The Popular Unitary Action Movement or MAPU () 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 either as a whole or of certain social hierarchies. Left-wing politi ...

political party A political party is an organization that coordinates candidates to compete in a particular area'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 western South America. It is the southernmost country in the world and the closest to Antarctica, stretching along a narrow strip of land between the Andes, Andes Mountains and the Paci ...

. 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 socialist politician who served as the 28th president of Chile from 1970 until Death of Salvador Allende, his death in 1973 Chilean coup d'état, 1973. As a ...

. MAPU was repressed during the dictatorship of

Augusto Pinochet Augusto José Ramón Pinochet Ugarte (25 November 1915 – 10 December 2006) was a Chilean military officer and politician who was the dictator of Military dictatorship of Chile, Chile from 1973 to 1990. From 1973 to 1981, he was the leader ...

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

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 Social philosophy, social, Economic ideology, economic, and political philosophy within socialism that supports Democracy, political and economic democracy and a gradualist, reformist, and democratic approach toward achi ...

Party for Democracy in 1987. MAPU was part of the Popular Unity coalition of progressive political parties working to expand the role of everyday people in politics within Allende's government. It worked alongside the

Socialist Party Socialist Party is the name of many different political parties around the world. All of these parties claim to uphold some form of socialism, though they may have very different interpretations of what "socialism" means. Statistically, most of th ...

(PS) Revolutionary Left Movement (MIR), the Radical Party (PR) and

Christian Left The Christian left, otherwise referred to as the religious left, is a range of Christian political and social movements that largely embrace social justice principles and uphold a social doctrine or social gospel based on their interpreta ...

(IC) and dissented from Allende and the Communist Party to support a leftist counter-protest on May 12, 1972. This was known as "the first People's Assembly."

History

MAPU was first formed as a splinter group of the

Christian Democratic Party of Chile The Christian Democratic Party (, 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 Frei Montalva. Customarily, the ...

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 politician and revolutionary who was the leader of Cuba from 1959 to 2008, serving as the prime minister of Cuba from 1959 to 1976 and President of Cuba, president ...

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

Marxism Marxism is a political philosophy and method of socioeconomic analysis. It uses a dialectical and materialist interpretation of historical development, better known as historical materialism, to analyse class relations, social conflict, ...

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 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 (26 March 1926 – 5 October 2023) was a Chilean politician and professor known for his work in the Chilean land reform, land reform movement during the 1960s and early 1970s. Chonchol served from 1970 to 1972 as Ministry of Ag ...

, , Alberto Jerez Horta and Julio Silva Solar) 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'' (, ; ) was a space station operated in low Earth orbit from 1986 to 2001, first by the Soviet Union and later by the Russia, Russian Federation. ''Mir'' was the first modular space station and was assembled in orbit from 1986 to ...

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 Senate of Chile, Senator of the Republic representing the 10th District (Maule Region#Senators (Senadores), Maule Norte) for thre ...

and Enrique Correa criticized the former for ultraleftism 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 1970 Tonghai earthquake, Tonghai earthquake shakes Tonghai County, Yunnan province, China, with a maximum Mercalli intensity scale, Mercalli ...

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

1989 1989 was a turning point in political history with the "Revolutions of 1989" which ended communism in Eastern Bloc of Europe, starting in Poland and Hungary, with experiments in power-sharing coming to a head with the opening of the Berlin W ...

Patricio Aylwin Patricio Aylwin Azócar (; 26 November 1918 – 19 April 2016) was a Chilean politician from the Christian Democratic Party of Chile, Christian Democratic Party, lawyer, author, professor and former senator. He was the 30th president of Chil ...

(won) *

1993 The United Nations General Assembly, General Assembly of the United Nations designated 1993 as: * International Year for the World's Indigenous People The year 1993 in the Kwajalein Atoll in the Marshall Islands had only 364 days, since its ...

: Eugenio Pizarro (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