September 11, 1973 in Chile Forty years ago today, on September 11, 1973, Chilean Air Force jets, aided and abetted by the C.I.A., bombed the palace of President Allende, helping to overthrow an elected socialist government and obliterate what had been one of South America’s healthiest democracies. Hundreds died that day, including Allende, who turned a gun on himself rather than be arrested. But it didn’t stop there. The resulting military dictatorship of General Augusto Pinochet, who ruled for 17 years, suspended political and civil rights; censored the press; and imprisoned, tortured, exiled, abducted or killed tens of thousands of its opponents. Pinochet was indicted for human rights violations committed in his native Chile by a Spanish magistrate in October 1998. He was arrested in London six days later and held for a year and a half before finally being released by the British government in March 2000. Authorized to freely return to Chile, Pinochet was there first indicted by judge Juan Guzmán Tapia, and charged with a number of crimes, before dying on December 10, 2006, without having been convicted in any case. However, Ariel Dorfman, writing in The New York Times last Sunday, sees beyond the tragedy to find some positive effects of the 9/11 horror in Chile: In the United States, the (not entirely) covert intervention of the C.I.A. in Allende’s downfall was one of several factors that paved the way for Congressional investigations that established laws that limited the extent to which the executive branch could interfere in the affairs of foreign governments. This opened a discussion that is more than relevant today, as it is clear that American presidents continue to believe that it is their right to meddle, intrude and spy wherever they believe the interests and security of their country are in peril — in other words, anywhere and everywhere. Fortunately, Chile did not just export the nastiest experiences stemming from the military takeover. It also has served as a model for how an unarmed people can, through sustained nonviolence and civil disobedience, conquer fear and bring down a dictatorship. The thrilling democracy and resistance movements that have sprung up on every continent during the last few years prove that the future does not have to be heartless. Read more: care2/causes/the-other-911-what-can-we-learn-from-chile.html#ixzz2efqSMJuh
Posted on: Thu, 12 Sep 2013 10:43:13 +0000