CHILE-ANNIVERSARY/DEMO-CEREMONY Bachelet calls for calm on forty-second anniversary of Pinochet coup

Record ID: 139992

  • Title: CHILE-ANNIVERSARY/DEMO-CEREMONY Bachelet calls for calm on forty-second anniversary of Pinochet coup
  • Date: 11th September 2015
  • Summary: SANTIAGO, CHILE (SEPTEMBER 11, 2015) (REUTERS) VARIOUS OF BACHELET DURING EVENT AT GOVERNMENT PALACE (SOUNDBITE) (Spanish) CHILE'S PRESIDENT, MICHELLE BACHELET, SAYING: "As we commemorate 42 years of the tragedy that tore the soul of Chile, we do it knowing it's a country for all, it is only built if it is able to recognize its own history and have a shared moral judgement. And that judgement is one, never the power of death, only life." MEDIA (SOUNDBITE) (Spanish) CHILE'S PRESIDENT, MICHELLE BACHELET, SAYING: "In a country where, however loud the critics can be, democracy is the common foundation of all."
  • Embargoed: 26th September 2015 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Chile
  • Country: Chile
  • Topics: General
  • Reuters ID: LVAC13O8607771ZVR19VUIAHT7N2
  • Aspect Ratio: 16:9
  • Story Text: EDITORS PLEASE NOTE: THIS EDIT CONTAINS MATERIAL WHICH WAS ORIGINALLY 4:3
    Demonstrators clashed with police in the run-up to Chile's 42nd anniversary of the country's brutal military coup in which then President Salvador Allende was killed, with protests in the streets of capital Santiago on Thursday (September 10).
    Protests have become a daily commonplace occurrence with people demonstrating over education reform but also due to broader dissatisfaction in Chile over social issues ... from the pension system to fishing rights.
    President Michelle Bachelet led a solemn commemoration ceremony on Friday (September 11) within La Moneda government Palace to mark the anniversary and she spoke of the need to protect democratic coexistence, amid the tense political climate that exists in the country.
    "As we commemorate 42 years of the tragedy that tore the soul of Chile, we do it knowing it's a country for all, it is only built if it is able to recognize its own history and have a shared moral judgement. And that judgement is one, never the power of death, only life," Bachelet said.
    "In a country where, however loud the critics can be, democracy is the common foundation of all," Bachelet added.
    After the ceremony, Bachelet, members of the Allende family and guests walked around the La Moneda government palace leaving carnations in the last known whereabouts of the former president.
    Present at the ceremony was the daughter of the deposed president, Isabel Allende (not the well-known author, who is a more distant relative), and the current head of the senate.
    "Very emotional (the ceremony) and perhaps the fact that we remembered those 38 people (personal bodyguards) who were with him, who accompanied him, who remained (with him in La Moneda), which today are missing, were killed, executed. I think that causes a lot of emotion," Senator Allende said.
    Allende, hailed as the West's first democratically-elected Marxist President, was overthrown in 1973 after Chilean Air Force jets began bombing La Moneda Palace in a U.S.-supported military coup led by General Augusto Pinochet, ushering in a dark period of right-wing dictatorships across the region.
    Thousands disappeared during Pinochet's dictatorship and more than two decades on from Chile's return to democracy, the relatives of Pinochet's missing are still struggling to piece together its recent history amid almost total silence from military personnel who played a role in the deaths of thousands of suspected leftists.
    Allende, who ruled Chile from 1970 to 1973, represented an era of hope for many in Latin America. However, his rule came to an abrupt end by Chile's right and the United States who were concerned at the creeping socialisation of Chile.
    Only a week before his demise, Allende had celebrated with supporters the third anniversary of his election, vowing to improve education and income inequality in Chile.
    According to an official statement following Allende's death, Chile's fallen president had committed suicide and was reportedly found dead with a gun he received as a gift from then Cuban president Fidel Castro.
    Pinochet, who took power in a 1973 military coup, died in 2006 at the age of 91. He did not face a full trial for crimes committed during his 1973-1990 dictatorship, when around 3,000 people were kidnapped and killed and 28,000 were tortured.
    Only a small number of bodies of Pinochet's victims have been discovered in unmarked mass graves in the country, while hundreds of others were dumped out in the Pacific Ocean.
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