Chilean President Gabriel Boric said, “As we all know, the environment is electric, loaded,” and did not give a weather report. A few days before the 50th anniversary of the military coup that split Chile’s history in two, it is in the midst of fierce debates over the meaning of Chile’s overthrow. Salvador Allendea Government applying to his figure decided to task the State with clarifying what had happened to 1,162 people missing during dictatorship your general Augusto Pinochet (1973-90). The initiative only added another layer of discussion.
While presenting to nearly 500 people, some of whom are relatives of the victims of repression, last Wednesday, Boric said, “I believe democracy is memory and is the future. And one cannot exist without the other.” said. The Plan to Search for Truth and Justice. He did this in Plaza de Constitución, in front of the palace of La Moneda, which was the target of the Sea Harrier bombs on September 11, 1973. On the front of the Headquarters, where Allende announced in a historic radio message that he would not resign and that he would pay for this determination with his life, missing. Under the protection of these images, Boric said, “It’s time to agree on something very basic, no context, no further explanation, namely that we will never again disrupt democracy through violence.” and we will never violate human rights another person’s thinking differently, nothing else”.
right and extreme right turned his back on the ceremony. He assured that he was not invited for the formalities of the case. The government rejected this excuse. Despite the opposing forces in the Constituent Council and even in Congress, Boric tries to come to terms with his own strength. policy a breakpoint compared to the past. “It’s the state that does it” CrimesIt is the State that must take the responsibility. Something that seems so insignificant to any of us makes a huge difference,” stressed the Minister of Justice and Human Rights, Louis Cordero. It is estimated that there are 3,200 people murdered. What happened to a total of 1,162 victims is unknown. Based on the government program, the issue is to determine how they were detained and then applied the victims of the regime who joined the list of the disappeared early.
a possible plan
33 years from the start democratic transitionThe Government believes it is possible to fulfill this task. “The Armed Forces and Order has provided specific information in this context. Forensic investigations“, Cordero explained. But in addition to that, the Government wants to create conditions in which oppressors who may have the data will “facilitate” the “investigations”. Let them tell what they know.
Jan Jarab, South American representative of the Office of the High Commissioner United Nations He valued the scope of the program for Human Rights. “We recognize the importance of taking initiatives on access to all relevant information and opening up spaces for collaboration of the whole community, including those who have made this commitment. Crimesand also relatives victimsBoric’s initiative is “an unprecedented event”, according to Alicia Lira, president of the Association of Relatives of the Politically Executed, because previous governments had never made “this ethical, political, moral and justice need” visible.
political traps
50th anniversary commemoration coup He finds Chile without a common language. “I’ve seen signs of it hate in some press releases,” complained the former president Michelle BacheletHis father, General Alberto Bachelet, died in the dictatorship prison. torture. Villa Grimaldi was taken to the concentration camp. “70 percent of Chileans weren’t born for the coup, so many knew something but didn’t know everything, and many had biased information from their families.”
The wound is still there, partially open, according to Julio César Carrasco, a sociologist who specializes in post-traumatic stress. “We will never find the synthesis” historySeptember 11, 1973 is a subject that has been passed on from generation to generation with varying intensities.
The Plan to Search for Truth and Justice unfolds against this complex background. Opponents found another reason not to agree with the official statement. On Tuesday, the president referred to the general’s suicide. Hernan Chacon SotoBefore he was arrested to serve his sentence for being one of the 86-year-old killers Victor Jara. Boric spoke of “cowardice”. Senator Manuel José Ossandón of the Renovación Nacional (RN) asserted that the president is “not here to determine whether a death is honorable or not. He is there to rule everyone, to respect everyone, including the dead, and to seek the unity of Chile.” . Rightest Jose Antonio Caste was more emphatic: “Whoever uses a platform to insult someone is a coward.”
Opposition, political cycle left He says that he is exhausted and will come back to power in 2026 without the need to give continuity to the goals that the current government has set for him. And as if that weren’t enough, he will try to prepare the new Constitution according to his own image and likeness.