Erick Erickson

=== Augusto Pinochet ===
In November 2018, Erickson tweeted that [[United States foreign aid|foreign aid]] to [[Guatemala]], [[Nicaragua]], [[Honduras]], [[El Salvador]] and [[Mexico]] would be more effectively spent installing "[[Augusto Pinochet|Pinochet]] types" in these countries. He added that the US should "support strong leaders who support [[Free market economics|free market]] reforms and promote economic stability, even if with a heavy hand". When challenged on this proposal, Erickson replied "I'm hoping for some helicopters in this plan", a reference to the [[Death flights]] in [[Chile]] during Pinochet's regime.<ref>{{cite news |last1=Barnes |first1=Luke |title=Conservative pundit praises late Chilean dictator who threw political dissidents from helicopters |url=https://thinkprogress.org/conservative-erick-erickson-praises-pinochet-helicopters-552b2f3b6597/ |access-date=28 November 2018 |work=[[ThinkProgress]] |date=27 November 2018}}</ref>

[[Kathryn Sikkink]], a professor in International Relations at the [[Harvard Kennedy School]], responded to Erickson's remarks. She noted that "Pinochet was a Chilean dictator who committed massive human rights abuses," and that Erickson got the "facts exactly backward. Recent history and social science don't show that authoritarian regimes stop people from fleeing across borders. They show that they make more people want to flee."<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/monkey-cage/wp/2018/12/04/heres-what-erick-erickson-gets-wrong-about-dictators-and-migration/|title=Here's what Erick Erickson gets wrong about dictators and migration|last=Sikkink|first=Kathryn|date=2018|newspaper=The Washington Post}}</ref>