TRANSCRIPT
It will soon be 50 years since the coup that plunged Chile into 17 years of military dictatorship.
On 11 September 1973, the democratically elected president Salvador Allende was deposed by General Augusto Pinochet.
The Pinochet regime is estimated to have killed over 3,000 people, with tens of thousands interned and tortured.
Hector Alvarez is one of a dozen former prisoners who gathered on Saturday at a former torture centre of the Pinochet regime, now converted into a memorial.
"It is very sad and distressing because we still haven't been able to close this wound properly. At the same time, I am happy that these acts of remembrance come with such a strong emotional charge and with such honesty and sincerity that this will never happen again."
Several countries in South America and around the world had to undergo a transition to democracy in the end of the 21st century.
But in Chile, the process left a lot of questions in the air.
General Pinochet was not overthrown like many dictators.
Instead, he gradually relinquished his power.
Subsequent governments have maintained Pinochet's constitution, slowly amending it towards democracy.
Amnesty laws also protected the former perpetrators of human rights violation under the Pinochet regime.
But last week, incumbent President Gabriel Boric initiated a plan for change.
"This plan has the mission of clarifying the circumstances of the disappearance and, or death of the victims of forced disappearance and their whereabouts; while granting relatives' and society's information access to search processes for the victims of enforced disappearance, and also implementing reparation measures to grant it doesn't be repeated."
This is the first time such a policy is enforced in Chile.
The new plan would grant information and access to the procedures and clarify the circumstances of the crimes and the whereabouts of the victims.
One of the most painful remnants of the Pinochet era is the fate of the 'disappeared', people who simply vanished without a trace on orders of the regime.
Similar crimes were committed in neighbouring Argentina around the same time when it was also a dictatorship.
But after the democratisation of Argentina, the fate of the disappeared was documented, under the presure of a group called the Mothers of the Plaza de Mayo, mothers of disappeared who sought justice and truth.
Now Chileans want the same.
Yesterday, hundreds of Chileans gathered outside La Moneda presidential Palace in the capital Santiago.
Maria Adela Antokoletz, one of the founder of the Plaza de Mayo Mothers, came to support Chilean protesters.
“I am happy to share this moment that shows how the Chilean people is surprising us, how it is moving forward. I don’t think they will stop demanding justice, it may be hard but I don’t think they will stop. This commemoration of the 50 years across all of Chile is notable.”
Also at the protest was Marcia Tambutti Allende, the granddaughter of the President ousted by Pinochet.
Her grandfather died in the coup, apparently committing suicide as Pinochet's men were about to storm his office.
“This brings mixed feelings. On one side, a date like today, September 4th, reminds us the 1000 days of Allende’s Presidency, that despite being hard were very full of light. On the other hand it also reminds us of the pain that the dark cloak of the 17 year dictatorship brought.”
But not everyone agrees.
Recent polls have found that nearly 40 percent of Chileans think positively of the dictatorship.
At the protest was Daniel Jadue, the mayor of Recoleta, a suburb of Santiago.
He laments that many in the political class are still supportive of Pinochet's legacy.
“Chile’s right wing parties are the same as it was 50 years ago. If nowadays we had a real desire for change with a government that had the support of Congress, they would be willing to do a coup again.”
