The story about Swedish ambassador in Chile - Harald Edelstam - and his heroic actions to protect the innocent people from the execution during and after the military coup on September 11th 1973. We travel with Edelstam during the terrible moments just after the coup and follows his never-ending fight for human rights, law and order. What drove him? And what price did he end up paying for his total commitment? Haunted by his own demons the we experiences on close hand how a womanizer desperately searches to find love again, a task only doable, if he can fight his own past and redeem himself. After saving hundreds - maybe even thousands - he is challenged once more, this time to save his newfound love from the death penalty issued by the regime. Another impossible task and a desperate chase against time. Based on a true story about a man, that did, what all of us only dreams of.
Thursday, August 12, 2010
Movies you can watch: The Black Pipernel (2007)
Dir. Åsa Faringer - Ulf Hultberg (2007)
Labels:
human rights violations,
military coup,
movies
Movies you can watch: Dawson, Island 10
Dir. Miguel Littin (2009)
After the 1973 coup that deposed Allende and brought Pinochet to power in Chile, the former members of his cabinet are imprisoned on Dawson Island, the world's southernmost concentration camp. Veteran filmmaker Miguel Littin follows the ordeal of these men who are determined to survive and provide history with their testimony.
Dawson Island 10 on IMDB
After the 1973 coup that deposed Allende and brought Pinochet to power in Chile, the former members of his cabinet are imprisoned on Dawson Island, the world's southernmost concentration camp. Veteran filmmaker Miguel Littin follows the ordeal of these men who are determined to survive and provide history with their testimony.
Dawson Island 10 on IMDB
Labels:
military coup,
movies,
september 11th 1973
Movies you can watch: Machuca
Dir. Andrés Wood (2004)
In 1973, in Santiago of Chile of the first socialist president democratically elected in a Latin-American country, President Salvador Allende, the principal of the Saint Patrick School, Father McEnroe makes a trial of integration between students of the upper and lower classes. The bourgeois boy Gonzalo Infante and the boy from the slum Pedro Machuca become great friends, while the conflicts on the streets leads Chile to the bloody and repressive military coup of General Augusto Pinochet on 11 September 1973, changing definitely their lives, their relationship and their country.
Machuca in The Internet Movie Database
Labels:
military coup,
movies,
september 11th 1973
Thursday, July 29, 2010
When the day dawns - Angel Parra
Because not everything is about politics, I'll post -once in a while- some of the most famous and important chilean songs composed in the last forty years of our history. Now, we'll listen to Angel Parra and his beautiful song Cuando Amanece el Día/When The Day Dawns... enjoy!
When the day dawns
When the day dawns I say how lucky I am to witness, how the dark night ends, that gave pain and bitterness to my land.
And there I see the man that arises, grows and expands.
When the day dawns I feel that your love grows over time and it gives me a hand in the hair and it gives me grief and comfort.
And there I see the man that arises, grows and expands.
When the day dawns I ask to my two children, to bring light from their eyes, to enlighten so much hope of work and bread.
And there I see the man that arises, grows and expands.
When the day dawns I think about the six o'clock meeting in downtown, where all the people will scream
To defend what has been conquered!
Labels:
chilean music,
music
Sunday, July 25, 2010
The Rettig Report
The Rettig Report, officially The National Commission for Truth and Reconciliation Report, is a report by a commission designated by then President Patricio Aylwin (from the Concertación) encompassing human rights abuses resulting in death or disappearance that occurred in Chile during the years of military rule under Augusto Pinochet, which began on September 11, 1973 and ended on March 11, 1990. It is named after its chairman, Raúl Rettig, a former ambassador of President Salvador Allende. The eight-member commission (including Jaime Castillo Velasco, José Luis Cea Egaña, Mónica Jiménez de la Jara, Laura Novoa Vásquez, José Zalaquett Daher, Ricardo Martín Díaz, and Gonzalo Vial Correa) released its report in February 1991.
The report determined that 2,279 persons were killed for political reasons. In 641 cases, the commission could not conclusively determine that the person was killed for political reasons. It found 508 cases that were beyond its mandate, and that in 449 cases, no information beyond the name of a disappeared person could be determined.
Link to the report in english
The report determined that 2,279 persons were killed for political reasons. In 641 cases, the commission could not conclusively determine that the person was killed for political reasons. It found 508 cases that were beyond its mandate, and that in 449 cases, no information beyond the name of a disappeared person could be determined.
