Strasbourg (France) (AFP) – The head of diplomacy of the European Union (EU), Josep Borrell, welcomed this Tuesday the “mythical figure” Salvador Allende, a day after 50 years of military coup by Augusto Pinochet.
First change: September 12, 2023 – 7:27 p.m. Last change: September 12, 2023 – 7:25 p.m
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“Salvador Allende is a mythical figure in the history of the struggle for emancipation. I think he deserves respect and recognition because his name is inextricably linked to the fight for social justice,” Borrell told the European Parliament.
The diplomat enthusiastically recalled that in 2003 he had taken part in the ceremonies for the reopening of a side door of the Chilean presidential palace on Morandé Street, where Allende’s body had been taken, a door that had been bricked up by order of the Pinochet government. .
“We must recognize that Chile’s path to the restoration of democracy has shown the deep wounds that the experience of dictatorship has left in this society,” he said.
In his brief statement to the European Parliament plenary session, Borrell stressed that Allende “was not killed, he committed suicide. Let’s say things as they are, but everyone knows the meaning of the words and events.”
In Santiago, President Gabriel Boric led a ceremony at La Moneda Palace to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the military coup.
At the ceremony, Boric spoke to relatives of victims of the Pinochet dictatorship and Presidents Luis Arce (Bolivia), Andrés Manuel López Obrador (Mexico), Gustavo Petro (Colombia) and Luis Lacalle Pou (Uruguay).
Pinochet overthrew Allende on September 11, 1973 and led a government junta that ushered in a 17-year dictatorship and left more than 3,200 victims dead or missing.
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