A march in Santiago for memory and life | Today marks the 50th anniversary of the military coup that toppled Salvador Allende in Chile.

Page/12 in Chile

From Santiago

Santiago was shaken by the 50th anniversary of the coup against Salvador Allende. A march for human rights, in which the President Gabriel Boric, disturbed by some incidents of black-clad infiltration teams. Six windows currency Damaged: A fact more than that index We remember half a century ago, when Chilean Air Force fighter jets bombed the Presidential Palace.

in the morning, Battle And his partner Irina Karamanos joined the parade Morande 80La Moneda Gate, where the government installed a glazed monument that shows the shoes Allende wore on the day of the coup. The body of the socialist president who fought till the last minute was removed through that door.

Standing in front of the Government Palace, Eduardo Enriquez waved the Communist Party flag. The worker, who works at a construction company, said he was marching to honor the leader of Popular Unity. “Allende was a worthy man who risked his whole life for our people and for Latin American integration, fighting against the neo-fascist forces that arose in our country.”

Poric led a small section of the march alongside representatives of human rights organizations such as Alicia Lira. The head of the Committee of Relatives of Politically Executed Persons was optimistic National Program for Truth and Justice. On August 30, the left-wing government announced a search for 1,100 missing people.

“This is the first time that the government has set an example as a state in the search for missing persons.” Lira said Page 12. And he added: “There were meetings with family groups, with survivors and with memory groups, it was a collaborative effort.”

Historical facts

September 11, 1973 marked the beginning of a long dictatorship that would lead to 3,065 disappearances and deaths and 40,018 imprisonment and torture. According to a report released by Peter Kornbluh, an analyst at the US National Security Archive, the conspiracy was carried out with the complicity of the US. This is the CIA method that journalist Patricia Verdugo explored decades ago in her book Salvador Allende. How the White House caused his death.

Since September 11, the Chicago Boys, the neoliberal economists who accompanied the coup of Augusto Pinochet, have led Chile to greater poverty and inequality. Then the 1980 constitution laid the foundations for an ultra-neoliberal economic policy.

For Mauricio Godoi, this date is a special occasion to mobilize. “It is fifty years since 1973 to remember the massacres of throats cut, burned, detained and disappeared, and 17 years of terror. Keep your memory alive. “Let me know where the missing prisoners are.”

The right will not be denied

The Chilean opposition has become tense these days. The right-wing parties — National Renewal (RN), Union of Independent Democrats (UDI) and Evopoli — They refused to sign a document promoted by Borik that was intended to condemn the coup with all parties in the country.. Former President Sebastián Piñera finally signed, but will not participate in the commemoration.

A former conservative president The dictator, who voted “no” in 1988 to the succession, was surprised by his controversial statement in a recent television interview: “The main responsibility (for the conspiracy) rests with the People’s Unity Government, which wanted to impose a Marxist-style society with minorities.”

“We were born to win,” said young Pamela Figueroa, 33, as her sign rose, concerned about proposals to reduce human rights abuses. “We are against disenfranchisement. “You can’t forget history because history doesn’t move forward.”

At a time when the far right is on the rise in many countries in the region, leaders such as Mexico’s Andrés Manuel López Obrador and Colombia’s Gustavo Pedro will attend La Moneda this Monday. Uruguayan President Luis Lacal Bowe and former President Jose Pepe Mujica will also attend the event.

President Alberto Fernandez was also scheduled to attend, but Chile’s foreign ministry announced this Sunday that he had canceled his participation at the last minute because “his agenda was delayed by the G20 meeting in India.”

Representatives justifying the coup

Last week, several right-wing legislators walked out of the House of Representatives amid a tribute at the institution to three deputies who were arrested and disappeared during the dictatorship. It is more, Jorge Alessandri, media politician of the UTI, went so far as to say, “I justify the military coup. We were going down a dangerous path for the country.”

According to the narrative of sections of the right, “No Pinochet without Allende”, this is a historical relativism that attempts to justify the coup. In recent times, dissenters such as Social Christian Party deputy Gloria Navelan have proliferated. The lawmaker called sexual violence during the dictatorship an urban myth.

“Pago, you coward, you have blood on your hands,” shouted a man holding up a photo of the missing man in view of the Carabineros patrolling the road.

Gabby Rivera Sánchez, head of the Relatives of Disappeared Prisoners group, led a column alongside Spaniard Baldazar Carzón. For Rivera Sánchez, “it’s a great feeling to march with Comrade Baldazar Carzón, with the comrades of the family groups, with the representatives”. The former judge became famous in Latin America in 1998 by issuing an international arrest warrant for the Chilean dictator.

Waving a canvas with the phrase “Truth and Justice Now,” Rivera Sanchez said. “The most important thing is to pay tribute to our fallen on September 11. There is a lot of hope in finding our comrades today.” His father was killed by the dictator and his remains were recovered 25 years after the crime..

Memory of Victor Jara

As the march progressed, some groups wearing black masks broke out. Chilean media broadcast long images of youths breaking windows and attacking terrorists. As they threw objects against the windows of La Moneda Palace and violated tombstones in the public cemetery, among them Jaime Guzmán of Pinochet, who drafted the 1980 constitution.

In the distance, a car was blaring Victor Jara’s “Right to Live in Peace” through the speakers. May the singer-songwriter who was tortured and murdered by the Pinochet dictatorship rest in peace. Two weeks ago, the Supreme Court upheld the conviction of seven former officials for the Zara crime, which occurred days after the coup. Pilgrims visit his grave.