Viewed from another angle, Moyn's comment raises the question of why, in the period of neoliberal ascendancy, international human rights organisations flourished, largely escaping the repression that was pursued so furiously against leftists, trade unionists, rural organisers and indigenous people in countries such as Chile. As Pinochet's regime engaged in a systematic campaign to eradicate the Chilean left, it allowed overseas human rights organisations such as Amnesty International, the International Commission of Jurists, and Americas Watch (a precursor to Human Rights Watch) to enter the country, and gave them extensive freedom of movement. While the CIA-trained National Intelligence Directorate had instructions to carry out the 'total extermination of Marxism', the junta, anxious to present Chile as a modern, Western, Catholic and 'civilised' nation, did not disavow the language of human rights, even at the height of the repression. Moreover, despite Hayek's displeasure at Amnesty's anti-Pinochet activism, the neoliberals did not eschew the language of human rights; on the contrary, they argued that their own proposals were necessary in order to secure freedom, human dignity and human rights.

Jessica Whyte, The Morals of the Market, loc. 307