Chile's Allende seen as a hero 3 decades after overthrow, death

[eablair3]

the other 9-11:



Chile's Allende seen as a hero 3 decades after overthrow, death
BY KEVIN G. HALL
Knight Ridder News Service

SANTIAGO, Chile - Thirty years after Chilean President Salvador Allende died in a U.S.-backed coup, new books, political tributes, court cases and press revelations are prompting Chileans to reassess the man and the 1973 coup that began the 17-year dictatorship of Gen. Augusto Pinochet.

Chile is tense as the Sept. 11 anniversary of the coup approaches.

Protests have been banned next week, and young leftists challenged the government Wednesday with a surprise demonstration in the La Moneda presidential palace. They want Chile to match neighbor Argentina and revoke the amnesty laws that protect former military rulers from prosecution.

Police made numerous arrests as the raucous demonstration spilled onto Santiago's streets.

Over the objections of socialist President Ricardo Lagos, 10 lawmakers in his governing coalition introduced legislation Thursday that would void the amnesty laws in cases where torture, kidnapping and illegal detention were involved.

The legislation is sure to keep the issue in public debate for months to come.

In Valparaiso, Chile's Congress on Wednesday paid its first homage to Allende, a career legislator and a socialist who was narrowly elected president on Sept. 4, 1970. His daughter Isabel presides over Chile's lower house of Congress. His niece, also named Isabel, is a famous novelist.

snip

U.S. ROLE

The Nixon administration, fearful that Chile would become a communist beachhead, helped end Allende's three-year rule. President Clinton, and later Secretary of State Colin Powell, apologized for the intervention.

snip

http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/6705813.htm

[JanMichael]

1. True. As time goes by the truth raises Allende's reputation.

I didn't realize that his daughter was an MP, interesting.

From what I've read the coup was one ugly scene.

[no name no slogan]

2. Glad to see

that somebody else remembers the "other" 9/11.

What the US did in Chile is reprehensible. The fact that Henry Kissenger (the US's major planner of the coup) still walks the earth freely is disgusting.

Apologies are nice, but they're not enough. Certain US citizens and their agents who assisted in this illegal overthrow of a legitimately elected government need to go before an international tribunal to face charges of crimes against humanity.

America needs to abandon its inexcusable foreign policy that leads to these type of actions. I am hopeful that our next Democratic president will realize this, and stop exporting US-sponsored terror overseas for the benefit of "our interests".

Now, will our government apologize to the citizens of other imperialist US interventions (many of which are not known by our own citizens)? How about Iran (1953)? How about Guatemala (1954)? How about Indonesia (1965)? What about East Timor (1975)? Or Nicaragua (1979)? Or El Salvador (1982)?

11 Sept 1973....
NEVER FORGET ;(

[no name no slogan]

3. Good books about Chile and the Pinochet coup

Fear in Chile: Lives Under Pinochet: First-hand accounts of everyday Chileans, both left and right, of life during the Pinochet years.

Soldiers in a Narrow Land: A good general overview of the coup and the US's involvement in it.

Pinochet and Me: a firsthand account of the coup and its legacy by Marc Cooper, a frequent contributor to The Nation. Cooper worked for President Allende as a translator, prior to the overthrow. This is one of my favorite books about the events of 11 Sept 1973.

[eablair3]

4. thanks. ... heard about another one - looks interesting

The Pinochet File: A Declassified Dossier on Atrocity and Accountability (A National Security Archive Book)
by Peter Kornbluh (Editor)

looks like a new and interesting one with declassified docs from the National Security Archive.

[Judi Lynn]

5. Found an article from the Voice of America

Americas Chile Remembers Its Own September 11
Brian Byrnes
Santiago
09 Sep 2003, 07:10 UTC


While much of the world will take time this week to reflect on the second anniversary of the September 11 terrorist attacks in the United States, citizens in Chile will pause to remember another historic anniversary, one that also changed the face of their country forever.

In a radio address recorded in the waning moments of his presidency, Chilean President Salvador Allende remained defiant, refusing to surrender his power despite an onslaught of bombs and bullets that were ripping apart the presidential palace in Santiago.

"I will not resign," Allende vowed. "I will pay for the loyalty of the people with my life." And soon thereafter, he did, taking his own life inside the La Moneda -- the presidential palace -- before oncoming soldiers could capture him alive.

The bloody coup that ended the life of Salvador Allende on September 11, 1973 put General Augusto Pinochet into power, opening a deadly and dark chapter in Chile's history. During Pinochet's reign, approximately 3,000 people "disappeared" and thousands of others were tortured and exiled. (snip/...)

http://www.voanews.com/article.cfm?objectID=6D8F7373-0DE3-4E22-92D4E0B08B6C79EF&title=Chile%20Remembers%20Its%20Own%20September%2011&catOID=45C9C78A-88AD-11D4-A57200A0CC5EE46C&categoryname=Americas

(By the way, I've heard that the number of the "disappeared" could be FAR larger than the 3,000 indicated by the Voice of America.)

