually, the practice of "tomas” or squatting became a popular means for these individuals to

protest the housing crisis by organizing numerous families to simultaneously occupy unused

land, building make-shift neighborhoods which would evolve into the shantytown communities

of La Legua and Villa Francia known as “poblaciónes.” The tomas naturally created a sense of

unity and comradery amongst the residents of those communities, which would be vital for

future political activism and resistance.

Before the coup in 1973, Chilean citizens had two opposing theories of thought on the

Pobladores place within society. The first school of thought was the "Theory of Marginality,"

which stated that the urban poor existed outside of present economic and class structures because

they failed to integrate properly into the capitalist system. In other words, the only person to

blame for a Pobladores poverty was themselves. This theory was embraced mainly by the

neoliberal right-wing of Chilean politics and society and put into practice by the Pinochet

regime. The opposing theory was the "Social Dependency Theory," which stated that Pobladores

labor was society's economic foundation that had been exploited by capitalism to benefit the

wealthy. This theory was rooted in Marxist ideology but had developed in Latin America during

the mid-1900s to understand the perpetual underdevelopment of the region. It would also

heavily influence the policies of President Salvador Allende and the UP Coalition, a left-wing

political alliance that proposed to transition Chile to a socialist state. The direct conflict between

the two ideologies and their impact on the Pobladores would be highly influential in the

organization of the poblaciónes into centers of resistance during the Pinochet regime as it would

develop community cooperation, political engagement, and direct activism amongst the

Pobladores.
DANIEL FOX. DIRECTED READINGS: LATIN AMERICAN HISTORY

The Coup and Terrorism

The “poblaciónes” of La Legua and Villa Francia were the only neighborhoods to mount

a meaningful resistance to the coup as it occurred. This initial resistance would set the

foundation for future meaningful social and political resistance against the regime. Bruey

emphasizes that there is no real scholarship about the events of the coup within the poblaciónes,

with a majority of scholarship regarding the events of September 11th, 1973 focusing on the

center of Santiago and the bombing of the presidential palace La Moneda. Initially, the military

acted against the Pobladores before the coup by using intimidation tactics against political leftists

and raiding blue-collar factories. In response to these military actions, leftist communists and

socialists had begun campaigns to protest and resist actions they viewed as unconstitutional and

illegal.

These pre-coup collaborations between leftist organizations and Pobladores would allow

these parties to organize a weak resistance force of around 50 men during September 11th to

protect the leaders of the leftist UP Coalition. The resistance force was hopeful that the military

leaders would be conflicted and divided regarding the coup, leading to the creation of a

resistance constitutional military force that the leftist organizations would be able to join and

support. However, the divisions within the military never manifested, and the military coup was

able to succeed with little to no resistance. The moderate leftist resistance force born out of the

poblaciónes suffered from constant miscommunication and misinformation, preventing any

meaningful resistance. The one instance of conflict between the military and police forces and

the leftist resistance on September 11th occurred in La Legua when the leftist resistance gathered

small weapons and attacked a bus of military and police personnel. However, the small-scale
DANIEL FOX. DIRECTED READINGS: LATIN AMERICAN HISTORY

attack was inconsequential in achieving any meaningful objective of preventing the coup from

achieving power.

In the days after September 11th, the poblaciónes were filled with a fear of future reprisal

and repression from the newly installed military regime. Upon hearing of the demise of

President Allende, outrage and anger filled the poblaciónes, and displays of protest quickly

began. However, these displays would quickly transition from public to private as the newly

installed regime began regularly occupying the poblaciónes and detaining anyone who had

demonstrated ties to any leftist organization; some of those who were taken would never return

home. The regime quickly instituted state-organized detention centers where political prisoners

could be held without trial and subsequently interrogated, tortured, or killed. The anger the

Pobladores felt towards their oppressors was suddenly mixed with a fear of reprisal for any

demonstration of resistance, leading to the solidification of the new Pinochet regime.

Economic oppression, political violence, and propaganda were crucial for implementing

and maintaining the new Chilean junta. A group of Chilean economists known as the "Chicago

Boys" had adopted the neoliberal economic philosophy, which allowed economic markets to

function free of government intervention. In this case, people would act rationally based on their

economic interests, naturally correcting the marketplace. The neoliberalist would examine the

economic state of the Pobladores through the lens of "downward moral displacement," which

states that a person's poor decision-making, character flaws, or moral failing are to blame for

their poverty. The adherence of the junta to the neoliberal economic philosophy and downward

moral displacement would alleviate any empathy the regime had to the poverty and injustice

endured by the Pobladores while reinforcing the need to institute an authoritarian presence and

societal hierarchy to save the people from themselves. For the neoliberal economists, Chile was
DANIEL FOX. DIRECTED READINGS: LATIN AMERICAN HISTORY

at war with Marxism which was most represented by the leftist UP Coalition and their

constituents of mostly working-class Pobladores. In the initial years of the Pinochet regime,

neoliberalism struggled to take root due to falling copper prices and the global oil crisis of the

late 70s. The Pobladores were hit the hardest during the economic crisis as unemployment

amongst Pobladores rose to around 40-50% and could not provide for their basic health needs.

