Tara is a 2006 graduate of Mountain Home High School and a junior at the University of Idaho. She is spending a semester studying in Chile and will blog frequently about her experiences there.

Sept. 11th- two countries, two tragedies

Posted Thursday, September 11, 2008, at 4:58 PM

Chilean presidential pallace, The Moneda, during the Sept. 11, 1973 attack.

What does Sept.11th mean to Chileans? Not just the American tragedy on Sept.11, 2001. I have heard many Chileans say that 9-11-01 was like America's political karma because on 9-11-1973 Chile had its own national tragedy. This tragedy was also a strike against democracy that resulted in loss of civil rights and many lives.

What role did the American government play in the rise of Pinochet? The years proceeding the coup coincided with the Cold War between the Soviet Union and the United States. In the late 1960s Salvador Allende, a communist presidential candidate, was gaining more and more political support in Chile and as a follower of the Marxist doctrine, Allende was seen as part of the communist threat by President Nixon. Nixon mandated the CIA to prevent Allende from becoming president at all costs. Before his election in 1970 the United States government sponsored $2.7 million to Allende's opponents and launched an enourmous propoganda campaign in Chile against the communist threat. However, in 1970, Allende still proceded in becoming the world's first democracticaly elected socialist president.

Nixon was furious when he found out that despite all his efforts, his communist "enemy" still suceeded and even more so when many private industries were socialized, such as the forgein owned copper mines. After Allende was elected, the CIA's new goal was to do anything possible to get him out of office which included economic sanctions and leaning on the military for a coupe. Three generals from the Chilean military met with the CIA to make plans and American government officials came to Chile to supposedly give arms and ammunition to the junta.

On Sept. 11, 1973 the wishes of Nixon were realized in the bombing of the Chilean presidential pallace, La Moneda and President Allende was assasinated or commited suicide (no one can agree over this detail) and the military government of Agusto Pinochet took over.

There are many controversial opinions here in Chile over the military coup and the reign of Pinochet, but the fact is, 9-11-1973 was a landmark in the wave of violence that affected Chile in this era. According to the the Retting Comission approximately 3,000 people are known to have been killed, 27,000 imprisoned and countless more simply disappeared. Most horrifying are the stories of the thousands of people tourtured at the order of Pinochet's government.

Yes, the tragedy of 9-11-2001 was horrible and I wish it had not occured, but its not like the American government is necessarily innocent either. Things happen in our governments all the time that the citizens are not aware of nor would they approve of if they knew. Should this incriminate the citizens? I do not believe so.

The magnitude of this day's history overwhelms me. I think its horrible that so many people have died at the hands of the powerful because of political disagreement, economic threat or whatever reason. Warfare absolutely horrifies me and thinking about these two tragedies makes my heart heavy.

During the presidency of Pinochet people had to constantly live in fear of the police and of all thier neighbors. The press lied and all civil liberties were practically abolished. After 9-11-2001 civil rights were reppealed in the US for our "safety" with the Patriot Act. Many people were tortured and detained without the right to a lawyer in Guantanamo Bay and other military detention centers and many more people died at the hands of the subsequent war and terrorism. Hopefully some day America will have a return to democracy like Chile has.

As a side note, in my research I found this interesting 9-11 website I found interesting.

All statistics cited come from the documentary "Salvador Allende" by Patricio Guzman

Comments

View 7 comments

Note: The nature of the Internet makes it impractical for our staff to review every comment. Please note that those who post comments on this website may do so using a screen name, which may or may not reflect a website user's actual name. Readers should be careful not to assign comments to real people who may have names similar to screen names. Refrain from obscenity in your comments, and to keep discussions civil, don't say anything in a way your grandmother would be ashamed to read.

Yes Tara, it is true. Cold War, Nixon, CIA, etc.. Everything that you say is correct. Here I found a video with some details about this: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=00kQorWVIsw

Through the process of "Nationalization of Copper" in the government of Salvador Allende is that today we can live through the exploitation of this mineral. Particularly I must say thank you for this because I lived in a city that exists because there exists copper in that place. (Before Allende, this city and the copper mine in this city, belonged to the "Andes Cooper Mining Company"). It's too long to explain, but I am somebody because of all these processes that have taken place (and with a father who works in the copper industry) ... Thanks to copper, I could study, I have education, I can learn, have a life ...

