Movimiento de Acción Popular Unitaria

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The movement of the Unitaren Volksaktion , abbreviation MAPU (Spanish Movimiento de Acción Popular Unitaria ) was a left-wing party in Chile . The party was founded on May 19, 1969 as a left-wing Christian party and was part of the government alliance Unidad Popular (1970–1973). During Augusto Pinochet's reign, MAPU members were subjected to reprisals. Some members of the movement joined the Partido por la Democracia in 1987 , which was founded as a legal substitute for moderate socialists.

Foundation and history

The MAPU emerged as a splinter group from the left wing of the Christian Democratic Party when it was in power ( Eduardo Frei Montalva was elected president in 1964). Many party members, especially members of the Christian Democratic youth organization, were dissatisfied with the government's policies, which they believed were pro-US and pro- imperialist . Left and radical left Christian Democrats, including Jacques Chonchol, Enrique Correa, Rafael Agustín Gumucio, Óscar Guillermo Garretón, formed a new party and joined the Unidad Popular . Jacques Chonchol, by far the best-known politician of the MAPU, had already been a minister in the cabinet of Eduardo Frei and became Minister of Agriculture under Allende and thus responsible for land reform, which together with the expropriation of industries was the most important political measure of the Allende government. At first, the party's ideological orientation was not clearly defined (some party members saw themselves as representatives of liberation theology , others declared themselves Marxist-Leninists). In the course of time the party moved more and more to the left. The party leadership was recommended by their allies Salvador Allende and Fidel Castro (who met a MAPU delegation in Cuba in 1972) not to officially profess Marxism , as there were already Marxist parties in Chile and a solid left-wing Christian party would be more useful for the government camp. to claim a “Christian niche”.

Divisions and Prohibition

The party leaders of the MAPU, especially Eduardo Aquevedo, who was also critical of the Soviet Union, overlooked this advice. In 1972 the party officially committed itself to Marxism-Leninism . However, the party promoted independent Marxism, was influenced by liberation theology , supported the non-aligned movement and some of its politicians were critical of the Soviet Union. When the Christian Democratic Party split again in 1972, some MAPU politicians who were dissatisfied with the Marxist-Leninist course left to found their own party, the Izquierda Cristiana , with the PDC apostates (including Jacques Chonchol and Rafael Agustín Gumucio ).

On March 7, 1973, MAPU split into two warring factions: the left-wing MAPU led by Óscar Guillermo Garretón and Eduardo Aquevedo, and the MAPU Obrero Campesino led by Enrique Correa, which was closer to the communist party and supported a more moderate, legalist line. Both belonged to the Unidad Popular coalition.

Like other left-wing parties, the MAPU and MAPU Obrero Campesino were banned after the September 11, 1973 military coup.

Individual evidence

1. ↑ http://www.puntofinal.cl/572/correa.htm