September 11, 1973 was a tragic day that marked our history as a country. It has dashed our hopes of overcoming enormous structural inequality, it has ended the government of Salvador Allende and our democracy; It also deeply divided us. 50 years after the coup, it is necessary to review certain common minimum values in order to distinguish ourselves as a country for the next 50 years, because history must be understood in order not to repeat it.
When we talk about the coup today, we have to understand that 70% of Chileans were not born 50 years ago. In other words, those of us who witnessed these brutal events are a minority in our country today. And those of us who witness these events first hand have a responsibility for memory, because it allows us as a society to recognize ourselves in the present and to connect yesterday with tomorrow.
Put simply, politics consists of working through our differences peacefully and respecting each other’s freedoms and visions; It is important to understand the limitations and agree on basic issues. In 1973 the policy failed and something like this must not happen again.
A coup can never be justified. It can never be part of the options available to countries to resolve their differences, for it is none other than the way to crush a government and terrorize a people. This is one of the fundamental issues on which we must agree today. Images like the bombing of La Moneda and the tanks surrounding the government building cannot leave anyone indifferent.
Second, no matter how complex the political context, democracy must never be called into question. The dictatorship has only confirmed the enormous gulf that separates a democracy, with all its imperfections, from a regime that resorts to the most brutal violence to eliminate basic civil and political liberties.
Democracy is not a perfect system, but it is the best system we have. It is a system that has the tools and institutions to remedy its shortcomings. Democracy emerges in a dialogue between pluralistic and diverse views, where self-criticism and honest criticism are welcome in any political process; They are indeed one of the weapons of democracy.
A third point on which we must all agree is that crimes against humanity have no place in our country or anywhere in the world. We are still in pain as a society because for 17 years state policy was based on the extermination of those who disagreed or were dangerous.
Nothing can ever justify disregard for the dignity that defines us as humanity.
It is undeniable that there are undeniable, documented facts, and the wounds are harder to heal when there are those who deny or justify what commissions like Rettig or Valech have already established, or the judicial investigation itself. This worsens our options to be a community. That is why it is our moral duty to do everything possible to ensure that such painful cases as during the dictatorship do not recur.
In Chile, when we talk about the coup, the dictatorship and the crimes against humanity, we are not talking about abstract concepts, but about events that are burned into our individual, institutional and national memories.
When we look at democracy polls and see how their credibility has been lost, we should be vigilant. An example of this is the recent CEP poll, which reflects the distrust of Chilean men and women towards the institutional political system. The sentence “People like you don’t care about a democratic or authoritarian regime” is supported by 25% of respondents. Other polls show that for a percentage of Chilean men and women, Augusto Pinochet was Chile’s best ruler.
September is always like a mirror in which we recognize each other as Chilean men and women, and in these 50 years we must look at each other and recognize each other as brothers from the same country to make us defend and deepen democracy and always respect people’s rights. This is the responsibility of all of us. We must ensure that there is full truth, full justice and the obligation of all to ensure democracy. That is why the plan announced by the current government to search for missing detainees is so important.
I recently read Patricio Aylwin’s memoir, The Political Experience of Popular Unity. At the beginning and at the end, the former president wonders what we could have done better or differently to change the way things are going. The distrust at that time made it impossible to reach agreements, and we must learn from that. We also have to take care of the language and the way we interact with each other, because the forms are also important and we have to take care of them.
50 years after a tragedy known around the world for its brutality, we must be clear about what we are witnessing. It should be a lesson for the future that we will build up for the next 50 years so that no one in our country doubts the seriousness of what is happening and everyone has the good feeling that something like this cannot happen again. So that we can be a more united Chile, where we all fight for our deepest desire: to end the inequality that has historically marked our country and to achieve well-being and dignity for all residents of our territory.
Memory is a powerful tool. Remembering the coup and its aftermath allows us to reflect on our past, understand our present and, most importantly, build a better future. Let’s not forget the past, but use it as a beacon for our future actions and building a fairer and fairer Chile.
Michelle Bachelet She is the former President of Chile and a columnist for EL PAÍS.