Link to the report in english
Chile denies pardon for dictatorship-era crimes
By Alonso Soto
SANTIAGO (Reuters) - Chilean President Sebastian Pinera on Sunday denied a pardon to people jailed for dictatorship-era crimes, a move likely to ease tensions with the opposition and rights groups over a controversial call for clemency.
Chile's Catholic Church had asked Pinera to free or lower jail sentences of military officers convicted for human rights violations as well as other criminals in a call for clemency to mark the country's upcoming bicentennial celebrations.
The pardon request infuriated human right groups and the center-left opposition, rekindling memories of General Augusto Pinochet's 1973-1990 rule that still divides many Chileans.
"Excluded from these (pardon) benefits are those convicted for serious crimes like crimes against humanity," Pinera told reporters. "We need to promote a culture of unrestricted respect to human rights."
Pinera, whose brother was a government minister under Pinochet, said he will still offer pardons to some convicted criminals who are old or sick "as long as these benefits don't hurt the soul of our country."
Rights advocates said Pinera's decision was positive, however, relatives of leftist dissidents kidnapped and jailed during the dictatorship said they will remain alert for any future pardons.
"We hope that what he (Pinera) announced today is aimed at all those linked to human right abuses under the dictatorship," said Lorena Pizarro, head of a group of relatives of the disappeared. "We demand to meet with the government to have absolute clarity about the matter."
Chile's past government said 3,195 people were killed or "disappeared" during Pinochet's rule and around 28,000 people, including former President Michelle Bachelet, were tortured.
For years human rights advocates have called for tougher penalties on former military officers involved in torture and murder during the military rule.
Pinochet, a controversial figure who is either cheered or hated by Chileans, died in 2006 without ever being convicted on charges of human right abuses.
(Editing by Cynthia Osterman)
SANTIAGO (Reuters) - Chilean President Sebastian Pinera on Sunday denied a pardon to people jailed for dictatorship-era crimes, a move likely to ease tensions with the opposition and rights groups over a controversial call for clemency.
Chile's Catholic Church had asked Pinera to free or lower jail sentences of military officers convicted for human rights violations as well as other criminals in a call for clemency to mark the country's upcoming bicentennial celebrations.
The pardon request infuriated human right groups and the center-left opposition, rekindling memories of General Augusto Pinochet's 1973-1990 rule that still divides many Chileans.
"Excluded from these (pardon) benefits are those convicted for serious crimes like crimes against humanity," Pinera told reporters. "We need to promote a culture of unrestricted respect to human rights."
Pinera, whose brother was a government minister under Pinochet, said he will still offer pardons to some convicted criminals who are old or sick "as long as these benefits don't hurt the soul of our country."
Rights advocates said Pinera's decision was positive, however, relatives of leftist dissidents kidnapped and jailed during the dictatorship said they will remain alert for any future pardons.
"We hope that what he (Pinera) announced today is aimed at all those linked to human right abuses under the dictatorship," said Lorena Pizarro, head of a group of relatives of the disappeared. "We demand to meet with the government to have absolute clarity about the matter."
Chile's past government said 3,195 people were killed or "disappeared" during Pinochet's rule and around 28,000 people, including former President Michelle Bachelet, were tortured.
For years human rights advocates have called for tougher penalties on former military officers involved in torture and murder during the military rule.
Pinochet, a controversial figure who is either cheered or hated by Chileans, died in 2006 without ever being convicted on charges of human right abuses.
(Editing by Cynthia Osterman)
Chile Rejects Pardons Proposed By Catholic Church : NPR
Chile Rejects Pardons Proposed By Catholic Church : NPR: "- Enviado mediante la barra Google"
Saturday, July 24, 2010
Chile Church seeks pardons, including rights cases
SANTIAGO, Chile — Chile's Roman Catholic Church on Wednesday urged President Sebastian Pinera to grant a sweeping pardon to aged and long-serving inmates — and the fact it would aid military officers who committed crimes against humanity has angered relatives of their victims.
Families of people who were slain or who vanished during Augusto Pinochet's 1973-1990 dictatorship protested outside La Moneda palace as Cardinal Francisco Javier Errazuriz and Monsignor Alejandro Goic, president of the Episcopal Conference, met with the president.
"Our proposal is not meant to open up wounds of the past, nor to make them heal by decree," Goic said of the plan, which is designed to mark Chile's 200-year independence celebrations Sept. 18 with a display of clemency.
But the wounds of the past remain bitter for many Chileans.
