I did. And rare were the autocrats government which came in power from a non-rigged, open election.

Two exemple which are frequently used as exemple are Italy and Germany in the 1930´s but neither Hitler nor Mussolini came in power through the election, but by strong arming the power in place, and after that (at least for Germany) use the excuse of rigged election to validate their power.

Hitler and Allende both gained power legitimately.

They both abused that power afterwards to become dictators.

In a typical retelling of Chilean 9/11 there indeed was a guy who abused his power to become a dictator, but that was not Allende.

It seems that the story you have is different from the one I have. Could you tell yours?

I think you mean legally. And yes, yes, Hitler came to power legally. Doesn’t mean it came to power through some elections, which was my point.

And calling Alende a dictator need some Shutzpah. On this point, I think we would have to stop at the « agree to disagree » level.

Bukele is a large hole in your argument.

First, I never said than a dictator never came to power through fair and healthy election. Just that it is rare, much rarer than a lot people think.

Second, I would say that the jury is still in debat for Bukele. Yes, it’s re-election is anti-constituai but he seems to still have the support of the population, as the election seemed to be fair and healthy.

But I agree that his legal shenningans to allow for his re-election don’t bode well for the future. Let’s wait and see.

*chutzpah

Thanks