However, in the regime's eyes, the exploitation of the Pobladores was essential to the neoliberal

economy. Thus any oppressive practices to maintain the social hierarchy were deemed necessary

to allow the economy to function and eliminate the threat of Marxism.

Political violence was an easy way for the regime to maintain its desired social order.

The Pobladores bore the brunt of the repression, with about 54% of all political prisoners and

34% of all "disappeared" persons being Poblador working-class individuals, primarily based in

Santiago. Anyone deemed to be suspicious of collaborating with a leftist resistance could be

detained. Military and police would regularly conduct raids on perceived leftist communities

and workplaces targeting male leaders who could potentially organize a resistance. The regime

believed that future generations of Chileans would be infected by these leftists damning Chile to

a Marxist future without active intervention. To reinforce these false fears, the junta utilized the

Chilean media to spread rampant propaganda about the dangers of leftist ideology and any

associated behavior with delinquency that the regime would deem to be anti-social such as the

homeless, criminals, drug users, alcoholics, and LGBTQ individuals. The propaganda machine

would regularly blame any detained populous as dangerous criminals who posed a threat to

Chilean society.
DANIEL FOX. DIRECTED READINGS: LATIN AMERICAN HISTORY

Solidarity

After introducing the foundation of both the poblaciónes and the coup that would

dramatically affect their future, Bruey transitions towards her central thesis by describing the

opposition resistance born out of the poblaciónes. This opposition resistance was a coalition of

anti-regime Catholics and leftist political activists in what would prove to be an unlikely

marriage of opposing ideologies unified against the oppression of Pinochet's rule. This coalition

became known as the practice of "solidarity," an alliance between the groups to protest the evils

committed by the regime while fighting to protect human rights and democracy.

The UP Coalition that had established Salvador Allende as Chile's first socialist President

had opposed the coup but was unable to rally enough military support to prevent the overthrow

in Allende's Presidency, which would end with his suicide. However, the UP Coalition

cooperated with the poblaciónes to coordinate resistance in the 1970s during the initial years of

the Pinochet reign. The first signs of political dissent were not necessarily violent but focused on

visible, artistic signs of political messaging such as graffiti that communicated resistance to the

junta and abuses committed by the junta. Within the poblaciónes, resistance to the regime

needed to be more clandestine to avoid bringing attention to the poblaciónes, resulting in more

disappearances. Church organizations were vital in coming together to protect Chileans being

persecuted by the regime as organizations such as the Comite Pro Paz (which would later

become the Vicaria de la Solidaridad) would shelter and protect political dissidents.

The Church and the political left were united in their despisal of the horrors of the

political violence committed by the junta and the socioeconomic inequality and exploitation of

the Pobladores that existed within the neoliberal economy. Even before the coup in the early

1900s, the Catholic Church in Chile had been instrumental in helping secular Marxists fight for
DANIEL FOX. DIRECTED READINGS: LATIN AMERICAN HISTORY

the protection of workers through unionization despite Marxism's explicit rejection of organized

religion. At a Latin American Bishops Conference in Medellin, Colombia, during 1968, five

years before the coup, it had become official Catholic policy in Latin America to adopt a new

practice known as "Liberation Theology." Liberation Theology states that the Church must join

with the fight of oppressed persons and not just support them with words as had been done in the

past. This new policy was a call on the Church and its followers to embrace solidarity as not

doing so would render one complicit in the unjust and oppressive actions the regime was

committing towards dissidents. Pointing back to scriptural examples in the Bible, such as the

tale of the Good Samaritan or Israel's enslavement in Egypt, failure to act in the face of injustice

was considered by the Church to be sinful. From the Church's perspective, solidarity was greater

than charity as it advocates for justice, not just provision. The most positioned people and

institutions within a society have the most significant responsibility to use those positions to end

oppression. Thus, Liberation Theology would prove to be the binding agent that would join the

religious and non-religious in action against political oppression.

The largest organization to embrace solidarity during the regime was Cristo Liberador.

This organization was entirely centered on embracing liberation theology and mobilizing a

resistance by bringing in Marxist groups such as the Communist Party. There was some benefit

for the political left to be aligned with a church, as belonging to a church offered some protection

from political violence. The Chilean military and police were aware of the negative optics of

raiding a church and detaining its members. However, disappearances were still common for

members and organizers of the Cristo Liberador.

DANIEL FOX. DIRECTED READINGS: LATIN AMERICAN HISTORY

Mobilization and Protest

Once solidarity between the anti-regime Catholic Church and leftist political activists was

established, the foundation was laid to mobilize political resistance through mass protests. Chile

had benefited from a slight economic recovery from the regime's initial struggles in the 1970s.

