The left-wing Chilean president Gabriel Boric, who is on his first tour to Europe to participate in the European-CELAC summit to be held in Brussels, has announced from Spain, in an interview with Cadena SER, that he will convene the political parties of Chile to sign a joint declaration on the occasion of the commemoration of the 50th anniversary of the coup d’état that occurred on September 11, 1973.
The commemoration of the coup, led by Army General Augusto Pinochet (1973-1990) to overthrow the socialist president Salvador Allende (1970-1973) and started with a 17-year dictatorship, has opened a strong debate in the South American country that, it has even divided the left. On July 5, the Communist Party, which is part of Boric’s government, along with 160 organizations, demanded the resignation of President Patricio Fernández’s adviser, accusing him of relativizing the coup.
In the interview in the program ‘A vivir’ of Cadena SER, which was rBroadcast in Chile by Radio ADN, also from Grupo Prisa, Boric recalled that in Chile “there are still disappeared detainees, we still have people who we don’t know where they are, who stopped being there because they thought differently about the dictatorship.” And he added: “There is an open wound that needs to be talked about. There are some who have called to close the duel. How can one ask a victim of such violence to close the duel if there has been no justice in your country?
Boric then said that what both he and his government expect between now and September 11 is, “one, that we agree, all the political forces, regardless of our current positions, that the problems of democracy must be resolved with more democracy and not with less. Therefore, a coup is unacceptable. And, two, that not even the sharpest differences justify the violation of the human rights of those who think differently”.
And he added: “If we achieve these two consensuses in Chilean society, I would feel very satisfied. I think that it is inclusive enough, civilizing if you will, to be able to have a transversality that allows us to have this reflective commemoration, in which each one can have their different opinions, but where we have those two consensus.
Boric, then, was asked whether or not there was a consensus in Chile on the matter. And he replied that “that remains to be seen.” He then announced the invitation to the political parties to sign the declaration. “There are always those who try to find justifications according to the context of the breakdown of democracy. And I believe that the breakdown of a legally constituted government, which exercised its functions democratically, is unacceptable”.
A new “neutral” Constitution
The Chilean president also addressed the rejection of 62% of citizens to the proposed Constitution that, last year, was drawn up by the Constitutional Convention, which had a majority of left-wing independents. “A series of causes were defended that are very important but that did not manage to come together to achieve a majority sentiment, from environmental, indigenous, and feminist causes, to which I adhere, but which we did not manage to generate a general unity and that took a long time. majority rejection, but the main problem is political”.
After the failure of 2022, in March Chile undertook a second constitutional process, which is underway. And in which, unlike last year, it is a body in which the right, especially the Republican Party, has the majority. On his expectations of the next proposal that will be voted on in a withdrawal referendum, next December, he said: “I hope that in the withdrawal plebiscite we can agree on a Constitution of which we all feel part (…) I hope that we achieve a balance and Let’s reach a rather neutral Constitution, and that allows us all to fit and that we manage to get out of this vice of legitimacy of origin that the Constitution has that was imposed during the dictatorship and that is not felt as belonging to all Chileans”.
#Boric #invite #Chilean #political #parties #sign #declaration #condemning #Pinochets #coup