In Chile, half a century after the coup: "It's very important that we don't go backwards"
Fifty years after General Augusto Pinochet's putsch on September 11, 1973, residents of the capital Santiago commemorated the crimes perpetrated by the military regime. Mediapart met the participants, whose words were full of memories and hopes.
With Lucia Cholakian in Mediapart
(With the support of Leica Mexico, done with Leica Q2)
Santiago, September 10, 2023. Amanda Eliana Vega Manteluna, 24, at the march in tribute to the victims of the dictatorship. "I came here because my uncle disappeared on August 9, 1976 and his wife, my aunt, died asking for justice and she never got it. So as a family, me, my mother and my brother have always come to the marches carrying the photo my aunt used to wear. All the military, all the armed forces that did all this are dying, they're taking the secrets with them to the grave, and then we'll be left without answers."
| Santiago, September 11, 2023. Valentina Montiel, 84, takes part in a women's vigil around the presidential palace. "In September 1973, I was living very close to here and on a high floor, I saw the planes fly by and, immediately, the fire. The Right was talking about war, but which war? With what? With whom? I don't know if it was fear or disbelief to see them, I think it was both, I couldn't believe what was happening here in Chile." |
| Santiago, September 11, 2023. Lilian Araya Carvacho, 78, has come to lay flowers in front of the statue of Salvador Allende at the Moneda presidential palace. "It's very moving to be here because I'm commemorating these fifty years and I always come to see my martyred president, I lived through that spring of Popular Unity, it was very beautiful and I always remember it, every year we come here. On September 11, we heard the shots. We lived in the center of town and felt the planes fly overhead. I was in a very serious state of shock, I couldn't go out but if I'd been in good health, I would have come to defend my comrade, he was a very fine man, I met him in person when he was a senator." |
Santiago, September 10, 2023. Julio Quiroga, 34, a psychologist, has come to lay flowers on Salvador Allende's grave. "My father is an army officer and so are my two grandfathers, one in the army, the other in the navy. They were obviously involved, they took part in the coup d'état, and to this day, they maintain a position close to negationism. Ever since I realized, I think around the age of 14 or 15, that there was a Chile different from the one I'd been told about, my awareness has grown and so has my pain. For me, being here today means repairing a large part of my history; I can no longer be a passive participant or accomplice in a family story that affects me very personally."
| Santiago, September 11, 2023. Antonieta Holguín, 40, a history teacher, takes part in a women's vigil around the presidential palace. "It's very important to be here because it unites us as women, women who defend democracy, and it's very symbolic to come in black and with candles, to commemorate an event that has a before and after in our country and remains a trauma for Chileans. I think tonight is a very important moment, I think they're surprised by the level of participation because there hasn't been much publicity, except on social networks. And I think it's incredible because sometimes you see the official press and you get the impression that we're a minority maintaining the recent memory of our country, which is very complex, difficult, painful. But in the end, there are many of us who represent this other place and want truth, justice and reparation for the victims." |
Santiago, September 10, 2023. A young couple observes the police crackdown on part of the demonstration at the General Cemetery, part of the commemoration of the fiftieth anniversary of the coup d'état and the death of Salvador Allende.
Santiago, September 11, 2023. Socialist Youth activists on the outskirts of the Estadio Nacional, the former dictatorship detention center where the popular tribute to Salvador Allende is being held.
| Santiago, September 11, 2023. José Tomás Cabrera, a 19-year-old sociology student, has come to lay flowers on Victor Jara's grave. "Being here is a mixture of many things. First of all, it's very sad to think about what happened, how this project of hope came to an end. But I also believe that, despite the current political paradigm, there is a lot of hope being reborn. Seeing commemorations, lots of people taking to the streets, it gives a kind of strength and hope that is incredible to feel. I'm convinced that with these kinds of commemorations, music, culture - now that so many issues are declassified, so many archives open - people will start to think more, to realize that nothing justifies what happened, that the economy under the dictatorship wasn't as good as people think." |
| Santiago, 11 septembre 2023. Valentina Quintero, 37 ans, avocate, participe à une veillée de femmes autour du palais présidentiel. « Je suis née pendant la dictature en 1986, mais, bien sûr, on n’en parlait jamais à l’école ni ailleurs parce qu’il était mal vu de le faire. Mais avant d’étudier le droit, j’ai aussi étudié l’histoire, parce que je me suis toujours intéressée aux changements sociaux. Pour moi, il est donc très important d’être là. Je n’ai pas de parents directs qui ont souffert d’une quelconque violation des droits, mais je pense qu’il serait irresponsable de ne pas être présente. Nous devons avant tout soutenir et respecter, en particulier dans le contexte compliqué du Chili en ce moment, avec le gouvernement de Boric, qui est critiqué pour l’avancée de la droite. » |
| Santiago, September 11, 2023. Esteban Suárez Bruna, 28, journalist and project manager at Santiago City Hall, attends the official ceremony in tribute to Salvador Allende at the Moneda Palace. It's an honor to be here," she says, "I remember asking my mother why there were people on TV with photos in their hands. One day, one of my classmates asked during a lesson "What about Pinochet?" and the teacher, I remember very well, told us "Ask your parents", and you realize then that the question was not yet resolved, we were 8 or 9 years old. It's a very sad moment today to think that some polls show that Augusto Pinochet's figure is on the rise again, that he's valued again, and that scares me." |
