Almost all of my history professors have been pretty left wing, so any time I've ever learned about Chile it's been a story about a coup strongly implied to be almost completely imposed by the U.S. (the idea that it was "U.S. backed" is used in such a way that it stands in for some sort of colonial imposition in the accounts I've read and heard)
But, I met someone who grew up in Chile and he told me there are many people in Chile who had, if not a positive view of Pinochet, a negative view of Allende which doesn't match the hagiographic accounts I've thus far learned, and credit Pinochet with saving Chile from ill-concieved policies of Allende.
So I was wondering if there is a good account of the Chilean right's perspective on Allende, morally aware enough to not be too dismissive of Pinochet's crimes, but also a fair treatment of the apparently substantial portion of the population who really were afraid of where Allende was taking Chile. I've become wary of good vs. evil narratives and thus far that's the only way I've seen the Chilean strife framed, and that seems unfair to the apparently substantial portion of the Chilean population on the right.
no historians but since no one else has responded to this i will try
Yes the idea of the coup being a imposition is wrong, as a matter of fact how much the US was involved in the actual coup is still debated. The US did have plans to stop Allende in 1970 from ruling but both of them fail, they were called TRACK I(have the Chilean senate declared another winner, almost succeeded because of the narrow margin allende won the election), and TRACK II(a proper military coup), but both failed, and the actual coup would only happen in 1973 created by the military after the assassination of key opponents in their ranks and a great part of the chilean right wing behind it with the US in a secondary very minor role.
People at the time were divided, Allende only won the election with 36.62%, and his opponent had 35.27% of the votes, with many calling him the actual winner since a third candidate divided the right win vote. Protest against Allende were common (as their were in his favour) so was strikes, and the left has always accused the right of trying to drown the economy, secretly witholding supplies to create scarcity, they denied this of course, but its true allende has divided the country in 2, so a lot of people welcome his removal when it happen.
the coup has the political support of the right wing at the time (and one party that today is a mayor part of the left wing coalition), but times have changed and today the right is very careful when approaching the subject (minor a few die hard supporters from very conservative districts), and with regular people most see the military dictatorship as bad, and will disagree if the coup itself was necessary or not.
hope it was helpful