Chile’s Coup and Authoritarian Period

Human rights in Latin America

Chile in the 1960’s

Stable democracy since 1930s

No guerrilla movements

Free elections

1960’s: period of economic hardship, social tumult

• Nueva canción movement: musicians singing for social justice

– Victor Jara, Violeta Parra, Inti-Illimani

• Unidad Popular: socialist party, nationalist message

“El Pueblo Unido Jamás Será Vencido”(marcha de la Unidad Popular)

El pueblo unido jamás será vencido, ¡el pueblo unido jamás sera vencido!

De pie, marchar que vamos a triunfar.

Avanzan ya banderas de unidad,

y tú vendras marchando junto a mí

y así verás tu canto y tu bandera

al florecer la luz de un rojo amanecer

Anuncia ya la vida que vendrá.

The people, united, will never be defeated,

The people, united, will never be defeated!

On your feet, to march, for we are going to triumph.

Banners of unity are already advancing,

And you will come, marching next to me,

And you will see your song and your flag

As the light of a red dawnAnnounces the coming life.

De pie, luchar, que el pueblo va a triunfar.

Será mejor la vida que vendráA conquistar nuestra felicidadY en un clamor mil voces de

combate Se alzarán, dirán, canción de

libertad, con decisión la patria vencerá.

Y ahora el pueblo que se alza en la lucha

Con voz de gigante gritando: ¡Adelante!

El pueblo unido jamás será vencido,

¡El pueblo unido jamás será vencido!

On your feet, to struggle, The people will triumph.Life ahead will be betterLet’s seize our own happiness,

and in a clamor a thousand voices of combat

Will rise up, they´ll say,A song of freedomWith decisiveness the country

will triumph.And now the people who rise

up in struggle With a voice of a giant cry out:

Onrward!The people, united, will never

be defeated, The people, united, will never be defeated!

La patria esta forjando la unidad.De norte a sur se movilizará,Desde el salar ardiente y mineralAl bosque austral, Unidos en la lucha y el trabajo iránLa patria cubrirán.Su paso ya anuncia el porvenir.

De pie, a cantar, que el pueblo va a triunfar

Millones ya imponen la verdad.De acero son, ardiente batallón.Sus manos van, llevando la justicia

y la razón, Mujer, con fuego y con valor,Ya estás aquí junto al trabajador.

The country is forging its unity.From north to south it will

mobilize,From the burning salt fields and

minerals to the cool forests, They will goThey will cover the country.Their steps announce the future.On your feet, to sing, that the

people will triumphMillions are already imposing the

truthThey are made of steel, a burning

battalion.Their hands carry justice and

reason, Woman, with fire and with valor

you are already here beside the worker.

Y ahora el pueblo que se alza en la lucha

Con voz de gigante gritando: ¡Adelante!

El pueblo unido jamás será vencido,

¡El pueblo unido jamás será vencido!

And now the people rise up in struggle

With the voice of a giant, crying out: Onward!

The people, united, will never be defeated,

The people, united, will never be defeated!

Salvador Allende

• 1970 Socialist Salvador Allende, of the UP party, wins presidential elections

• Reforms instituted under Allende:– turned over lands in large estates, and some factories, to

workers – nationalized copper mines

• Chile produced 25% of world’s copper but mines owned by foreign companies

• This angered US because 2 main owners of Chilean mines were US companies, Kennecott and Anaconda

Inti Illimani, “Canción de la propiedad social y privada”

Ya no serán los camposSolo de algunosVa a recibir el pueblo Todos los frutos.NacionalizaremosMuchas riquezasSistemas financieros,Grandes empresas. Con esta economíaSerá el estado (bis)Quien domine el controlDe los mercados.

Now the fields will no longerBelong to a few.The people will receiveAll the fruits.We will nationalizeMany richesFinancial systems,Big businesses.With this economyIt will be the stateWho dominates the controlOf markets.

Y se irán expropiando

Carbón y yodo,

Salitre y otras yerbas

Poquito a poco.

Toda la minería

El hierro y cobre,

Con las demás riquezas

De nuestro norte.

El poder de señores

Que hablan en “gringo” (bis)

Y unos pocos criollos

Que dan lo mismo (bis)

And little by little

Carbon and iodide,

Saltpeter (sodium nitrate) and other herbs

Will be expropriated.

All the mining,

The iron and copper,

Along with the other riches

Of our north.

The power of men

Who speak in “gringo”

And a few criollos

Who are basically the same.

Hay algunos propietarios Los pequeños y medianosAgrícolas e industrialesQue también son explotados.

Son victimas directasDe monopolios,Que por todo les paganMenos que el costo. Son propiedad privadaY en el gobierno Con mayor garantíaSeguirán siendo.Pero no hay que enchuecarseCon los empleados,Y para los obreros,Buenos salarios.

There are some landownersThe small and mid-sizeAgricultors and industrialistsWho are also exploited.

They are direct victimsOf monopolies.For everything they get paid less than

cost.They are private proprrtyAnd with this government They will continue to be suchWith more protections.But let’s not get stingyWith the employees.For the workers, Good salaries.

Con arado se despiertanTierras que estaban dormidas.Por eso hagamos, compadre,Las formas cooperativas.