In the late 1970s and early 1980s, inflation and unemployment were down and economic growth

steadily increased. The junta quickly pointed to their neoliberal economic model as the reason

for the success and proposed eliminating all poverty by the end of the decade while increasing

jobs for unskilled Pobladores. To achieve this end, a new constitution was adopted that further

reinforced neoliberal capitalism and limited democracy to prevent any potential corruption from

Marxism. However, the economic growth of Chile was somewhat misleading as the government

had incurred massive foreign debt to mask the decline of foreign and private investment in the

Chilean capital, which the regime had hoped would replace the public investment policies of the

Allende Presidency. The consistent borrowing and spending created a debt-laden bubble that

would lead to an economic crash in 1982.

The nation’s economic benefits of the late 70s and early 80s were not felt in the

poblaciónes man who suffered from poverty, unemployment, and malnutrition. By 1980 the UP

Coalition had completely fractured due to varying views on the best way to overthrow the

regime. One segment wanted to mount an armed resistance to Pinochet's forces which had no

realistic chance of succeeding, while another section focused on public demonstrations and

protests. Armed resistance movements against dictatorships had declined worldwide after

Vietnam, while movements towards empowering the urban poor as political activists rooted in

grassroots organizations had increased. Thus, when the economy crashed in 1982, the
DANIEL FOX. DIRECTED READINGS: LATIN AMERICAN HISTORY

foundation of the solidarity movement and other grassroots activism would spur into action

through the organization of mass protests.

The most popular form of protesting during the Pinochet regime was hunger strikes and

hunger marches. Beginning in 1983, national protests were organized by the solidarity

movement, which included all Pobladores and labor unions which focused on disrupting the

Chilean economy through barricades, blocking public transportation, or boycotting work. These

protests were even able to include members of the middle to upper-middle-class right-wing

citizens of the Christian Democratic Party who had been economically affected by the crisis of

1982. The members of the Christian Democratic Party who previously had repeatedly

cooperated with the Pinochet regime would never have openly cooperated with leftist

organizations like the Communist Party. However, the benefit of the solidarity movement was

that the Catholic Church could stand at the forefront of the movement to bring these right-wing

persons into the coalition while reducing any potential conflict that could fracture their protests.

Once the Christian Democrats began to join the national protests, the junta noticed that they

could potentially lose control over the nation. Desiring to create division amongst the solidarity,

the junta began openly bringing the Christian Democratic Party into political negotiations, which

the regime hoped would generate resentment towards the party from the political left. The junta

also authorized a siege in 1984 amongst the poblaciónes creating a further disconnect between

the Pobladores enduring the siege and the privileged right-wing citizens who largely avoided any

political violence.

Beginning with the siege in 1984, political violence and repression would peak within the

poblaciónes. Political leftists began calling for more retaliatory violence, believing that all forms

of violent and non-violent struggle were complementary to achieving the desired political end.
DANIEL FOX. DIRECTED READINGS: LATIN AMERICAN HISTORY

Even though the Church and right-wing allies disagree, the youth of the poblaciónes become

engaged with the more extreme views of political activism and resistance to the Pinochet regime.

This youth resistance is mostly prevalent through clandestine sabotages of military and police

presence in the poblaciónes through setting booby-traps, building trenches and barricades,

confronting snitches, and committing political theft. The youth activism in Chile during the

1980s would create a generation of future political activists that would fight for Chile’s new

political and social order. Upon the end of the Pinochet regime, the Pobladores would

experience disappointment as future governments would continue to embrace capitalistic ideals

resulting in the marginalization of the poor, just without the political violence and repression.

Criticisms and Conclusion

It is evident through Bruey's work that the poblaciónes were significantly active in

organizing resistance to the Pinochet regime throughout its duration. However, the book largely

fails to directly connect the activism organized with the poblaciónes to the eventual decline of

the Pinochet regime. The final years of the Pinochet regime are absent from the book. The

book's primary thesis is that the activism within the poblaciónes was primarily responsible for

the national activist movements that led to the fall of the Pinochet regime. To that end, Bruey

successfully connects the dots between pre-coup relationships between the Church, leftist

political organizations, and Pobladores to post-coup resistance through the solidarity movement

to national activism through mass protests. However, the work would have benefited from the

additional connection of how the poblaciónes contributed directly to the regime's fall after the

mass protest movements of the 1980s. The author also acknowledges in the book that

miscommunication and misinformation regarding the history of the Pinochet regime within the

poblaciónes were rampant, which thus calls into question many of the first-hand accounts
DANIEL FOX. DIRECTED READINGS: LATIN AMERICAN HISTORY

responsible for providing most of the content Bruey's work. As we well know, a factual event

can change over time into exaggeration, mainly when it is spread through word of mouth.

Bread, Justice, and Liberty is an inspiring work regarding the grassroots resistance to

Pinochet's abusive regime from the perspective of the most affected by the horrible human rights

violations. Being able to read personal accounts from those who lived through that trying time

naturally generated an emotional response to the struggles of the Pobladores. The book serves as

an excellent example of what can be accomplished when groups with differing ideologies and

perspectives decide to put aside their differences to better humanity. In an age where the gap in

understanding between the religious and secular worlds could not be more extensive, Bruey

reminds us that society can join together to advocate for justice and create change.