With all these things I always believe in the people of Bolivia ... A similar situation is happening there. It's hard, it's difficult, I don't like war, armed struggle. Now there were problems in Bolivia with the U.S. ambassador. It's all very complicated ... it's hard for me to make a deep analysis in a commentary blog that should be small.

"Things happen in our governments all the time that the citizens are not aware of nor would they approve of if they knew. Should this incriminate the citizens? I do not believe so". You are absolutely right, U.S. citizens are not to blame ... is about people who have power and how to manage this power. The things that you say about the Rettig Commission are correct. I must also add the Valech Commission, created to fill some gaps in the Rettig Commission.

All information from the Commission Valech are here: http://www.comisionprisionpoliticaytortura.cl/listado_informes.html

All the horrors of torture are mentioned and I can hardly believe. For me there is no reason for torturing and murdering people. In Section 14, you can see the list of persons recognized as victims of prison and torture (27153) including children (102)

Mistake: "During the presidency of Allende people had to constantly live in fear of the police and of all thier neighbors". Should say: "During the presidency of AUGUSTO PINOCHET people had to constantly live in fear of the police and of all thier neighbors."

The other important chapter happened after WTC 11-Sept-2001, was the opening accounts "secret" of some people in U.S. banks. This is how it was discovered the money of Augusto Pinochet, stolen during his "government". You can see information here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Riggs_Bank in the section "Pinochet's frozen funds"

The web site is interesting ... Many September-11! ... Since 11-Sept-3BC :-). The things happened on 11-Sept-2001 in WTC ... is another horror ... what hurts is that eventually always paid citizens.

Finally (and related to music, as always), an event that always remember, when the Irish Band U2 came to Chile, day: 11-02-1998, place: Estadio Nacional, Santiago. They play "ONE" and "MOTHER OF THE DISAPPEARED" on behalf of victims of Pinochet. One of the most special moments for me ... of my whole life. U2 is excellent. Every time when I remember this moment... wooow ...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=agNuBmZ3fio

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KuFMoWV1cns

I really enjoyed your reflexion, all your words in this post.

"One life with each other: sisters, brothers.... mothers"

Bye!

-- Posted by aferreir on Fri, Sep 12, 2008, at 12:00 AM
Tara, your reflexion is just a part of all you have to know, but there is another point of view you have to consider.

Ok, from any point of view, there is no reason for the murderers and forced disappearances, but Allende made a big mistake and it was to rely in the chilean Communist Party that, at the end, was trying to govern our country back in the 70's.

Allende~s ideas of having a more "equal" society was just that, a nice idea on paper. But, do you know what this people really wanted... take as much more benefits they can from other~s people work. They are not poor innocents guys. How come? you may ask...

Back in the 70's and before the "el Golpe", there were nothing to buy at the stores, medical assistance in regions was really bad (even today Santiago=Chile), my mother had to wake up very early in the morning to walk a very long distance to take me to the doctor, make long lines at the store to buy just a few cans of food and so on........

So then, I grew up listening bad stories about Allende, his ideas and the people who work for him (even when my father was arrested too, but fortunately survive). My family was poor, but they worked hard to have a better life and they did... that is what communist hate. They hate people who can do that. So, How do you explain that a company complete stop working just because the union wanted to watch a soccer game? That was happening in Chile at that time... Chilean are f.. lazy... the success of this country belong to just a small percentage of people and not all of them were or are rich...

So, don~t get impress so easily at the beginning with the first stories you may listen...

The reason you know more about Allende now is because the Government is doing whatever is possible to win the next presidential elections, so they want to brain wash electors as much as they can before it, showing Allende like a poor victim... and, you know what, there are the same people who call Pinochet to get rid of him and his companions in 1973... funny uh?

At the end, money and power is all they want...

There is so much things to study and analyze.. and so little time...

if you want to know more, write me at:

iagp@hotmail.com

-- Posted by iagp on Fri, Sep 12, 2008, at 9:09 AM
Aferreir- Thank you so much for catching my error and for all of the information you contributed to this blog.