Ya se acaba el latifundioEl campo al que lo trabaja,Se hace la reforma agraria, El momento es importante,Nadie se ponga adelante.

Y los técnicos agrariosYa se ponen al servicioDel campesino chilenoQue ha encontrado su destino.

With a plow, lands that had lain dormant will awaken.

So, brother, let’s make cooperatives.

The latifundio is over,The land is for he who works it,The moment is important,No one should step ahead of

others.

And the agronomists will put themselves at the service of Chilean peasants

Who have found their destiny.

Ya se acaba el latifundioEl campo al que lo trabaja,Se hace la reforma agraria, El momento es importante,Nadie se ponga adelante.

Con el pueblo en el gobiernoSe descubren mil caminosAceleran la reformaLos consejos campesinos.

Ya se acaba el latifundioEl campo al que lo trabaja,Se hace la reforma agraria, El momento es importante,Nadie se ponga adelante.

The latifundio is over,The land is for he who works it,The moment is important,No one should step ahead of others.

With the people in powerA thousand paths will be

discovered.The reforms will be acceleratedBy peasant councils.

The latifundio is over,The land is for he who works it,The moment is important,No one should step ahead of others.

Economic turmoil

First year of Allende’s reforms stablized economy, but thereafter began to hit problems:

- nationalizations prompted flight of foreign capital

- copper prices plunged on world market

- inflation skyrocketed

- food shortages

The US plans a coup• Immediately after election US begins coup

planning• Document 1:Sept. 15, 1970 handwritten note taken

by CIA director Richard Helms, recording orders of US President Nixon to foster a coup in Chile

• 1 in 10 chance perhaps, but save Chile!• Worth spending• Not concerned• No involvement of Embassy• $10,000,000 available, more if necessary• full-time job – best men we have• make the economy scream• 48 hours for plan of action

• US began economic blockade of Chile– Intervened with World Bank, IADB to freeze Chile’s

credit

– economy started to flounder, destabilize country

– US funneled money to opponents of Allende & to military to destabilize

• Document 2: October 1970 CIA cable conveying the orders of Secy of State Henry Kissinger to CIA station chief in Santiago

• Sept. 11, 1973: Allende overthrown in coup

After the Coup• Immediately after coup, thousands of Chileans,

members of Allende’s UP party, were rounded up by armed forces and placed in concentration camps– Red Cross estimates as many as 7000 held in National

Stadium• "Every night we would hear the screams of the workers who

were executed in the east wing of the National Stadium in Santiago. The next day, the blood stains were washed away with hoses. Every day, observers would see a pile of shoes that had been worn by the victims of the previous night."

– (Pablo Antillano, Venezuelan journalist in the Morning Star,September 28, 1973. Chile. Libro Negro)

After the Coup• Document 3: report by US Naval Attache Patrick Ryan on

Chile’s coup: “close to perfect”. Note date: October 1

• Document 4: Dept of State Memo by Jack Zubisch Nov 16, 1973, sent to US Secy of State detailing post-coup executions. Shows list of numbers killed, etc.

• Amnesty International and the UN Human Rights Committee: 250,000 Chileans detained for political reasons between September-December 1973, many tortured and executed– Many of these in the national stadium (testimony)

After the Coup• The US gov’t could not be unaware of these

reports• US continued to pay members of Chilean military

as CIA “assets” – documents show that well through the 1970’s, CIA

continued funneling money to torturers and murderers in Pinochet’s government

– Public outcry about Chilean human rights led to reluctance to be seen in public with Pinochet (Document 5 by National Security Council)

– June 8, 1976: Secretary of State Kissinger told Gen. Pinochet, “In the United States, as you know, we are sympathetic to what you are trying to do here.”

Who were the victims?Immediately after the coup: • Leaders of the Popular Unity government

• People who sympathized or were suspected of sympathizing with the UP government

• Leaders, members and sympathizers of other leftist political parties, or of agrarian reform

• Trade union leaders and workers

• The family members and close friends of the above groups of victims

• Intellectuals, professors, and students

• Military personnel who opposed the coup

Who were the victims?As opposition to the regime grew in the mid 70's -

80's, repression aimed at members of other organizations such as:

• Human rights activists

• Members of organizations created by relatives of victims

• Religious leaders and members of religious movements who opposed the regime

• Members of the armed opposition to Pinochet’s regime, e.g., the Manuel Rodríguez Patriotic Front

• Members of leftist social and political organizations which sprang up as opposition to the regime.

Mounting resistance• Resistance grew among Catholic church, students’

groups, human rights organizations, trade unions• First national protest May 11, 1983, led by

Confederation of Copper Workers: “The time has come to say enough!”

• 1988 Military junta called for a plebiscite (election) on whether Pinochet gov’t should continue; Pinochet voted out

• 1990 First postauthoritarian civilian president, Patricio Aylwin, took office

• 1991- creation of Truth Commission to investigate cases which concluded in death or disappearance (not torture or other acts of terror)

Truth Commission ConclusionsRettig Commission concluded in 1996 that:

• A total of 3,197 people died or went missing between September 11, 1973 and March 11, 1990 as a result of human rights violations at the hands of the state.

– Of these 1,102 classify as disappeared and 2,095 as deaths.

• Latin American Institute on Mental Health and Human Rights (ILAS) estimates 200,000 directly affected by repression