By historical standards, Pinchet was incredibly gentle.
The leftwing leader at the time had his own private thugs, he was violating the consitution and he had clear plans to create a new horrible technocratic version of socialism that most likely would have impoverished the nation and killed a fuck load of people.
If we could see that other world we would have likely seen a much poorer chile with a lot less people due to all of the mass murder and starvation. Pinochet prevented all of that, and he worked to improve the economy and when the moment came he stepped down peacefully and with out bloodshed.
That's not what I'm contesting.
However, while I'm aware Allende wasn't the angelic socialist modern historians make him out to be, that didn't make Pinochet a decent person, either. He may have been the best option they had at the time, but really, just because a street thug stops a mass-murderer doesn't make the street thug good; merely the least terrible of your choices, and one that you should do better to avoid in future.
When you take the big picture well after modernity has turned into a fucking horror show people will reavaluate a whole lot of things and Pinochete will likely be thought of in much warmer terms. Expecially since the people who slander him the most will be dead and remembered rightfully as the monsters they are.
Again, you're missing my point.
My point is, despots who might've been a big deal in their time can — and all too often, are — ultimately overshadowed by future despots who make them look like rank amateurs down the line. Hence, my comparison of Robespierre to Lenin, Stalin, Mao, and communist movements in general — all of whom are household names today who wrecked way more havoc, whereas Max and the Jacobins aren't.
Likewise, I see Pinochet being cast as something of a "forgotten predecessor" who, compared to the outright
demonic arch-reactionaries of the late twenty-first century, is practically unknown and insignificant to the general population in 2323. In short, I agree he was more soft-touch than most in terms of brutality, but where I differ is that I doubt he'll be remembered all that well, in light of future monsters who make even Hitler look tame relegating him to the background instead of making him a well-remembered point of comparison.