A group of violent hooded men dressed in black caused damage this morning at the Chilean Government Palace, La Moneda, ahead of Chile commemorating tomorrow the 50th anniversary of the military coup against socialist Salvador Allende. It happened in the traditional march to the General Cemetery, which the Administration of Gabriel Boric allowed to pass by the side of the Government headquarters, in Morandé Street, which did not happen years ago because of the attempted attack. The men managed to break six windows and make two scratches on the walls, in addition to various damage to the La Moneda Cultural Center, which is located underground, according to the Undersecretary of the Interior, Manuel Monsalve. The opposition criticized President Boric, who participated in an event in the palace, who participated in the pilgrimage, a kind of journey to the cemetery that always ends in violence. Never before has a leader led this demonstration, although the Government has said that it only happened on a street and at the request of the families of the victims.
Monsalve reported that the Government would sue for public disturbances and condemned the events: “On September 11, 1973, in this palace, President Salvador Allende maintained his presence as a symbol of the defense of democracy, so as not to it will be replaced. through violence, of which the palace of La Moneda has become a victim. Therefore, we express the absolute rejection of the Government of the acts of violence that violate and attack the memory that we want to recognize within the framework of 50 years commemoration.”
Boric himself explained through the social network with them, because I am convinced that thanks to their tireless struggle for truth and justice we are here today. We still owe them a lot as a country and this is the deep meaning of the National Search Plan,” said the president.
The president of Chile mentioned the destruction that happened later in the General Cemetery itself: “At the end of this march, small groups of people wearing black veils tried to break up the demonstration. They broke windows and indiscriminately attacked groups and militants of political parties such as Juventud Socialusta, Communist Party and Social Convergence, among others. Then they caused chaos in the street and led to the violent violation of the graves of the General Cemetery, among them former senator Jaime Guzmán (the UDI parliamentarian who died in an attack on democracy, in 1991),” Boric wrote. Later, Carabineros added that the institutional mausoleum was also attacked. “We condemn the cowardly attack against the Carabineros mausoleum. It is an insult to the memory of our martyrs, of the Chileans who gave their lives for the Motherland,” said the general director, Ricardo Yáñez.
Boric condemned what happened: “As President of the Republic, I condemn these events without exception. Their intolerance and violence must have no place in democracy and those who participated in these acts must face the law and the rule of law. Their irrationality in attacking what Allende and many other democrats fought for is evil and evil. They are also against democracy and the understanding of people with different ideas, which we want build. They will not scare us or scare us, because many of us want to and we will progress through social change in peace and dialogue. “Democracy now and always!” wrote the president of Chile.
But it drew strong criticism from the opposition. The leader of the far-right Republican Party, José Antonio Kast, wrote: “The irresponsible whim of President Boric in joining the march puts at risk the integrity of La Moneda Palace and the Carabineros guarding the perimeter. “We must investigate the responsibilities involved in this wrong decision.”
The Undersecretary of the Interior, who made a controversial call to citizens not to go to the center of Santiago on Monday, September 11, said that there are five thousand officers deployed to guarantee the security of these sensitive dates. He added that it included minority groups that disrupted the march to the General Cemetery. There were three police officers who were injured, one of them due to throwing a bottle that cut his hand, and three were detained.
Last night, when the Chilean Minister of Foreign Affairs, Alberto van Klaveren, returned to his home in the municipality of Vitacura, in the eastern part of Santiago, after receiving the president of Mexico, Andrés Manuel López Obrador, at the airport, his official car was the victim in an ambush (in Chile they are called encerronas). In today’s statement, Monsalve was asked if the Government of Chile is in a position to guarantee the security of the Mexican president. The Undersecretary of the Interior answered yes, as well as the integrity of other foreign leaders who were invited to mark the 50th anniversary of the coup.
