Status 1973 in Chile
To count historical facts, it is difficult to maintain an apolitical position, especially with respect to what happened on September 11, 1973;since, we find different positions in the sources when recounting the causes, development and the same consequences of the military coup. But we know that as teachers we should not influence the critical thinking of students.
The coup d’etat was not a surprise, since, previous months they had tried to make one, but failed, and according to the military it was a type of study to see social behavior. However, this tension arises since Allende assumes the position of President of the Republic and remains for the three years that he lasted in his position.
Salvador Allende maintained his socialist ideals and the will to reduce poverty and inequalities that the Chileans of the time were living. To do this, promulgate the law of nationalization of copper and foreign companies (specifically Americans), that is, it nationalized the basic riches of Chile, but what most impacted the opposition society to the government, was that it carried out, accelerated , the expropriation of haciendas and took measures in the redistribution of the country’s profits increasing the state control of companies and banks. These attempts lead, to the Chilean economy, to live an increase in inflation and shortage of food, prolonged strikes of truck drivers and merchants who adhere to these.
According to the above, we believe that during the Allende government there was an economic boycott, manipulated by the insistent persecution against him, by the armed forces and opposition political parties, who justified military actions to free the homeland of the homeland of the Marxist yoke, that is, they had a latent fear that Chile was another Cuba in South America; And, whose coup ideas and influences, called that Allende was a traitor to the homeland, stating that he had not complied with the statute of constitutional guarantees, which culminated in a coup d’etat.
On September 11, 1973, Chile begins a dictatorship process that lasts for 17 years, by the new president Augusto Pinochet. This period had a brutal developing and that abolished all kinds of existing freedom. But what marks, this particular day, was the death of Salvador Allende, the military proceeding of the military and the bombing of the Government House, the currency, if it did not give up; But also, the arrests and/or shooting, of all those who were loyal to him.
This day democracy was lost and institutionalities were broken, that is, the State’s policies, the 1925 Constitution, the president was killed, the congress was over; The military who were to protect the country from any external affront became repressors from those who thought different from them. The state companies that beyond nationalized, such as: Codelco (National Copper Corporation), CTC (Chile’s Telephone Company), Chilectra (Chilean Electricity Company), among others) were privatized, among others. Assumed the military dictatorship, a process of return of companies confiscated to the private sector and new reforms that, in some way, restored the Chilean economy for a group, but for others it meant losing job security, income and even freedom and life. Even the current 1980 Constitution was created, thought and written by adherents to Pinochet, one of them Jaime Guzmán.
As consequences of this day, it should be noted, the great lack of human rights. This can not be denied. Persecutions, violent repression, illegal arrests, torture centers with unthinkable techniques, executions, exiles, thousands of missing people; And all for belonging to political parties or having ideals contrary to the military dictatorship. For this same reason, in 1973, the Vicaría de la Solidaridad, created by Cardinal Silva Henríquez and authorized by Pope Paul VI; whose function is to attend and help all victims of this tyranny and abuse of power.
We currently live the consequences of September 11, 1973, including:
- The great political-social division in Chile; On the one hand, there are those who justify military proceeding for the good of the economy; in another, families that still cry the loss of a relative detained, shot, tortured and/or missing; And, in general, people who still remember these episodes, psychologically damaged, wounds that remain open by the injustices that were committed and still committed, above all, images that sprout when police and military repression go to the streets (for the October 2019 social outbreak).
- The way in which each government imitates the actions of the coup d’etat, in terms of the use of violence, by the forces of Carabineros and Military, in the face of a manifestation of social discontent; creating laws that punish and not motivating the citizens of our country to be better people.
- The inheritance of the neoliberal system imposed by Pinochet and its 1980 Constitution, where only the private sector and politicians benefit, specifically to all members of the Armed Forces and their families. Treating education, work, health and housing, as a commercial system, and not as a right that the State must provide.
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