Chile: Tributes to Allende and the victims of the dictatorship | Commemoration of the military coup of 1973

From Santiago

After several exceptionally hot days, the cold and the clouds returned to the capital of Chile, Giving the commemoration of the 48th anniversary of the 1973 military coup an atmosphere of remembrance that seemed to have been lost last year by the pandemic. The most massive was the pilgrimage from Plaza Los Héroes, in the heart of Santiago to the General Cemetery where the remains of Salvador Allende rest and where Patio 29 is located.

The latter was thhe place where the Pinochet dictatorship, which reigned in Chile until 1990, secretly buried the victims of political clashes and executions under the name “NN”. Around noon, more than seven thousand people, among which relatives of the victims and political organizations – they traveled the four kilometers where among the proclamations the “prisoners of the revolt” were recalled, mostly young people who are still detained after the violent and massive days of protest of the social epidemic since October 2019.

Despite the vigilance of the police, who have closed the main arteries of the center, generating traffic jams and disorder, There was looting of business premises by groups of hooded men. However, as the owners of small kiosks nearby pointed out, the looters themselves protected their premises and told them that “it’s with the big companies, not with you” while they turned the furniture into barricades. Later, these isolated clashes were transferred to the cemetery where the police used water carts, reporting “five detainees for disorder and one for death threats (to the police)”.

Piñera does not allow flowers in La Moneda

The other important event was the tribute to Allende where various communities such as the PC, the Central Unitaria de Trabajadores and the PS left floral offerings at his statue located in front of the Palacio de La Moneda, a place that was bombed. exactly 48 years ago. . They highlighted the speeches of the Comunes party, which is part of the J’Approuve la Dignité coalition, which will lead the young candidate Gabriel Boric as presidential candidate in the November elections, including President Karina Oliva he underlined: “Today we not only want to do an act of remembrance, but to fight, and never to rest again, so that the ways are always open, so that everyone is free, so that education is the right that has been so hard fought, so that health is the right of all ”.

Morandé 80 is a side door of the Palace, through which the remains of Allende came out and which Pinochet closed to avoid any symbolic act. Something that was only reversed in 2003, reconstructing it and transforming it into a place of memory. This year, however, the Piñera government has not authorized any acts. Something that was questioned by Oliva: “It is unpresentable that the government of Sebastián Piñera refused us to deliver the floral offering to Morandé 80, who is attentive to history.”

The government clings to “violence”

The afternoon, almost like a reminder of the gap between the right-wing elite and the people who have revived thanks to the commented exhibition for the first time on television of the trilogy “The Battle of Chile” by Patricio Guzmán – That the Concertación itself avoided showing on the public channel despite the purchase of the rights – the Piñera government criticized the participation of the mayor of Santiago, the communist Irací Hassler, in the march to the cemetery.

Under-Secretary of the Interior Juan Francisco Galil (of the National Renovation Party) tried to raise awareness of the incidents by recalling “Those who participated in today’s march must take responsibility excesses provoked in the municipalities of Santiago and Recoleta with sound bombs, fireworks and even the launching of Molotov bombs against the riflemen. The damage caused to the neighbors (…), even with the participation of the mayor in the march – must be condemned by all political actors ”.