The Popular Unitary Action Movement or MAPU ( es, Movimiento de Acción Popular Unitario) was a small

leftist Left-wing politics describes the range of political ideologies that support and seek to achieve social equality and egalitarianism, often in opposition to social hierarchy. Left-wing politics typically involve a concern for those in soci ...

political party A political party is an organization that coordinates candidates to compete in a particular country's elections. It is common for the members of a party to hold similar ideas about politics, and parties may promote specific political ideology ...

Chile Chile, officially the Republic of Chile, is a country in the western part of South America. It is the southernmost country in the world, and the closest to Antarctica, occupying a long and narrow strip of land between the Andes to the east a ...

. It was part of the Popular Unity coalition during the government of

Salvador Allende Salvador Guillermo Allende Gossens (, , ; 26 June 1908 – 11 September 1973) was a Chilean physician and socialist politician who served as the 28th president of Chile from 3 November 1970 until his death on 11 September 1973. He was the fir ...

. MAPU was repressed during the dictatorship of

Augusto Pinochet Augusto José Ramón Pinochet Ugarte (, , , ; 25 November 1915 – 10 December 2006) was a Chilean general who ruled Chile from 1973 to 1990, first as the leader of the Military Junta of Chile from 1973 to 1981, being declared President of ...

. In this period, some of its most radical members formed the

Movimiento Juvenil Lautaro The Lautaro Youth Movement ( es, Movimiento Juvenil Lautaro, or MJL) also known as MAPU Lautaro was a Left-wing politics, left-wing armed organization in Chile, founded in 1982 by Guillermo Ossandón. History During the Military dictatorship ...

, whose leaders were

political prisoner A political prisoner is someone imprisoned for their political activity. The political offense is not always the official reason for the prisoner's detention. There is no internationally recognized legal definition of the concept, although n ...

s during the dictatorship and with the return to democracy. Another faction of the former members of the party joined the

social democratic Social democracy is a political, social, and economic philosophy within socialism that supports political and economic democracy. As a policy regime, it is described by academics as advocating economic and social interventions to promote soci ...

Party for Democracy in 1987.

History

MAPU was first formed as a splinter group of the

Christian Democratic Party of Chile The Christian Democratic Party ( es, Partido Demócrata Cristiano, PDC) is a Christian democratic political party in Chile. There have been three Christian Democrat presidents in the past, Eduardo Frei Ruiz-Tagle, Patricio Aylwin, and Eduardo Fre ...

on May 19, 1969. At the time, Christian Democrats were in the government and many party members, especially among the youth, became critical of the party's policies that they regarded as pro-American and pro-imperialist. It joined the Unidad Popular coalition of

and participated in his government. The party's ideological line was not clearly defined at first. In fact, the party leaders were encouraged by Allende and

Fidel Castro Fidel Alejandro Castro Ruz (; ; 13 August 1926 – 25 November 2016) was a Cuban revolutionary and politician who was the leader of Cuba from 1959 to 2008, serving as the prime minister of Cuba from 1959 to 1976 and president from 1976 to 200 ...

(whom the MAPU delegation met in 1972 when visiting Cuba) not to embrace

Marxism Marxism is a Left-wing politics, left-wing to Far-left politics, far-left method of socioeconomic analysis that uses a Materialism, materialist interpretation of historical development, better known as historical materialism, to understand S ...

officially, since there were such parties in Chile already, and the Unidad Popular coalition wished to claim a Christian Left niche, too (the newly founded

Izquierda Cristiana The Citizen Left Party of Chile ( es, Partido Izquierda Ciudadana de Chile, IC), known until 2013 as Christian Left Party of Chile ( es, Partido Izquierda Cristiana de Chile, same acronym) was a Chilean left-wing political party. Founded in 1971 ...

was considered too small). During the Second Congress of the party, held in 1972, the forces led by and Eduardo Aquevedo gained prominence. They adhered to Marxism-Leninism, had become more radicalized and oriented themselves towards non-aligned countries. A group of politicians (

Jacques Chonchol Jacques Chonchol (born March 26, 1926) is a politician and professor known for his work in the Chilean land reform movement of the 1960s and early 1970s. Conchol served from 1970 to 1972 as Minister of Agriculture in the government of President ...

