Santiago – Monday’s 33rd anniversary of the 1973 military coup found ex-strongman Augusto Pinochet in disgrace and largely abandonded even by his own supporters, yet Chileans remain divided along the fault lines created by his violent ouster of the Socialist government of Salvador Allende.
While thousands of Chileans recalled the Socialist president and the victims of the 1973-90 dictatorship, just four women came to Pinochet’s mansion in Santiago with the intention of paying tribute to him, but they had to leave without learning if the nonagenarian retired general was even at home.
Marginalized from politics and facing potential trials for human rights violations and corruption, Pinochet – according to unconfirmed reports – has taken refuge on his coastal farm known as Los Boldos.
“Thirty-three years after the coup we are here to pay respects and give recognition to those people who lost their lives on that occasion and also during the struggle to rebuild democracy in our country,” said head of state Michelle Bachelet, after attending a Mass at the La Moneda presidential palace.
Attending the religious ceremony, just like every year, were relatives of Allende, political leaders, lawmakers and Cabinet ministers.
After the Mass, the Socialist president placed a red carnation and a plaque on the spot inside La Moneda where Allende committed suicide as soldiers were storming the palace on Sept. 11, 1973.
The president – whose father, air force Brig. Gen. Alberto Bachelet, was arrested on the day of the putsch by his own comrades in arms and was subjected to torture before dying in prison in March 1974 – paid homage to the fallen.
“This new Sept. 11 gives us cause to reflect. Having the memory of what happened 33 years ago reaffirms our conviction that it’s indispensable to continue working with every effort so that our country is a better and better democracy,” Bachelet said.
Chileans are striving to create a country, she added, “where each one of our residents has a better life, a country that is more humane, more fair, more united.”
“Those who lost their lives (in La Moneda) died fighting for those principles,” the president said.
She denounced the attack on Sunday staged by groups of hooded men who threw a firebomb at La Moneda.
“The national symbols like the flag and La Moneda are also symbols of democracy that belong to all citizens. No-one has the right to attack La Moneda. La Moneda is the symbol of the struggle that many of us made to recover democracy,” Bachelet emphasized.
“Seeing La Moneda in flames like 33 years ago” is something that must not be repeated, she said with emotion.
The attack by the masked men, members of an anarchist group, especially affected lawmaker Isabel Allende, daughter of the late president, who was together with her father for several hours at the seat of government exactly 33 years ago.
“I never thought I’d again see a fire at La Moneda. I don’t know who these people are. They don’t represent us. I repudiate them,” she said.
This year, the army – for the first time – did not hold an official ceremony on the anniversary, although in past years it had been customary to salute the former dictator in his home with marches, great pomp and ceremony and promises of unquenchable loyalty.
In other events held on the anniversary, the Socialist and Communist Parties, as well as the representatives of social organizations, placed floral offerings before Allende’s statue and La Moneda itself in ceremonies that contrasted with Sunday’s violent acts.
The firebombing was preceded on Sunday by a huge march organized by the National Human Rights Assembly, an event which devolved into sporadic acts of violence which added to other disturbances that extended into the overnight hours in different capital neighborhoods.
Security forces arrested 72 people, five policemen were injured and 25 shops were damaged in the mayhem.
