Chileans clashed with police on Sunday and committed acts of arson in Santiago during a march to commemorate the victims of Augusto Pinochet’s military dictatorship, 50 years after the coup d’etat that brought him to power.
Civilians and police skirmished outside the presidential palace, La Moneda, where then-president Salvador Allende was overthrown on Sept. 11, 1973, and at the cemetery that houses a memorial to the victims of Pinochet’s brutal regime.
The exterior of the palace was vandalized and some of its windows were broken, and police used tear gas and water cannon in confrontations that left at least six officers injured, the government said.
Photo: AFP
It said at least 11 people were arrested.
Chilean President Gabriel Boric, who had briefly joined the procession of about 5,000 people, according to official estimates, condemned the lawlessness after demonstrators broke through security barriers at La Moneda and damaged the building’s facade.
“As President of the Republic, I categorically condemn these events without any nuance,” he wrote on X.
Photo: AP
“The irrationality of attacking what Allende and so many other Democrats fought for is vile,” he added.
Half-a-century after the coup, Chile remains divided among those who defend the dictatorship and those who repudiate it.
Boric on Sunday became the first president to take part in the annual commemoration since the end of the dictatorship in 1990.
There were also clashes with police at other points during the march, with some marchers hurling Molotov cocktails and setting up burning barricades.
Inside the cemetery, some mausoleums were damaged, including the tomb of a right-wing senator killed in 1991.
“Those responsible for this violence are adversaries of the government,” Chilean Deputy Secretary of the Interior Manuel Monsalve said.
The bulk of the participants, bearing Chilean flags and chanting slogans such as “Truth and justice now!” or “Allende lives,” marched peacefully.
“September 11 is a date that fills us with memories, but also gives us some anguish, because instead of advancing we have regressed,” said 76-year-old Patricia Garzon, a former political prisoner.
“With this march we remember that 1973 broke democracy in Chile, and now we continue fighting to maintain and strengthen it,” said Luis Pontigo, 72, a retired teacher.
More than 3,200 people were killed or “disappeared” — abducted and presumed killed — by Pinochet’s security forces, and about 38,000 were tortured. The general died of a heart attack on Dec. 10, 2006, aged 91, without ever stepping foot in a court.
Fifty years later, Chile is still trying to find its post-coup identity and shape a new political system.
In May, the far-right Republican Party led by conservative lawyer Jose Antonio Kast — a Pinochet apologist — won 23 of 51 seats on the council that is to write a new constitution to replace the one dating from the dictatorship era.
In the morning, Boric inaugurated an exhibition dedicated to Allende’s memory at La Moneda, in the presence of the deceased Marxist leader’s family members.
OPTIMISTIC: A Philippine Air Force spokeswoman said the military believed the crew were safe and were hopeful that they and the jet would be recovered A Philippine Air Force FA-50 jet and its two-person crew are missing after flying in support of ground forces fighting communist rebels in the southern Mindanao region, a military official said yesterday. Philippine Air Force spokeswoman Colonel Consuelo Castillo said the jet was flying “over land” on the way to its target area when it went missing during a “tactical night operation in support of our ground troops.” While she declined to provide mission specifics, Philippine Army spokesman Colonel Louie Dema-ala confirmed that the missing FA-50 was part of a squadron sent “to provide air support” to troops fighting communist rebels in
PROBE: Last week, Romanian prosecutors launched a criminal investigation against presidential candidate Calin Georgescu accusing him of supporting fascist groups Tens of thousands of protesters gathered in Romania’s capital on Saturday in the latest anti-government demonstration by far-right groups after a top court canceled a presidential election in the EU country last year. Protesters converged in front of the government building in Bucharest, waving Romania’s tricolor flags and chanting slogans such as “down with the government” and “thieves.” Many expressed support for Calin Georgescu, who emerged as the frontrunner in December’s canceled election, and demanded they be resumed from the second round. George Simion, the leader of the far-right Alliance for the Unity of Romanians (AUR), which organized the protest,
ECONOMIC DISTORTION? The US commerce secretary’s remarks echoed Elon Musk’s arguments that spending by the government does not create value for the economy US Secretary of Commerce Howard Lutnick on Sunday said that government spending could be separated from GDP reports, in response to questions about whether the spending cuts pushed by Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency could possibly cause an economic downturn. “You know that governments historically have messed with GDP,” Lutnick said on Fox News Channel’s Sunday Morning Futures. “They count government spending as part of GDP. So I’m going to separate those two and make it transparent.” Doing so could potentially complicate or distort a fundamental measure of the US economy’s health. Government spending is traditionally included in the GDP because
Hundreds of people in rainbow colors gathered on Saturday in South Africa’s tourist magnet Cape Town to honor the world’s first openly gay imam, who was killed last month. Muhsin Hendricks, who ran a mosque for marginalized Muslims, was shot dead last month near the southern city of Gqeberha. “I was heartbroken. I think it’s sad especially how far we’ve come, considering how progressive South Africa has been,” attendee Keisha Jensen said. Led by motorcycle riders, the mostly young crowd walked through the streets of the coastal city, some waving placards emblazoned with Hendricks’s image and reading: “#JUSTICEFORMUHSIN.” No arrest
RSS