[no name no slogan]

6. People need to see this today

So I'm giving it a nudge...

[Judi Lynn]

7. A filthy business we promoted in Chile

(snip) From the December 2002 issue of World Press Review (VOL. 49, No. 12)
Latin America
Chile: Death Squad’s Defiance

Robert Taylor
World Press Review contributing editor




This undated file photo shows Chile's former president Salvador Allende (R) with his then-army commander Gen. Augusto Pinochet (L) during a ceremony in Santiago. Pinochet overthrew Allende in the bloody Sept. 11, 1973 military coup and ruled Chile with an iron fist until 1990 (Photo: AFP).

Chile’s bitter legacy of political repression during the dictatorship of Gen. Augusto Pinochet has re-emerged to cast a shadow over the nation’s democratic government. Press reports have exposed the continued existence of a feared death squad, Comando Conjunto (Joint Command). In an investigative report published in La Nación (Sept. 8), Víctor Gutiérrez revealed that members of the squad “no longer torture or murder,” but remain active in waging a rear-guard action to frustrate legal efforts to investigate their human-rights violations.

Even as Chilean courts have continued to pursue actions against retired military officers alleged to have participated in the torture and murder of political prisoners, Gutiérrez wrote, a leading participant in the Comando Conjunto asserted that members of the unit still obey “strict orders to lie, deceive, block, and hide evidence.” (snip/...)

http://www.worldpress.org/Americas/791.cfm

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~



(snip) September 11, 1973 Chile's elected President Salvador Allende is deposed in a CIA backed military coup, resulting in 3175 deaths on the first day of Augusto Pinochet's reign. During Pinochet's US Backed tenure, more than 100,000 people disappeared, and hundreds of thousands were tortured using tactics taught at Fort Benning Georgia's School of Americas using the now declassified CIA Kubark Manual. (snip/...)

http://www.serendipity.li/wot/sympathy.htm

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~




A quaint episode in Pinochet's American-supported rule of Chile after the coup 9/11/73:

(snip) For a few days in October 1973, a self-styled military "delegation" toured provincial cities in northern and southern Chile, killing dozens of political opponents of General Augusto Pinochet's September coup.
Many of the victims of what became known as the "Caravan of Death" had voluntarily turned themselves into the military authorities.

Prisoners were taken from their cells and summarily executed, often without the knowledge or consent of the local military authorities.



More than 3,000 opponents died or disappeared during the Pinochet years

At least 72 people were killed and memories of the "caravan" endure as one of the most notorious episodes of human rights abuse during Chile's military rule.

Analysts say the events set the seal on Chile's long military dictatorship.


The army unit travelled from town to town in a Puma helicopter, armed with grenades, machine guns and knives. (snip/...)
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/850932.stm

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~



Notorious Chilean School of the Americas Graduates
http://www.derechos.org/soa/chile-not.html

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~



(snip) TALL SHIPS FROM around the world are scheduled to sail into Baltimore's
Inner Harbor on Friday for what organizers are touting as an event to
promote "cultural exchange and good will."

The ships will surely be a majestic sight. But behind the stately image
of one of these
ships, La Esmeralda, lies a terrifying history that should not be
forgotten.

In 1973, in the aftermath of a bloody coup against the democratically
elected
government, the Chilean Navy made a special contribution to the new
military junta led
by Gen. Augusto Pinochet. They allowed La Esmeralda, a four-masted
Chilean naval
ship, to be used as a prison and torture chamber. According to testimony
collected by
Amnesty International and the Organization of American States, at least
110 political
prisoners - 70 men and 40 women - were interrogated aboard the ship for
more than
two weeks without charges or trial.

The former mayor of Valparaiso, where the ship was stationed, described
being tied to
one of the ship's masts and subjected repeatedly to electric shock. "I
couldn't sleep for six days because they woke me up every six minutes,
night and day," he told Amnesty
International. "We could hear how the others were tortured right where
we were." (snip)

(snip) Times have changed in the United States as well. Back in the summer of
1976 when La
Esmeralda was last docked in Baltimore harbor, FBI investigators were
busy conducting extensive surveillance of the Americans protesting the
ship.
In hindsight, the FBI's focus appears shockingly misplaced. While they
had their
lenses on peaceful protestors, the real security threat was heading
toward our nation's
capital apparently unnoticed. On Sept. 21, 1976, Pinochet's agents
detonated a car bomb,
killing former Chilean diplomat Orlando Letelier and 25-year-old
American Ronni Karpen
Moffitt in Washington as they drove to work at our organization, the
Institute for
Policy Studies. (snip/...)

http://216.239.37.104/search?q=cache:Mq8v90aODIcJ:www.mobtown.org/news/archive/msg00759.html+%22Torture+Ship+visits+Baltimore%22&hl=en&ie=UTF-8