Chile President Urges Justice on Coup Anniversary [View all]

[Judi Lynn]

Source: Agence France-Presse

Chile President Urges Justice on Coup Anniversary
World | Agence France-Presse | Updated: September 12, 2014 10:03 IST

Santiago: Chile's president marked the 41st anniversary on Thursday of the coup that brought Augusto Pinochet to power by urging those with details about crimes committed during the dictatorship to come forward.

The September 11, 1973 coup led to the overthrow of socialist president Salvador Allende.

The day of commemoration ended with clashes between protesters and police in at least seven districts of the capital Santiago.

Six police were hurt, one of them shot in the foot, and 10 demonstrator were detained, police said in a preliminary tally.

Indeed, the date remains divisive 24 years after the return of democracy in the South American country. The late Pinochet still has fervent supporters despite his regime's "dirty war" against leftist opponents, when 3,200 people were killed and 38,000 tortured.

"Enough of the painful waiting and unjustified silences," President Michelle Bachelet said at an emotional ceremony in the La Moneda Palace.

"It is essential that those who have relevant information surrender it, whether they're military or civilian."

Read more: http://www.ndtv.com/article/world/chile-president-urges-justice-on-coup-anniversary-590557?curl=1410502013

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The other September 11th: Chile, Cuba and the United States
By Katie Halper
Thursday, September 11, 2014 14:27 EDT

Today is September 11th. As almost everyone in the world knows, on this day, thirteen years ago, two planes crashed into the World Trade Center, tragically killing nearly 3,000 people. The aftermath of these attacks had national ramifications– racial profiling, stifling of dissent, squashing of civil liberties– as well as international ones– an invasion of Iraq, which had nothing to do with September 11th, and Afghanistan.

In the United States, we mourn those that were lost on September 11. However, many of us are unaware that for Chileans, September 11th had become a day of tragedy decades before. In 1973, the Chilean army flew fighter jets over Santiago and bombed its own presidential palace during a coup to overthrow its own legal eleceted president, Salvador Allende.​ Augusto Pinochet, who Allende had appointed to Commander-in-Chief, seized power, put all political parties “in recess” and killed, tortured, disappeared and forced into exile thousands of Chileans. He would remained in power until 1990.

The United States played a significant role in both the coup and the dictatorship. In his book Dossier on Atrocity and Accountability, Peter Kornbluh, who directs the Chile documentation project at the National Security Archive, uses archival material and declassified documents to expose the complicity of the United States:

• "eight days after Allende’s election (in 1970), Kissinger initiated discussion on the telephone with CIA director Richard Helm’s about a preemptive coup in Chile. “We will not let Chile go down the drain,” Kissinger declared… "

• " Three days before President Nixon, in a 15-minute meeting that included Kissinger, ordered the CIA to “make the economy scream,” and named Kissinger as the supervisor of the covert efforts to keep Allende from being inaugurated. "

More:
http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2014/09/11/the-other-september-11th-chile-cuba-and-the-united-states/