According to official statistics, 3,065 opponents of Pinochet's right-wing regime were killed and 1,200 more disappeared. Some 600 military personnel have been accused of crimes against humanity but no more than 150 are now in prison.
Mireya Garcia, vice president of the Group of Relatives of the Detainees and Disappeared, said those who commit crimes should serve their sentences. "Justice doesn't have to do with clemency but with what is fair," she told The Associated Press.
The church's proposed amnesty would apply to prisoners who are sick or older than 70 or those who have served half their sentence. Garcia's group says about 35 military personnel jailed for dictatorship-era "dirty war" crimes apparently would be eligible, though officials have not given an exact count.
The main opposition to the pardons for former military officials comes from left-center sectors who have a majority in the Congress, but some law-and-order members of Pinera's conservative bloc are also uneasy at the idea of seeming to go easy on convicts.
Pinera himself has sought to distance his brand of conservative politics from the far-right Pinochet dictatorship
Gen. Humberto Julio, president of an organization of retired military officials, praised the church proposal, saying it would help national reconciliation.
"It's incorrect to talk about impunity when the intention is to apply a sentence according to the age and health condition of prisoners," he said.
Families of people who were slain or who vanished during Augusto Pinochet's 1973-1990 dictatorship protested outside La Moneda palace as Cardinal Francisco Javier Errazuriz and Monsignor Alejandro Goic, president of the Episcopal Conference, met with the president.
"Our proposal is not meant to open up wounds of the past, nor to make them heal by decree," Goic said of the plan, which is designed to mark Chile's 200-year independence celebrations Sept. 18 with a display of clemency.
But the wounds of the past remain bitter for many Chileans.
According to official statistics, 3,065 opponents of Pinochet's right-wing regime were killed and 1,200 more disappeared. Some 600 military personnel have been accused of crimes against humanity but no more than 150 are now in prison.
Mireya Garcia, vice president of the Group of Relatives of the Detainees and Disappeared, said those who commit crimes should serve their sentences. "Justice doesn't have to do with clemency but with what is fair," she told The Associated Press.
The church's proposed amnesty would apply to prisoners who are sick or older than 70 or those who have served half their sentence. Garcia's group says about 35 military personnel jailed for dictatorship-era "dirty war" crimes apparently would be eligible, though officials have not given an exact count.
The main opposition to the pardons for former military officials comes from left-center sectors who have a majority in the Congress, but some law-and-order members of Pinera's conservative bloc are also uneasy at the idea of seeming to go easy on convicts.
Pinera himself has sought to distance his brand of conservative politics from the far-right Pinochet dictatorship
Gen. Humberto Julio, president of an organization of retired military officials, praised the church proposal, saying it would help national reconciliation.
"It's incorrect to talk about impunity when the intention is to apply a sentence according to the age and health condition of prisoners," he said.
Copyright © 2010 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.
1973 Revolutions Per Minute
1973 revoluciones por minuto is a 2008 chilean movie directed by Fernando Valenzuela.
In New York, an actor in an empty theater, revives the last hours of President Allende, in September 11, 1973. Here, all alone, with the certainty that he is fighting his last battle, he remembers his childhood, his beloved father, his family, the women he loved, and confronts without hesitation his ultimate fate.
In New York, an actor in an empty theater, revives the last hours of President Allende, in September 11, 1973. Here, all alone, with the certainty that he is fighting his last battle, he remembers his childhood, his beloved father, his family, the women he loved, and confronts without hesitation his ultimate fate.
Labels:
allende,
military coup,
september 11th 1973
The Last Speech of President Salvador Allende
In the middle of the attack to the Presidential Palace, on September 11th of 1973, President Allende spoke for the last time to the citizens. Here you can listen to the speech and read it, in english.
My friends,
Surely this will be the last opportunity for me to address you. The Air Force has bombed the antennas of Radio Magallanes.
My words do not have bitterness but disappointment. May they be a moral punishment for those who have betrayed their oath: soldiers of Chile, titular commanders in chief, Admiral Merino, who has designated himself Commander of the Navy, and Mr. Mendoza, the despicable general who only yesterday pledged his fidelity and loyalty to the Government, and who also has appointed himself Chief of the Carabineros [police].
Given these facts, the only thing left for me is to say to workers: I am not going to resign! Placed in a historic transition, I will pay for loyalty to the people with my life. And I say to them that I am certain that the seeds which we have planted in the good conscience of thousands and thousands of Chileans will not be shriveled forever.
They have force and will be able to dominate us, but social processes can be arrested by neither crime nor force. History is ours, and people make history.
