| Salvador Allende Gossens was a Chilean physician and politician, known as the first Marxist to become president of a Latin American country through open elections. Allende was elected to the Chamber of Deputies in 1937 and served in the government of Pedro Aguirre Cerda as Minister of Health (1939-41). He was also senator between 1945 and 1970. Allende
was an unsuccessful candidate for president in 1952, 1958 and 1964.
When he was elected as president in 1970 he became the first Marxist
to gain power in a free democratic election. The new government faced
serious economic problems. Inflation was running at 30 per cent and over
20 per cent of the male adult population were unemployed. It was
estimated that half of the children under 15 suffered from malnutrition.
Allende's decide to take action to redistribute wealth and land in Chile.
Wage increases of around 40 per cent were introduced. At the same time
companies were not allowed to increase prices. The copper industry was
nationalized. So also were the banks. Allende also restored diplomatic
relations with Cuba, China and the German Democratic Republic.
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