Che & the Human Development Index

Fredrik Segerfeldt: Che vs Pinochet?

Every time I see a picture of Che [Guevara] I ask myself: how would I look in a t-shirt picturing Augusto Pinochet?

Both Che and Pinochet are obviously murderers and in favour of dictatorship. But one helped installed a dictatorship that has led to poverty whereas the other one ran a dictatorship that brought wealth and stability to the country. In 1975, the Chilean GDP per capita, adjusted for purchasing power, was $1,321 (current international dollars). In 2003 it was $10,206. The average income of Chileans has thus been multiplied by almost eight in 28 years. Chile is now a stable democracy and the most prosperous country of South America. Cuba [run by Che's buddy Castro] has gone in the opposite direction.

So, leftists would say, economic growth is not everything. Cuba still works when it comes to health and education, for example. But Chile's economic growth has brought the country well ahead of Cuba in the UNDP's Human Development Index, the ranking most Cuba lovers tend to use to play down the worldwide success of capitalism.