Workers of my country: I want to thank you for the loyalty that you always had, the confidence that you deposited in a man who was only an interpreter of great yearnings for justice, who gave his word that he would respect the Constitution and the law and did just that. At this definitive moment, the last moment when I can address you, I wish you to take advantage of the lesson: foreign capital, imperialism, together with the reaction, created the climate in which the Armed Forces broke their tradition, the tradition taught by General Schneider and reaffirmed by Commander Araya, victims of the same social sector who today are hoping, with foreign assistance, to re-conquer the power to continue defending their profits and their privileges.
I address you, above all, the modest woman of our land, the campesina who believed in us, the mother who knew our concern for children. I address professionals of Chile, patriotic professionals who continued working against the sedition that was supported by professional associations, classist associations that also defended the advantages of capitalist society. I address the youth, those who sang and gave us their joy and their spirit of struggle. I address the man of Chile, the worker, the farmer, the intellectual, those who will be persecuted, because in our country fascism has been already present for many hours -- in terrorist attacks, blowing up the bridges, cutting the railroad tracks, destroying the oil and gas pipelines, in the face of the silence of those who had the obligation to act. They were committed. History will judge them.
Surely Radio Magallanes will be silenced, and the calm metal instrument of my voice will no longer reach you. It does not matter. You will continue hearing it. I will always be next to you. At least my memory will be that of a man of dignity who was loyal to his country.
The people must defend themselves, but they must not sacrifice themselves. The people must not let themselves be destroyed or riddled with bullets, but they cannot be humiliated either.
Workers of my country, I have faith in Chile and its destiny. Other men will overcome this dark and bitter moment when treason seeks to prevail. Go forward knowing that, sooner rather than later, the great avenues will open again and free men will walk through them to construct a better society.
Long live Chile! Long live the people! Long live the workers!
These are my last words, and I am certain that my sacrifice will not be in vain, I am certain that, at the very least, it will be a moral lesson that will punish felony, cowardice, and treason.
My friends,
Surely this will be the last opportunity for me to address you. The Air Force has bombed the antennas of Radio Magallanes.
My words do not have bitterness but disappointment. May they be a moral punishment for those who have betrayed their oath: soldiers of Chile, titular commanders in chief, Admiral Merino, who has designated himself Commander of the Navy, and Mr. Mendoza, the despicable general who only yesterday pledged his fidelity and loyalty to the Government, and who also has appointed himself Chief of the Carabineros [police].
Given these facts, the only thing left for me is to say to workers: I am not going to resign! Placed in a historic transition, I will pay for loyalty to the people with my life. And I say to them that I am certain that the seeds which we have planted in the good conscience of thousands and thousands of Chileans will not be shriveled forever.
They have force and will be able to dominate us, but social processes can be arrested by neither crime nor force. History is ours, and people make history.
Workers of my country: I want to thank you for the loyalty that you always had, the confidence that you deposited in a man who was only an interpreter of great yearnings for justice, who gave his word that he would respect the Constitution and the law and did just that. At this definitive moment, the last moment when I can address you, I wish you to take advantage of the lesson: foreign capital, imperialism, together with the reaction, created the climate in which the Armed Forces broke their tradition, the tradition taught by General Schneider and reaffirmed by Commander Araya, victims of the same social sector who today are hoping, with foreign assistance, to re-conquer the power to continue defending their profits and their privileges.
I address you, above all, the modest woman of our land, the campesina who believed in us, the mother who knew our concern for children. I address professionals of Chile, patriotic professionals who continued working against the sedition that was supported by professional associations, classist associations that also defended the advantages of capitalist society. I address the youth, those who sang and gave us their joy and their spirit of struggle. I address the man of Chile, the worker, the farmer, the intellectual, those who will be persecuted, because in our country fascism has been already present for many hours -- in terrorist attacks, blowing up the bridges, cutting the railroad tracks, destroying the oil and gas pipelines, in the face of the silence of those who had the obligation to act. They were committed. History will judge them.
Surely Radio Magallanes will be silenced, and the calm metal instrument of my voice will no longer reach you. It does not matter. You will continue hearing it. I will always be next to you. At least my memory will be that of a man of dignity who was loyal to his country.
The people must defend themselves, but they must not sacrifice themselves. The people must not let themselves be destroyed or riddled with bullets, but they cannot be humiliated either.
Workers of my country, I have faith in Chile and its destiny. Other men will overcome this dark and bitter moment when treason seeks to prevail. Go forward knowing that, sooner rather than later, the great avenues will open again and free men will walk through them to construct a better society.
