'The Other 9/11': Progressives Remember Allende's Chile

[Judi Lynn]

"On this day in 1973, Salvador Allende's democratically elected socialist government was overthrown in a military coup led by the U.S.-backed fascist Augusto Pinochet."

KENNY STANCIL

September 11, 2021

As people reflect on the 20th anniversary of the September 11, 2001 attacks, progressives drew attention to another horrifying event less well-known in the U.S. but referred to elsewhere as "the other 9/11": the bombing of Chile's presidential palace on September 11, 1973 by the nation's armed forces during a right-wing coup supported by Washington and other capitalist regimes.

Salvador Allende, Chile's democratically elected socialist president, died during the assault on La Moneda in Santiago, which brought to power Gen. Augusto Pinochet, whose brutal military junta imposed neoliberalism through deadly force, torture, and the "disappearance" of thousands of leftists. Despite its awareness of Pinochet's human rights abuses, including his execution of political opponents, the U.S. continued to support the pro-market dictator during his bloody, 17-year-long reign.

. . .

Journalist Alan Macleod pointed out that "Chile would be ruled by a gruesome fascist dictatorship for decades, the scars of which are still very fresh."

"But people in the West," MacLeod argued, "are largely insulated from the realities of empire thanks to a pliant media, which never shows you the effect of the bombs, sanctions, coups, etc."

Progressive International noted that "Allende was elected Chile's first socialist president in 1970 as the candidate of Popular Unity, a socialist-communist coalition. He quickly went to work reorganizing the society he inherited, characterized by poverty and confined by the greed of international corporations."

More:
https://www.commondreams.org/news/2021/09/11/other-911-progressives-remember-allendes-chile

Also posted in Editorials and other articles:
https://www.democraticunderground.com/1016301604

[Judi Lynn]

1. Chileans Pay Homage to Allende on 48th Anniversary of the Coup

Chileans Pay Homage to Allende on 48th Anniversary of the Coup

Published 11 September 2021

It is estimated that over 35,000 people were victims of human rights violations, political and sexual violence during the dictatorship (1973-1990).

On Saturday, human rights activists took to the streets in Chile to recall ex-President Salvador Allende and victims of forced disappearances on the occasion of the 48th anniversary of the coup that began a civil-military dictatorship (1973-1990).

Activists walk to the General Cemetery to leave floral offerings and pay homage to the fallen during the dictatorship led by coup leader Augusto Pinochet (1915-2006).

Representatives from the Communist Party (PC), the Socialist Party (PS) and the Party for Democracy (PPD) held acts of commemoration for Allende at Morande 80 and at Constitution Square in front of the presidential palace "La Moneda."

"This is a date in which Chileans from the heart demand all truth, all justice because we believe that these situations should not be repeated in the country....there must be memory, reparation, all truth and all justice for that not to happen again," Communist Party member Samuel Navarro said.

More:
https://www.telesurenglish.net/news/Chileans-Pay-Homage-to-Allende-on-48th-Anniversary-of-the-Coup-20210911-0009.html

[alwaysinasnit]

2. k&r for visibility. Thanks for posting!

[Dawson Leery]

3. The Nixon/Kissinger?CIA backed coup

But people in the West," MacLeod argued, "are largely insulated from the realities of empire thanks to a pliant media, which never shows you the effect of the bombs, sanctions, coups, etc."

[Farmer-Rick]

4. I lived in Chile before Allende was voted in

He ran every year or so. It was totally surprising to me that he won.

But Chile was being abused by the filthy rich and their corporations. So much wealth living right next to deadly poverty. It was sad.

But then my parents were moved back to the states. Took me years to learn English.