, , and

Julio Silva Solar Julio Silva Solar (8 June 1926 – 28 June 2014) was a Chilean politician and lawyer. Solar served as a member of the Chamber of Deputies of Chile from 1965 to 1973. He then served as President of the Chamber of Deputies of Chile from 9 Septem ...

) left to join the Izquierda Cristiana. On 7 March 1973, the MAPU split into two feuding groups: one organization, led by Oscar Guillermo Garretón and Eduardo Aquevedo embraced Marxism-Leninism and militant leftist positions. This group was supported by the Socialist Party, the

MIR ''Mir'' (russian: Мир, ; ) was a space station that operated in low Earth orbit from 1986 to 2001, operated by the Soviet Union and later by Russia. ''Mir'' was the first modular space station and was assembled in orbit from 1986 to&n ...

and the Izquierda Cristiana. The other faction, led by

Jaime Gazmuri Jaime Rodrigo Gazmuri Mujica is a Chilean agricultural engineer and politician socialist and diplomat . He served as Senator of the Republic representing the 10th District ( Maule Norte) for three consecutive terms, from 1990 to 2010. Then, he w ...

and

Enrique Correa Enrique Fernando Correa Ríos (born 14 November 1945) is a Chilean politician who served as minister of State under Patricio Aylwin Patricio Aylwin Azócar (; 26 November 1918 – 19 April 2016) was a Chilean politician from the Christia ...

criticized the former for

ultraleftism The term ultra-leftism, when used among Marxist groups, is a pejorative for certain types of positions on the far-left that are extreme or uncompromising. Another definition historically refers to a particular current of Marxist communism, whe ...

and formed a new party,

MAPU Obrero Campesino The MAPU Obrero Campesino (Spanish abbr. MAPU/OC; MAPU Worker-Peasant) was a leftist political party in Chile that was formed after a split of MAPU in March 1973. It claimed to represent the political legacy of Rodrigo Ambrosio, the principal f ...

, that was close to PCCh and followed more moderate tactics. Both groups remained in the Unidad Popular until it was overthrown.

Presidential candidates

The following is a list of the presidential candidates supported by the Popular Unitary Action Movement. (Information gathered from th
Archive of Chilean Elections
. *

1970 Events January * January 1 – Unix time epoch reached at 00:00:00 UTC. * January 5 – The 7.1 Tonghai earthquake shakes Tonghai County, Yunnan province, China, with a maximum Mercalli intensity scale, Mercalli intensity of X (''Extrem ...

(won) *1988 plebiscite: "No" (won) *

1989 File:1989 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The Cypress Street Viaduct, Cypress structure collapses as a result of the 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake, killing motorists below; The proposal document for the World Wide Web is submitted; The Exxo ...

Patricio Aylwin Patricio Aylwin Azócar (; 26 November 1918 – 19 April 2016) was a Chilean politician from the Christian Democratic Party, lawyer, author, professor and former senator. He was the first president of Chile after dictator Augusto Pinochet, a ...

(won) *

1993 File:1993 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The Oslo I Accord is signed in an attempt to resolve the Israeli–Palestinian conflict; The Russian White House is shelled during the 1993 Russian constitutional crisis; Czechoslovakia is peace ...

Eugenio Pizarro Eugenio Pizarro Poblete (born November 7, 1938, in San Antonio, Chile) is a Chilean Catholic priest, and politician. Pizarro was also a candidate for the presidency of Chile for the ''Movimiento de Izquierda Democrática Allendista'' that included ...

(lost)

References

External links

Rettig Report or The National Commission for Truth and Reconciliation Report (English Translation)
1969 establishments in Chile 1994 disestablishments in Chile Catholicism and far-left politics Christian socialist organizations Defunct political parties in Chile Political parties disestablished in 1994 Political parties established in 1969 Presidency of Salvador Allende Socialist parties in Chile {{Chile-party-stub