Long live Chile! Long live the people! Long live the workers!
These are my last words, and I am certain that my sacrifice will not be in vain, I am certain that, at the very least, it will be a moral lesson that will punish felony, cowardice, and treason.
Labels:
allende,
military coup,
september 11th 1973
Monday, January 18, 2010
Chile's New President
Right-Wing Businessman Wins Chile’s Presidency
Aliosha Marquez/Associated Press
Supporters of Sebastián Piñera, candidate of the Coalition for Change, celebrated in Santiago, Chile, after the first results of a presidential runoff were announced.
EAVB_IFUFEEPKIX
SANTIAGO, Chile — Sebastián Piñera, a billionaire businessman and former senator, broke the 20-year hold on power of a leftist coalition on Sunday, becoming the first right-wing president to be elected in Chile since the dictatorship ended in 1990.
It was the first time the right had won the presidency democratically in more than 50 years, and Mr. Piñera is one of a handful of conservatives elected to head a Latin American country since the region began a strong swing to the left in recent decades.
But most analysts did not see the vote as a reflection of a major conservative shift among voters as much as a sign of disenchantment with what they saw as stale ideas and a desire for renewal.
“It’s clear to me there needs to be change in Chile,” said Eduardo Navarrete, a retiree who voted for Mr. Piñera. “Twenty years of abuse and fake progress based solely on the price of copper is too much. The rest is just for show.”
With 99 percent of the vote counted, Mr. Piñera, 60, had 52 percent, to 48 percent for Eduardo Frei, 67, a former president. After the first official results were released, Mr. Frei conceded, calling the defeat “just a bump in the road.”
Nonetheless, the result was a crushing setback for the leftist coalition that had steered Chile out of the 17-year dictatorship of Gen. Augusto Pinochet and helped build democracy while maintaining economic stability.
Voters not only overcame their fears of the right’s ties to the dictatorship, but they also rejected the candidate supported by an extraordinarily popular leftist president, Michelle Bachelet. Despite having approval ratings hovering around 75 percent, she was unable to transfer her popularity to Mr. Frei, whom many voters saw as a re-tread and whose campaign was unable to keep up with Mr. Piñera’s slick, well-financed effort.
Mr. Piñera has positioned himself as an experienced business leader but is not expected to make any striking changes in the country’s economic policies.
In his victory speech, Mr. Piñera paid tribute to the previous government and vowed not to “start from zero, but to start a new era in the development of our country.” And in a televised telephone call, he called Ms. Bachelet late Sunday to thank her for her service and to invite her to breakfast Monday morning to seek her “advice.”
Chile’s third-richest citizen, Mr. Piñera has a financial empire that includes a controlling interest in the country’s largest airline, Lan; a major television channel; and a stake in Chile’s most popular soccer team. He has said he would divest his holdings in Lan if elected.
During the campaign, Mr. Piñera boasted that he would create one million new jobs and crack down on delinquency and drug trafficking. He also said he would seek to privatize a part of Codelco, Chile’s state-owned copper company and the world’s largest copper producer.
Like Mr. Frei, he vowed to carry on some of the social programs that Ms. Bachelet put in place, including an expansion of child care and social assistance for nonworking mothers.
Although some members of Mr. Piñera’s coalition served in the Pinochet cabinet, the president-elect has said he will not allow former members of the Pinochet government to serve in his cabinet. Mr. Piñera’s brother, José Piñera, helped install the nation’s neo-liberal economic program as the general’s labor minister and today is a senior fellow at the Cato Institute, a libertarian research group in Washington.
After toppling the Socialist government of Salvador Allende in 1973 in a bloody coup, General Pinochet violently thrust the country to the right. More than 3,000 leftists were killed or disappeared, leaving a bitter memory that had kept conservatives out of power ever since.
That fear still worked in Mr. Frei’s favor on Sunday.
“This was one of the most difficult decisions the country has had in a long time,” said Erica Tapia, 44. “Unfortunately, I voted for Frei out of fear of the right.”
Ms. Bachelet could not seek re-election because the Constitution allows only one four-year term and no direct re-election. Analysts believe she could win again in 2014 if she runs.
But dissatisfaction with her coalition was evident in the first round of voting in December, when Mr. Piñera won 44 percent of the vote and an independent candidate, Marco Enríquez-Ominami, won 20 percent. Mr. Enríquez-Ominami, a former Socialist, tapped into the desire for a break with the old with a campaign against politics as usual.
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