Chilean President Gabriel Boric welcomes as he arrives the civic event marking the 50th anniversary of the coup against the democratic government of Salvador Allende. Photo: EFE.
This Monday, Chile commemorated the half-century of the coup against the democratic government of the socialist Salvador Allende.
After the coup, a bloody 17-year military dictatorship led by Augusto Pinochet was born, which claimed more than 40,000 victims, including more than 3,200 executed and thousands still missing.
At a ceremony at the La Moneda government palace attended by several regional leaders, Chilean President Gabriel Boric called for “democratic debate should never again be replaced by violence” and said that these 50 years were an opportunity to “strengthen coexistence “.
In the front row of guests were the leaders of Bolivia, Luis Arce; Colombia, Gustavo Petro; Uruguay, Luis Lacalle Pou and Mexico, Andrés Manuel López Obrador.
“Today we say before Chile and the world: democracy today and forever,” said Boric, quoted by EFE, the most left-leaning president to come to power since the overthrow of Salvador Allende (1970-1973).
The Chilean president even went so far as to call the atmosphere of polarization the country is experiencing “electrifying,” and former president Michelle Bachelet called it “toxic.” The matter reached Congress, where lawmakers clashed loudly, the San Diego Union-Tribune adds.
Sociologist Manuel Antonio Garretón commented to El País: “The problem is that there is an important part of the population that continues to call for the coup.”
50 years after the coup: Chile faces its past and its future
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These are “44% who voted yes for Augusto Pinochet in the 1988 plebiscite and – exactly the same – the 44% who voted for José Antonio Kast in the second round of the 2021 presidential election, who says that the coup was necessary or “It is justified,” says Garretón.
The expert believes that Chile is “a society divided around the only thing that is important for a country: an ethical consensus on the right to life, human rights and the fundamental principle that governs coexistence, namely the democratic principle, which is expressed in a constitution.” ”
For her part, the senator and daughter of the deposed Chilean President Isabel Allende said this Monday that “memory is democracy and the future” and called for “justice” during the central memorial ceremony for the coup that overthrew her father.
“Remembrance is a first step towards truth, but we need much more to achieve justice and ensure that the events of that day are not repeated. For this reason, I agree with the motto that memory is democracy and the future,” said the 81-year-old senator in tears, according to EFE.
Allende’s daughter described her father as a “social fighter” and “interpreter of the desires for social justice” and reviewed some of his policies at the head of the Popular Unity government, such as the fight against child malnutrition and deepening agricultural reform, Spanish media report.
“I had to be the last person from my father’s entourage to enter the palace that day. We were tasked with telling what happened next. What meant the unity of the people and also the barbarism that was begun to impose,” said Allende, who admitted that he does not forget “the last hug” of his father.