🎉 Hey future History buff! Ready for a crash course on Chile's economic and political crisis during Allende’s regime? Grab a snack and let’s dive in! 🍿

• The Good Times under Vuskovic
  • 📈 12% industrial growth.
  • 🚀 GDP rose by 8.6%.
  • 🚫 Unemployment dropped by 3.8%.
  • 📖 Better literacy rates.
  • 👶 Lower infant mortality rates.
  • 🏠 A whopping 76,000 houses were built in 1971!

🤓 Think of it like having a great year at school – acing your tests, joining clubs, and making new friends.

• The Not-So-Good Times
  • 💰 Chile's economy leaned heavily on copper. But the price dropped from $66/ton in 1970 to $48/ton in 1971
  • 🔄 Vuskovic devalued the escudo (Chilean currency) and printed more money in 1972.
  • 🌪️ This led to
    • A whopping 140% inflation!
    • Food scarcity.
    • A sneaky black-market economy.
  • Even though wages went up, life didn't get better for the average Chilean.

😅 Imagine depending on one item for your lunch, say, a sandwich. One day, sandwiches become rare (and expensive!). You start trading other stuff for sandwiches, but things go haywire...

• Public Unrest: In October 1972...
  • 🚫 Strikes and protests exploded.
  • 🚌 Transportation workers, businessmen, students – everybody joined in!
  • They wanted Allende out.
  • This was Chile's longest (24 days) and biggest national strike!

🤯 Imagine every student in school going on strike because they didn't like a new rule. Chaos, right?

• Allende's Moves
  • 🤝 Tried to win the right-wing by getting General Carlos Prats in his government.
  • 💡 Fun Fact: Prats didn't want the military to coup against Allende.

• Allende's Fears
  • 😨 He thought his enemies were plotting to kill him.
  • 🇨🇺 His daughter told Castro, the Cuban leader, about it. Castro's advice? Stay close to the military.
• Pressure Cooker Situations
  • ⚖️ Supreme Court was not happy with Allende, accusing him of not upholding judicial decisions.
  • 🛡️ Patria y Libertad, a right-wing group, tried to oust Allende.
  • 🛢️ In a dramatic scene, tanks surrounded the presidential palace in June 1973, but the move failed. This was called the 'El Tanquetazo'.
  • 📢 Then, a general strike! Even copper miners from El Teniente joined.
• Tipping Point
  • 🏛️ The Chamber of Deputies, with backing from the opposition, accused Allende of unconstitutional acts.
  • They hinted at military intervention against Allende's government.

😬 Think of it as the school council passing a note saying, "We might ask the principal to take action if the class captain doesn’t change his ways."

• Allende's Response
  • ⚠️ Said the Chamber's move hurt Chile's reputation.
  • 📜 Pointed out their resolution lacked the required majority.
  • 📢 Accused them of blocking his efforts to fix the economy.

💔 It's like the class captain saying, "Hey, the council's move isn't fair and is ruining our class's reputation!"

• Last Straws
  • 😡 Over 100,000 women protested against food costs and shortages.
  • 💨 They were dispersed with tear gas.