IAGP- I appreciate your opposing viewpoint on this topic because I know this subject is very controversial and I tried my best to represent what actually occured, but obviously I cannot know it all through my limited experiences.

Thank you for the well worded comments because I think they both accurately and possitively contribute to the idea of this blog.

Tara Brandenburg

-- Posted by taralavonne on Fri, Sep 12, 2008, at 9:15 PM
The words of "iagp" about: "there were nothing to buy at the stores, medical assistance in regions was really bad (even today = Santiago Chile), my mother had to wake up very early in the morning to walk a very long distance to take me to the doctor, make long lines at the store to buy just a few cans of food and so on .." are correct. Many people have described this situation. My mother also lived this situation and she told me details. Obviously is a bad situation.

But on the other hand, it must be said that lack of food was produced by a boycott against the government of Salvador Allende. The boycott was obviously produced by people who had power (economical) and was against the government.

Both my father and my mother were also extremely poor, however, have gone ahead and I appreciate that very much.

It is sometimes argued that people who have socialist tendencies are not hard-work people and they expect to obtain everything from the government, personally I think this is a mistake.Unfortunately there are people who exploits the system/government and I think that is also a mistake. Surely we must work, create jobs, make efforts all the time, but not only for oneself but also for others ...

I do not like people who do not work ... but I think that the work of the people also have to go to the benefit of others, make your work something social (Social Responsability).

The words of "iagp" about the actual government and the next elections: I believe that the current government (and some earlier with the same political leanings) have committed many errors and I believe that no longer exists the same spirit that exists when Chile has turned to democracy. Now I see that only must belong to a political party of "left-side" tendencies for personal gain. Unfortunately, on the other hand, I do not think that things will be better with a "right-side" government. In "Not so Bad" you said: "Chile is not a poor country, it just has an extremely poor distribution of wealth." I believe that with a "right-side" government this distribution of wealth may be higher and I think that only increased crime, hatred, envy and so I do not think things work better.

What rescue of all this?

This is a difficult issue for Chileans, however, I believe we have grow up, we can talk and discuss this theme without finish very angry or upset. I know many friends with different political positions, however, we can talk the issue smoothly.

On the other hand, I think there are many themes that unite us as Chileans. The theme: Allende, Pinochet dictatorship, I believe it is not to forget, I think it is a topic to learn, we must learn from past mistakes in the government of Salvador Allende as the excesses committed by Augusto Pinochet.

I also think that as Chileans never fall into such extremes again. Always will exist differences of opinions, but we can talk, analyse it and move forward together as Chileans.

Viva Chile, y vamos adelante, unidos somos mejores!

-- Posted by aferreir on Fri, Sep 12, 2008, at 9:55 PM
Hello how do I add a blog?

-- Posted by darkflame64 on Mon, Sep 15, 2008, at 10:14 PM
Hello everyone!!

Good to see I got some feedback!

Tara Take a look this:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Criticisms_of_Salvador_Allende

It is going to explain a bit more what I think

So, I will add an additional thought...

One thing I have learned after study a bit those historical issues... in Chile never again must exist any of those regimes...

Allende: Friends of Russian dictatorships... this is very funny

Pinochet: Repressive regime...

We need just good laws!!!!!!!!

take care

-- Posted by iagp on Fri, Sep 19, 2008, at 1:58 PM
off topic comments:

You had mencioned the movie "Cidade de Deus" (Ciudad de Dios) in the "Dialects" post. I was very curious and because of this I saw the film with spoken Portuguese + Spanish Subtitles. Interesting film, but it is a quite violent. Dadinho (a.k.a. "Ze Roberto") was a terrible guy... a lot of machine guns... shots every 2 minutes... Dificil situacion se vive en las favelas...

Termine asi: O_O

Efectivamente era posible encontrar muchas palabras similares entre Portuguese y Spanish. A veces frases completas podia sentirlas como si fuese Espa�ol :-)

If you have seen more interesting movies would be good to know their names. :)

-- Posted by aferreir on Sun, Sep 21, 2008, at 1:36 AM

Respond to this blog

Posting a comment requires free registration:

If you already have an account, follow this link to login
Otherwise, follow this link to register