Marcelo Casals holds a PhD in Latin American history from the University of Wisconsin-Madison. He is an associate professor at the Universidad Finis Terrae in Chile. His latest book is Counterrevolution, Collaborationism and Protest: The Chilean Middle Class and the Military Dictatorship (FCE, 2023).
The CIA and the Chilean military have rightly been seen as central culprits in the 1973 overthrow of socialist president Salvador Allende. But we shouldn’t overlook the important role that the Chilean middle class played in the coup and its aftermath.
The far right’s victory in elections for the Constitutional Council may be the death knell for a progressive constitution in Chile. It’s also a needed wake-up call for the Chilean left.