The expulsion of Augusto Pinochet (grandson) from the Chilean army seems to be an important step in the military's process of distancing itself from an active involvement in politics, which has apparently been in process since the end of the dictatorship more than a decade and a half ago. It also strikes me as an interesting expression of the rather recent strength of the Chilean state to defend itself against actual or implied threats. This is fairly new, considering that despite the apparent existence of a Chilean democracy for so many years now, the state existed with the threatening figure of Pinochet as the military head until 1998. Not to mention the fact that Chilean "democracy" has actually been quite a stunted creature given laws left by Pinochet that guarantee roughly equal representation of the right and the left in government, regardless of the popular vote.

I saw an interesting article regarding soccer allegiances here: Soccer on Chile's killing field. Fascinating history, but keep in mind that this is no longer entirely relevant. These days, as it has been explained to me, there is more of a class association than anything else with the different teams: Colo-colo tends to be popular among lower-class or "popular" areas, La "U" -- Universidad de Chile -- is popular with the middle class, and Universidad Catolica fans tend to be upper class...

Meanwhile, I noticed a trend that all the adamantly or even violently pro-Pinochet people I've read about have been women. A Chilean friend suggested this is because the die-hard Pinochet loyalists see him as more a paternalistic figure than anything else. The whole subject is speculative, but I'd love to hear thoughts on this.