An intense schedule of activities has been held in Santiago, Chile by a delegation of Democratic congressmen, made up of, among others, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Misty Rebik, chief of staff for Senator Bernie Sanders, who arrived in the South American country on Wednesday afternoon. The objective of the trip is “to learn about Chile’s efforts to defend and deepen its democracy, on the eve of the 50th anniversary of the coup against former President Salvador Allende,” says the statement of Center for Economics and Policy Research (CEPR), American study center that sponsors the trip. The delegation -also made up of parliamentarians Joaquín Castro, Nydia Velázquez, Greg Casar and Maxwell Frost- previously visited Brazil and, after Chile, will arrive in Colombia.
This Thursday afternoon, Ocasio-Cortez met with the spokesperson for the Government of Gabriel Boric, Camila Vallejo, at the Palacio de La Moneda. In this context, the minister and Ocasio-Cortez – 33 and 35 years old, respectively – made a video through instagram in which they highlighted the need for the United States to provide information regarding its involvement in the 1973 coup d’état. “The transparency of information on the part of the United States can usher in a new century between the relations of the United States and Chile” said the US parliamentarian. In addition, she mentioned that, before traveling to Chile, she presented legislation to declassify documents on the coup that ended the socialist government of Salvador Allende (1970-1973). Regarding the same matter, Vallejo – a communist militant – referred to the recent request for a resolution approved by the Chamber of Deputies. Through it, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Chile must take steps to release the secret records that account for the intervention of the United States in the breakdown of Chilean democracy.
This Thursday morning, the delegation began its agenda in the Chilean capital with a meeting with the mayor of Santiago from the Communist Party (PC), Irací Hassler, from the same generation as Ocasio-Cortez and Vallejp. From the municipality they affirm that the conversation was around two topics: equality and the environment.
This Friday the delegation will hold activities in the municipality of Santiago. He will visit Casa Igualdad, a space inaugurated in March of this year by Mayor Hassler, whose purpose is to provide legal, psychological and social support to people who are caregivers and those who receive care.
The Democratic congressmen will hold a meeting with President Gabriel Boric and with the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Alberto van Klaveren. The US parliamentarians will meet with their Chilean counterparts and visit the Museum of Memory and Human Rights with Luis Cordero, the Minister of Justice. His agenda includes a conversation with the mayor of Maipú, Tomás Vodanovic, of the pro-government Frente Amplio coalition, about the local strategy to defend the right to clean water. In the same way, they will have an appointment with the Minister for Women and Gender Equity, Antonia Orellana.
Greg Casar, independent congressman for the district of Texas, indicates about the visit of the delegation in the context of the 50th anniversary of the coup d’état in Chile: “The foreign policy of the United States has too often contributed to instability in Latin America and we should protect democracy, instead of supporting coups d’état,” he said in a statement from the Center for Economics and Policy Research (CEPR).
Along the same lines, the coordinator of the delegation, David Adler, explained: “50 years ago, the United States supported a bloody coup against the democratically elected government of President Salvador Allende. This delegation comes to help open a new chapter in relations between the United States and Chile, based on mutual understanding and the common pursuit of social justice. Visitors from Washington frequently come to the region to give talks and deliver unsolicited advice. This delegation has come to Chile to listen, learn, and forge lasting alliances for hemispheric cooperation.”
Fernando Purcell, PhD in United States History from the University of California at Davis and a professor at the Pontifical Catholic University of Chile, believes that the delegation’s visit affects bilaterally: “Although they only represent a sector of the society of United States and the political spectrum, the political gesture and the agenda of visits and meetings in Chile, very marked by the 50th anniversary of the coup d’état and the issue of human rights, are not minor”.
Purcell also makes a parallel between Ocasio-Cortez and the political generation currently leading Chile: “They share several causes related to women’s rights, sustainable development and the need to promote labor rights.”
The delegation led by Ocasio-Cortez -with great political harmony with the generation that governs Chile today, with faces mostly under 40 years of age- would hold a breakfast on Friday with Michelle Bachelet, the socialist who became the first woman in 2006 to arrive at La Moneda as president.
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