Chile: the other 9/11 anniversary... Workers of my country, I have faith in Chile and its destiny. Other men will overcome this dark and bitter moment when treason seeks to prevail. Keep in mind that, much sooner than later, the great avenues will again be opened through which will pass free men to construct a better society. Long live Chile! Long live the people! Long live the workers! - President Salvador Allendes farewell speech, September 11, 1973. September 11 has been somewhat eclipsed in the last decade by a more notorious anniversary, but it remains a date etched in Chileans minds: in 1973, this was the day General Augusto Pinochet seized power from the democratically elected Socialist government of Salvador Allende. Forty years after that sudden coup, and 23 years since its return to democracy, Chile is still recovering from the effects of Pinochets brutal rule. Its relevance today may not be immediately obvious. The worlds attention is focused firmly on the Middle East, particularly the brutal civil war in Irak and Syria. As the international community debates what its responsibilities might be, people are dying. The shadow of Iraq looms large, obscuring and darkening the potential consequences of humanitarian intervention. Yet among all this, Chiles influence can be felt. Javier Zuniga, 70, is a Mexican human rights activist and special advisor at Amnesty International; he argues that what happened in Chile goes beyond its borders, because it shook the international community into understanding that human rights violations were the business of everybody, inside Chile and outside Chile. Zuniga visited the country many times during Pinochets rule, documenting abuses and disappearances, and has since campaigned tirelessly on behalf of the relatives of the disappeared. The coup and its unexpectedly bloody aftermath, put an abrupt end to a relatively long period of constitutional rule in Chile and set the stage for a de facto authoritarian regime that would be sustained through force until 1990. From 1973 until 1990, and particularly in the earliest years of the military regime, human rights violations were widespread and systematic. These included arbitrary arrests, raids on private households, imprisonment, extra-judicial executions, torture, relegation and exile. Read more: derechoschile/english/coup.htm THE REIGN OF TERROR IN CHILE Within a few hours of the coup, the social conflict which had permeated Chilean society immediately before the coup was defined as a war and the concept of the enemy within as well as the National Security Doctrine were imposed throughout the nation. The enemy within was the Communist, the Marxist, the Socialist, the revolutionary, the subversive, indeed, anyone perceived by the military to constitute a challenge to the new established order. The repression was not limited to one part of Chile, nor was it limited by social class, gender, profession, civil status or age. With the stated mission of redirecting the country along the path of liberty and law the military regime immediately embarked on a witch hunt, arresting and imprisoning hundreds of supporters of Allendes Popular Unity government and members of other leftist political parties, as well as individuals perceived to be affiliated with these. Thousands of people were detained throughout Chile on the day of the coup and the days which followed. According to Amnesty International and the United Nations Human Rights Committee, 250,000 Chileans had been detained for political reasons by the end of 1973. Summary executions, disappearances and killings in false armed confrontations became the norm. Official figures indicate that nearly 3,000 people were executed, disappeared or lost their lives as a result of torture and political violence. Immediately after the military coup of September 11, 1973, concentration camps were set up throughout Chile to hold the thousands of political prisoners arrested during the state of siege. At the end of November 1976, the men and women concentration camp prisoners were transferred to the Tres Alamos camp in Santiago. Then the iron gates opened and they were free to go. Nobody ever provided any explanation as to why they had spent one, two or three years of their lives behind those wire fences. (Analisis #289, 1989) Photos left to the right: 1) Chilean Army troops firing on the La Moneda Palace in Santiago on September 11, 1973. photo by 2) - 3) Armed guards watch out for attackers as Allende leaves the Moneda Presidential Palace during the military coup in which he was overthrown and killed in the palace on September 11, 1973. This is said to be the last photo of the president. - 4) Chilean soldiers burn books in Santiago on September 26, 1973. - 5) The Puchuncavi concentration camp near Valparaiso, Chile on October 15, 1975. The government of Allende built Melinka as a popular beach resort, owned by the central labor confederation. Following the coup, it was taken over and lasted from July 1974 to 1975 as a concentration camp. - 6) A man lights a candle at the gates of the National Stadium on September 11, 2002 in Santiago bearing pictures of those who disappeared under the 1973-1990 dictatorship of Pinochet. Courtesy: The Guardian - CNN - Law Harvard University - Library of Congress - CIA -
Posted on: Thu, 11 Sep 2014 17:36:36 +0000
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