The 'real ' Salvador Allende
Allende is an interesting figure in that he seems to be either worshipped or hated depending on one's political point of view. I actually lived under his government as a little kid, even though my family were the kind of upper-middle class people that would typically become pinochetistas, so I kind of have a more objective view of him than most.
Like many radical leftists Allende was a romantic idealist and his political and economic policies, while noble in a Don Quijote sense, were foolhardy in reality and really made a mess in Chile (even aside from the US sabotaging them). On the other hand though because Allende was the kind of idealist who truly believed in democracy, he proved much more vulnerable than more ruthless and tyrannical leftists like Castro or Hugo Chavez. For better or worse, those guys would have suspended democracy and murdered, imprisoned, or exiled their political enemies before they could do the same to them.
Allende had a lot of good qualities, but as a leader he was flawed. If I had to choose between Chile under Allende's socialist revolution, Chile under the Pinochet dictatorship's "free-market" counter-revolution, or Chile today under a more moderate and pragmatic democratic government, I'd definitely choose the last. But there's still many, many poor people in Chile and the rest of Latin America, and the appeal of someone like Allende is certainly understandable.