Salvador Allende

**Salvador Allende Gossens** (June 26, 1908 – September 11, 1973) was a physician, senator, minister of health and the 28th President of Chile from November 3, 1970 until his death on September 11, 1973. He was a socialist and the first Marxist president elected democratically (voted for by people) in South America.

Salvador was in politics for nearly forty years and had been a senator, deputy, and cabinet minister. He had run for president in 1952, 1958 and 1964 but failed. He won as the leader of the Popular Unity coalition (a group of political parties) in a very close race.

## Biography
### Early life
Allende was born on June 26, 1908 in the port city of Valparaiso, Chile to a well-to-do family. Like many Chileans, Allende had a mestizo (mixed) racial background (European and other races mixed with Native Americans). His father Salvador Allende (senior), a lawyer, was of Basque background and his mother Laura Gossens had a Belgian Jewish background (though converted to Catholicism).

### School 
In 1918 his father sent Allende to study at the *Instituto Nacional* (National Institute) in Santiago. He then did his compulsory military service and entered the University of Chile to study medicine. Allende was a socialist. Many of his reforms and programs revolved around socialism. He created universal health care for all, made education better, and took a stronger level of control within the economy. He died in 1973. His death has been disputed for years; some feel that he killed himself by committing suicide, but others feel that he was murdered by Augusto Pinochet's soldiers. Pinochet would then become the military dictator of Chile until 1990.

### Death and myth
Allende was replaced by those who overthrew him as president. Allende committed suicide by shooting himself. The new ruling Junta justified their coup claiming, “Chile could no longer tolerate the cancer of Marxism.” The Pinochet regime claimed Allende had violated the Chilean Constitution even though Pinochet refused to use force to defend himself.

Also, after the coup many rumors and myths emerged about Allende’s death and life. Many of these myths attempted to discredit the character of Allende i.e. make him appear as a coward, weak or cruel person:
* Some of his enemies claimed he was living in Cuba or East Germany, and photographs appeared depicting people with the likeness of Allende.
* One of the more current myths about Allende has been that he was an anti-Semite and white supremacist even though he was a mestizo with Jewish extraction who advocated Marxism, which teaches that people are divided by class, not race, ethnicity or nationality.

### Legacy and place in history
Allende became of interest to people all over the world because he was the first democratically elected socialist in Chile and the first democratically elected Marxist in the world. Many people felt that Allende was the beginning of a new era in which great changes to society, especially in developing countries, could be brought about peacefully through an election.

Allende has become one of the most commemorated Latin American polital figures in history. Since his death monuments, statues, parks and streets have been named in his honour all over the world. In France alone there are more than 320 public places named in honour of Allende. Ministries and municipalities in many countries have also officially approved the naming of schools and educational departments in his honour.
* Australia
* Belgium
* Canada
* France
* Germany
* Mexico
* Spain
* Venezuela

Despites Pinochet’s 17 years of military rule and an attempt to deny Allende his proper place in Chilean history, he was officially honoured in Chile as a defender of representative democracy (i.e. people’s right to elect their political representatives through free and fair elections) with a state funeral in 1990. A monument was also erected outside the *Moneda Presidential Palace* (Chile's house of hovernment), where he killed himself

## References
* http://www.bbc.co.uk/dna/h2g2/A716591
* http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/september/11/newsid_3199000/3199155.stm
* http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/witness/september/11/newsid_3101000/3101146.stm
* http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/march/2/newsid_2771000/2771229.stm
* http://www.huffingtonpost.com/peter-kornbluh/35-years-after-original-9_b_125447.html