Writer Patricio Fernández during an interview at his home in Santiago, Chile. Sofia Yanjari (EL PAIS)
Chilean writer Patricio Fernández submitted his resignation as adviser to the commemoration of the 50th anniversary of the September 11, 1973 coup d’état to Chilean President Gabriel Boric this Wednesday. His resignation was called for by parliamentarians from the ruling party, including several from the Communist Party, as well as 160 human rights groups, who accused him of relativizing the coup during a radio show he participated in on June 13, criticized the left-wing president. The accusation has not only sparked a heated debate in the South American country, but also divided the left, just half a century after the collapse of democracy.
In a statement, the government said it had accepted the writer’s resignation on July 5. “The President understands the reasons that led Patricio Fernández to take this decision and salutes his democratic spirit, his commitment to human rights and publicly acknowledges the role he played in organizing and building the central message of this commemoration, which is summarized.” in the words democracy, remembrance and future,” the text reads. In parallel, the La Moneda Declaration, in an attempt to calm the waves, said: “The Head of State confirms that human rights organizations have been instrumental in bringing about what is still insufficient justice for the brutal crimes of the dictatorship.” they were the pillar to keep memory alive while many wished to conveniently forget them. We owe them a lot as a country.”
Although the commemoration of the 50th anniversary of the coup is the responsibility of the Ministry of Culture and the Arts, Boric appointed Fernández as an adviser in November 2022. The writer, who belongs to the centre-left party but is not militant, was an independent member of the Socialist Collective in the failed first constitutional process in 2022. In 1998 he founded the leftist weekly The Clinic, named after the arrest of Augusto Pinochet at the London Clinic in London, where he was imprisoned for crimes against humanity by order of former Spanish judge Baltasar Garzón. He is very close to Boric and has been a key figure in the commemoration of the 50th anniversary of the coup since he took office. Last June he took part in a trip to the former detention center of the Isla Dawson dictatorship along with former political prisoners. of the Chilean Navy and Defense Minister Maya Fernández, granddaughter of ousted President Salvador Allende (1970-1973).
Even in his role as advisor to the commemoration, the history of which the government focused on the axes of memory, democracy and the future, he was a protagonist in forums and a regular interviewee at the age of around 50. The problem arose in one of these cases, in Radio Universidad de Chile’s conversational program Tras las líneas on June 13. In the room, moderated by left-wing sociologist and political scientist Manuel Antonio Garretón, winner of the National Prize in Humanities and Social Sciences, Fernández uttered a phrase that outraged the faction, including Communist MPs Lorena Pizarro and Carmen Hertz and 160 human rights groups. In his opinion, the author put the coup into perspective, for which they asked the government to resign.
The broadcast lasted almost 50 minutes and part of the dialogue – less than two minutes – was broadcast via social networks, giving rise to the allegations. During the conversation, Garretón Fernández asked whether this commemoration could aim for “common minimums” and recalled that there is still a percentage of Chileans who justify the coup. “The coup is not just the coup, it’s also the crimes. So what you are saying, not you, but those who are in this position, is that what has been done was necessary and as long as I am telling you this, you are “We will not be a society, a historical community and have no common principles,” the sociologist previously stressed.
“That’s exactly what I’m telling you is pointing in that direction,” Fernández continued. And then he said the phrase that is being questioned today: “What do you think is the central effort we are currently facing?” History will continue to debate why it happened or what the reasons or motivations for the coup were. We see it, or we will continue to see it. What you could do with all that panache and with all that will is to say, ‘Okay, you can, and historians and political scientists can debate why and how it happened, but we could try to agree on that. “ that the events after this coup are not acceptable in any civilization pact. In other words, if you accept that, in order to effectively implement your ideas, it is a valid way to use the forces of the state to persecute those who think differently, to eliminate them, to suppress them, etc., building peaceful coexistence becomes impossible “.
