The President of Chile, Gabriel Boric, and the four surviving ex-Presidents Eduardo Frei Ruiz-Tagle (1994-2000), Ricardo Lagos (2000-2006), Michelle Bachelet (2006-2010 and 2014-2018) and Sebastián Piñera ( 2010-2014 and 2018-2022) this Thursday signed a document entitled “Commitment: For democracy, always”, in which they reflect on 50 years of the coup that led the government of socialist Salvador Allende on September 11th put an end to it in 1973 and that was the beginning of the dictatorship of Augusto Pinochet (1973-1990).
The four former presidents and the current one have pointed out that “for more than 140 years, almost without interruption, our country has enjoyed an ever-evolving democracy, a stable constitutional order, and respectable and solid republican institutions, which have been objects of admiration.” Prestige on the the whole world.”
Frei, Lagos, Bachelet, Piñera and Boric also have a commitment “to the 50th anniversary of the violent collapse of democracy in Chile, which has cost the lives, dignity and freedom of so many people, Chileans and from abroad,” ins Brought to life, they say, beyond their “legitimate” differences.
In their first point, those in power called for “providing and defending democracy, respecting the constitution, the law and the rule of law.” We want to preserve these principles of civilization and against authoritarian threats, intolerance and disregard for the opinions of others Protect.” They then pledged to “address the challenges of democracy with more democracy, never less, condemning violence and promoting dialogue and the peaceful resolution of differences, with the well-being of citizens on the horizon.”
In addition, the former authorities and current president said they will work to “make the defense and promotion of human rights a value shared by our entire political and social community, without compromising any ideology about their unconditional respect.” They also agreed to “strengthen spaces for cooperation between States through mature multilateralism that respects differences and sets and pursues the common goals needed for the sustainable development of our societies.”
At the end of the text, the five signatories made an appeal to politicians and society, which had been in a tense mood in recent weeks in view of the 50th anniversary of the coup: “Let us preserve the memory, because it is the memory .” Anchors of the democratic future they are demanding of our cities”.
Included in the letter are the living ex-presidents who were part of the Concertación, the centre-left group that ruled Chile after the end of the dictatorship. Also signed by Piñera, whose original coalition, Chile Vamos, declined to issue a joint statement with the executive and the rest of the political forces condemning the 1973 coup. The distance between the traditional right-wing government and the current left-wing government was crystallized in his refusal to attend the official event, which will be held next Monday at the Palacio de La Moneda, and which will also be attended by other left-wing leaders of the region, including Andrés Manuel López Obrador from Mexico; Gustavo Petro from Colombia; and Alberto Fernández from Argentina.
Boric’s government has tried unsuccessfully to push through a joint letter — the so-called Santiago Compromise — to secure a wholesale rejection of the military uprising that put an end to the popular unity government and created a regime of gross human rights violations rights were recorded. The president himself admitted that the country is experiencing an “electrifying” climate due to the polarization of positions leading up to the commemoration.
The departure in early July of advisor to commemorations, writer Patricio Fernández, after parliamentarians from the ruling party, several from the Communist Party and human rights groups accused him of relativizing the coup, was a turning point for leaders on the right, who are emphasizing the spirit , which he wanted to impregnate to this day. The rift deepened with statements by President Boric himself, who publicly questioned the figure of the late former Senator Sergio Onofre Jarpa, former interior minister under Pinochet and founder of Renovación Nacional, one of the formations of the traditional right.
