The president of Chile, Gabriel Boric, participated in the marches, which brought together about 5,000 people, according to the Government. One day before the 50th anniversary of the coup d’état against the democratic government of Salvador Allende, international figures such as the Mexican president, Andrés Manuel López Obrador, and Judge Baltasar Garzón also participated in the commemorations, which ended in riots between police and protesters in the Chilean capital.
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This September 11 marks half a century since the overthrow of President Salvador Allende by a military coup led by Augusto Pinochet that marked the beginning of 17 years of a dictatorial regime that left more than 40,000 direct victims, including those imprisoned, disappeared, tortured or murdered.
The commemorative events began on Sunday with demonstrations in Santiago, Chile. The Chilean president, Gabriel Boric, participated in marches, organized by victims’ associations, as did members of his Government such as the spokesperson, Camila Vallejo and leaders of the Communist Party of Chile.
Although the Government had called the demonstration peacefully, some protesters threw stones at the Palacio de la Moneda, the seat of Government, breaking security barriers and damaging access to a cultural center located in the building.
Clashes with police also occurred in other parts of the city during the march, with some protesters throwing Molotov cocktails and setting up barricades.
Inside a cemetery that houses a monument to the victims of the Pinochet regime, some mausoleums were damaged, including that of a right-wing senator.
According to the Government, three police officers were injured and three people were arrested. President Boric “categorically condemned these events” and rejected “the irrationality of attacking what Allende and so many other democrats fought for.”
The march in commemoration of the coup d’état against Salvador Allende takes place every year and is organized by the relatives of victims of the Pinochet dictatorship. Its character is peaceful but it tends to become violent due to small groups of people. Boric assured that those who caused the riots “sought to break up the demonstration by attacking other protesters and brutally violating graves in the general cemetery.”
Symbolic acts of commemoration
There were several points of the demonstrations but the most symbolic moment occurred in front of Morandé 80, the mythical door of the Palacio de la Moneda through which the body of President Allende, who committed suicide during the attack by the coup forces, emerged half a century ago. , and through which the march had never passed since protests resumed in democracy.
Another point of the commemoration was inside the cemetery where the traditional offering of flowers takes place in front of the wall of the disappeared detainees. A sign with the faces of some of them was placed there, and its base was decorated with red carnations and candles in an intimate ceremony in which phrases such as “Allende, present” and “disappeared present” were heard.
One of the participants in the commemoration and who lost her father during the Pinochet dictatorship explained the importance of these demonstrations to the EFE news agency: “They killed my father, they made him disappear. I don’t want this to happen anymore, “I don’t want my son to one day have to go through the hell we went through.”
The search for justice and truth for the victims of the dictatorship continues and is a sensitive issue in a country where certain sectors of the population justify the repression that occurred under the Pinochet regime.
Even today, 33 years after the end of the dictatorship, the right to protest and leftist movements are stigmatized in the southern country.
In 2019, widespread protests against inequality in Chile left more than 30 dead. Human rights groups have questioned the police response during these protests, which occurred during the government of right-wing Sebastián Piñera, which left hundreds of protesters blinded by rubber bullets and tens of thousands of people detained.
International presence on the day of commemoration
One of the Latin American countries that gave political refuge to those fleeing the Pinochet dictatorship was Mexico, where 3,000 Chileans arrived during the 17 years of terror.
Aware of this, Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador was in Chile and met with his Chilean counterpart. The presidents of Chile and Mexico called for strengthening democracy in Latin America during a joint speech on Sunday.
López Obrador recalled how Pinochet’s coup impacted him when he was a university student. He praised Allende and called his death during the coup a “horrendous crime.”
“We are united by history, brotherhood and the desire to continue building an authentic democracy,” said López Obrador.
For his part, Gabriel Boric praised the presence of the Mexican president by stating that his visit “is a concrete example of this history that unites us and of his commitment to strengthening democracy in Latin America.”
Another relevant and symbolic figure who participated in the first commemorative events was the Spanish judge Baltasar Garzón, who on October 16, 1998, supported by the principle of Universal Jurisdiction, achieved the house arrest of General Augusto Pinochet; which marked a milestone in the criminal treatment of genocidaires and perpetrators of crimes against humanity.
With Reuters, EFE and local media
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