Marina Peña is a Staff Writer currently studying abroad in Santiago, Chile.
Every year, as millions of Americans pay tribute to the thousands of victims lost during the 9/11 attacks, Chile memorialized the anniversary of its own 9/11, a day in 1973 when a military coup led by Augusto Pinochet overthrew the democratically-elected government of Socialist Salvador Allende.
Thousands of nationals gathered on Monday at Chile’s national stadium in Santiago to remember the fall of Allende’s government and honor the thousands of Chilean citizens who disappeared and were tortured during Pinochet’s subsequent military regime. During Pinochet’s regime, this stadium was used as a detention and torture center for thousands of dissidents.
“[The national stadium] was a place where the interrogations of the people they arrested were cruel. The majority died. Very few people got out of here,” said Leda Lillio, an attendee at the commemoration. “They did not leave here or were exiled. They were killed.”
The election of Marxist Allende in 1970, in the midst of the Cold War, alarmed democratic and military governments in the region. The socialist changes he brought to Chile included the nationalization of banks and copper mines as well as agrarian reform.
On September 11, 1973, Allende was overthrown by Chile’s armed forces. The historic event began with the bombing of La Moneda, the seat of the President of the Republic of Chile. The U.S. Central Intelligence Agency aided in the coup by providing financing and training. Allende died that day in La Moneda, and a new government was formed by Augusto Pinochet and his team.
"The reason for the military coup…lies in the decision of the armed forces to seize power and disrupt the regular democratic process being carried out in Chile," said Nicolás Cruz, Ph.D. and history professor at the Pontifical Catholic University of Chile. "For this activity the armed forces had the collaboration and participation of the Chilean political right and of the entrepreneurs, as it has been made known over the years, as well as international support."
Pinochet reaffirmed free-market policies in the country's economy and strived to eradicate leftism in Chile. Chile then entered into a neoliberal economic system, a process that faced no opposition given the dictatorial conditions. According to Cruz, this economic order was maintained by the center-left governments even after the military government ended.
Francisca Sepulveda, an attendee at the commemoration feels there are still remnants of that time.
"Our entire health, education, provisions and work system changed during the 17 years of the dictatorship. Education, for instance, was completely privatized," she said, "Even though we are now living in a democracy, we continue to live in a country that is completely linked to those years."
Pinochet’s new government became a brutal dictatorship that would last 17 years, from 1973 to 1990. During the military regime, thousands of Chilean citizens were executed, disappeared and were arrested and tortured, marking the start of a culture of fear and intimidation that would affect Chile for many years to come.
According to Amnesty International and the U.N. Human Rights Commission, an estimated 250,000 people were detained for political reasons during the military regime. Those who fell victim to the ongoing persecution and repression included indigenous peoples, members of the Catholic Church, rural community members associated with labor unions, former government officials and citizens associated with leftist political parties.
A total of 27,255 were tortured and 2,279 were executed, according to the Commission of Truth and Reconciliation and the National Commission on Political Imprisonment and Torture.
“For young people, it is important to commemorate this date so that justice and reparations are brought to all the families of our comrades who were detained and disappeared,” said Romina Rodríguez, a member of Chile’s Communist party.
The Amnesty Law, passed in 1978 by General Pinochet, guaranteed impunity to those responsible – including himself – for the “systematic and widespread human rights violations.” The law represented a major obstacle in the investigation into his regime. Even though Pinochet was detained for human rights violations, he died in 2006 before the investigation process was concluded, meaning he was never formally convicted.
To this day, the Amnesty Law protects the military regime from retribution for any human rights violations.
“The armed forces must take responsibility and recognize the mistakes they made. Political sectors like the right also have to be present and say that they made a mistake by being complicit in the dictatorship,” said Esteban Olvae Neira, an attendee at the stadium’s commemoration. “It is important to recover our memories because the atrocities that were committed during 17 years in this country cannot be forgotten. No one wants to be taken away from their loved ones. I see it as a moral issue for my country.”
An earlier version of this article was published without the information from Nicolás Cruz. It was edited to add his expertise.
