[demian]

But then, again:

1) Almost every other country in Latin America suffered from a military coup based on the same ideological grounds, that applied almost the same policies. They all suffered an "intervention", and not all ended up like Chile. There is not even a correlation between "interventions" and their current economic state.

2) Chile is not the economic leader of Latin America, Brazil is, with it's modern success atributed mostly to a former union leader, who was also part of of Brazil's "Workers Party", Lula da Silva.

[effn]

Chile has a GDP per capita 50% higher than that of Brazil.

[demian]

Where did you got that data?

According to the IMF Brazil is 6th world-wide, while Chile is 39, even lower than the other key player of the region: Argentina (27).

[anonh1]

You need to look at the per capita GDP and per capita GDP adjusted for purchasing power parity (PPP) to measure the relative economic strength of countries regardless of population disparities. Chile should have a smaller GDP; it has 16 million people compared with Brazil's 180. However, its GDP is proportionally higher:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_GDP_%28nom...

Chile: 48th; Brazil: 58th

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_GDP_%28PPP...

Chile: 53rd; Brazil: 75th

(both taken from the World Bank list)