SANTIAGO – The dictatorship of Augusto Pinochet left 3,200 killed and 1,162 disappeared in Chile, including children, after a military coup that received international condemnation and of many in the country. However, almost 50 years after the beginning of the dictatorship, there are still those who support it: «Fortunately, Augusto Pinochet carried out the coup,» «improved life.» How does this perception of nostalgia or indulgence in a third of the population in present-day Chile come about in a period of fear and repression that left thousands of families with open wounds? Sergio Gómez Martínez, a retired 72-year-old accountant, is the one who says that Pinochet «fortunately» carried out the coup against the socialist government of Salvador Allende (1970-1973), but he also argues that «he improved the country’s economic life, there was order, work,» and the fields and industries began to produce. His perception is shared by 36% of Chileans who believe that the military «were right» to lead the uprising, according to recent polls of the population. 10 years ago, that figure was half: 18% justified it. On September 11, 1973, Pinochet led a coup d’etat against the government of Salvador Allende – who committed suicide on the same day of the uprising -, which established 17 years of dictatorship. The majority still consider Pinochet a dictator (64%); in contrast, those who defend that his military regime was «partly good and partly bad» are increasing. Despite this turn towards benevolence, the conclusions about the atrocities committed have remained unchanged since the 1991 National Commission for Truth and Reconciliation report. The commission concluded that crimes against humanity were committed and human rights were violated. State agents killed 3,200 people identified by their left-wing political tendencies and 1,162 who were detained remain missing. As early as 1978, the UN condemned, expressed its «indignation,» and urged Chile to cease «violations of human rights,» including «political» disappearances and torture, according to a resolution of the United Nations General Assembly that year. 200,000 citizens were exiled from Chile and 28,000 opponents were tortured. According to the Ministry of Justice, during the dictatorship, there were 40,179 victims among those killed, disappeared, political prisoners, and tortured, as established by two truth commissions. Even so, 39% of Chileans think that Pinochet (1973-1990) modernized the country, and 20% see him as the best ruler of the 20th century, according to the «Chile under the shadow of Pinochet» survey from May, conducted by the independent and respected organization Mori, which surveyed 1,000 young, adult, and older people. «Before, there wasn’t as much evil as there is now… Before, there weren’t as many robberies,» emphasizes Ana María Román Vera, 62, a vendor in a populous neighborhood of Santiago. She also believes that life «improved» during that time. On the other hand, the memory of Efrén Cortés Tapia, a 60-year-old painter living in Pudahuel, also in the capital, crystallized with another perspective. «The dictatorship meant repression, a fracture (of democracy), a limitation in cultural and educational development… Fear and terror,» he recalls. He knew a woman who was so traumatized after being tortured that she committed suicide in exile, in Sweden. He is part of that other portion of Chilean society that does not reconcile with what happened. Today, 42% of citizens believe that the insurgency fractured democracy. But a decade ago, the numbers were very different: those who condemned the coup reached 62%. This perception of acceptance has been advancing without all responsible parties being punished or the whole truth being clarified. It was only last week when the government of President Gabriel Boric launched the first official program to find the more than 1,000 victims who are still missing. The left-wing president has urged the United States to make public documents revealing the role Washington played in the coup. At the end of August, the CIA declassified part of the president’s official bulletins related to Chile from September 8, 1973 – three days before the coup – confirming that the then-president Richard Nixon was informed of the possibility of an uprising. It is also estimated that there are 1,300 active criminal proceedings for human rights violations, according to June figures from the Minister of Justice, Luis Cordero. And 150 convicted individuals are serving sentences at Punta Peuco, an exclusive prison for them. Pinochet himself died in 2006 without a conviction or facing Chilean justice. Although he was detained for 17 months in London by order of Spanish judge Baltasar Garzón – who applied the principle of universal jurisdiction to prosecute him – the proceedings prevented his extradition to Spain for trial, and he ended up returning to Chile on health grounds. The Chilean justice system subsequently opened a criminal case against him for concealing 75 kidnappings, homicides, and tortures that was temporarily closed in July 2001. He received house arrest but was never convicted. He died, and with his passing, all proceedings against him were dismissed, as established by Chilean law. His funeral was held without state honors. It is precisely the figure of Pinochet that softened the perception in that part of society that still defends the dictatorship. «The transition validated Pinochet,» reflects Marta Lagos, director of the regional polling firm Latinobarómetro and founder of Mori Chile. Pinochet left power in March 1990 and immediately became commander-in-chief of the Army until 1998, which prolonged the fear of facing the atrocities experienced. Then, Lagos points out, he remained as a lifetime senator, a position created by himself, which he resigned from in 2002. «In such a way that Chileans got used to living with Pinochet,» emphasizes the analyst, with the argument that this constant presence left a «soft» image of the dictatorship and its perpetrators. He is «the only dictator in the West… who, 50 years after his coup, is still valued.» Marcelo Mella Polanco, a political analyst and academic at the University of Santiago, attributes the increase in voices justifying the uprising to a «more polarized interpretation» that Chileans have about the dictatorship. And he concludes that it is «a certain failure in the process of building historical memory.» In that ideology of tolerance, other factors fluctuate. Like the economic situation of the moment. Pinochet took power in the country during a severe crisis – partly caused by the hoarding of food by the opposition – and implemented a free-market model. This unleashed consumerism among affluent sectors, which drove recovery and reflected in an improvement in some indicators. Although the military regime ended with 45% poverty and inflation close to 25%, there are Chileans who saw it as a period of prosperity. For vendor Román Vera, «things changed, there was no longer a need to stand in line to buy.» Carmen Jeldrez Sepúlveda, a retired 75-year-old chemical engineer, also remembers it that way. Two days after the coup, «the economy, in general, magically blossomed,» she points out. «I was struck by the fact that everything (food) that wasn’t there before appeared.» And that contrasted with the end of the Allende government when the opposition waged a virtual economic war, with hoarding and shortages of basic products, which led to long lines to purchase food. The memory of the chemical engineer However, the chemical engineer still holds the memory of human rights violations. «It was horrible because no one can torture anyone because they think differently.» Her younger brother, as she relates, lived a block away from Villa Grimaldi, Pinochet’s largest torture and extermination center, and he told her that «they could hear the screams» coming from there. In young people who did not experience the dictatorship, such as Jaime M
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Publicado el: 2023-09-05 18:11:19
En la sección: América Latina – Voice of America