Fernández’s words echoed those of President Boric himself, who spoke on a June 4 television program about the basic consensus of respect for human rights, adding: “There’s a lot of talk about the unity of the people, and it’s worth (saying) that it is a time for reflection,” said the 37-year-old president. “From the left, we need to be able to analyze it in much more detail, and not just from a mythical perspective.”
A debate between the left
One of the first to substantiate the criticism of Fernández was MP Pizarro, also former president of the Association of Relatives of Disappeared Prisoners (AFDD). “Can a coup be justified now? Now the dictatorship must be separated from the civil-military putsch. Impressive and unknown. How dangerous is the relativization of a criminal coup, and all the more so when it comes from the 50-year-old head of government. Not like this,” he wrote on his Twitter account a week ago, in a message published above the video of the dialogue between Fernández and Garretón.
But what did not reach the social networks was what happened after Fernández’s theorem. Seconds later, after a brief historical account of the facts, Garretón pointed out that there should never be such an intervention (the coup). “We’re talking about the same thing and maybe there’s a misunderstanding of the language,” Fernández continued. And he added that what happened (the coup) “had consequences for lives, for families and for the soul of a country.” In other words, it destroys the possibility of learning in a very profound way. I agree with you.” And he continued: “Let’s say it (the coup) the moment the planes that are going to bomb La Moneda take off, not even when they bomb it.” We agree, that conflicts cannot be resolved in this way.”
It was a dialogue in which both agreed. So much so that after criticizing Fernández, Garretón said that “many of the interpretations made do not take into account the whole or the content of the conversation”. “Regarding the point that was most emphasized, Patricio Fernández and I agree that the military coup has no justification, explanation or context that would legitimize it.”
However, over time, more critics joined in. The Association of Relatives of Politically Executed, for example, said in a statement: “Mr. Fernández quite obviously avoided condemning, as he should condemn, a violent action led by the Commanders-in-Chief of the Armed Forces and the Director General of the Carabineros, as well as the coup d’etat”. .
The allegations against him have sparked debate within the left, which is backed by the PC and human rights organizations. And one of the various voices that have spoken out in her defense is that of Michelle Bachelet’s (2006-2010) former government minister, Paulina Veloso, whose husband, Chilean-Swiss Alexei Jaccard, is reported missing. “I listened to the interview and he’s not a denier. I don’t understand why Patricio Fernández has downplayed the human rights abuses, nor has he linked them to the coup, as he understands that both are condemnable. He says that part of the law does in fact bring about separation and suggests that we at least agree that human rights violations are unacceptable under any circumstances,” the lawyer told EL PAÍS.
“Patricio Fernández has a very clear vision on human rights abuses. I have no connection with him and have defended him on the basis of a principle: you can’t misrepresent someone else’s positions, even if the other person doesn’t like it. It’s important to have an honest debate that moves us forward, and not one that doesn’t blind us to past and future events.” “I have the utmost respect for human rights groups. They were very important fighters against the dictatorship. They weren’t the only ones, there were also the political parties that contain the very people who disappeared and were executed. I appreciate them and understand the pain and some neglect on the part of the state,” the lawyer added.
Sociologist Ernesto Ottone, former key adviser to socialist President Ricardo Lagos (2000-2006) and a key communist activist in the Allende government, says that when Boric appointed the writer as adviser, he did so on the assumption that ” it was like that.” Not just an apologetic persona on the one hand and demonization on the other.” . His statement is thoughtful and clear, but at the same time constructive for the future. It is necessary to carry out an analysis that is not purely partisan,” he assures.
Fernández referred to the allegations against him on July 3. “One has devoted a good part of one’s life to the fact that the truth and common history is what is most known, so I am not a denier,” he said in midst of the storm. “People are here to help and to make the memorial service as inclusive, kind, thoughtful and productive as possible. Anything useful for this is all right, and what is useless for this is difficult for this, let it be solved.”
And before being asked to resign, he had said, “I’ve thought of everything.”
Finally, today he decided to resign, despite the government’s attempts to prevent it.
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