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.

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.

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.

By ALEXEI BARRIONUEVO

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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.

A ballot count at a polling station in Santiago on Sunday. Eduardo Frei conceded defeat shortly after the first results.

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.

Pascale Bonnefoy contributed reporting.

Coming back

Dear friends,

First of all, I'm sorry. I've been away several months, because of my job and because the new season 2009 -2010 of lectures about chilean history and politics started on september. So, I had a lot of work and besides that, last friday I had a little accident: I fell on the street, inches away from my office and i now i had a little fracture on my ankle... so now I have this plaster for 15 days.

It's not that bad. I think this is a little vacation for me (I was exhausted), and also now I' ve got the chance to write again in this blog.

So, my friends... what's new? Well, let's talk a little bit about current politics. We have the next presidential election on december 13th, and there are four candidates runing for president.

• Jorge Arrate, from the left coalition "Juntos Podemos" ("Together we can") that involves Communist Party and other smaller parties.
• Marco Enríquez Ominami, independent from the center-left, former socialist and the son of a very important figure in the armed struggle (from the MIR, or Revolutionary Movement from the Left) against Pinochet's Dictatorship in the '70's: Miguel Enríquez, murdered by Pinochet's political police. Now Marco defends market economy and liberal reforms related to social and cultural matters.
  
• Eduardo Frei, former president of Chile (1994-2000) and the candidate of the current government coalition. Christian Democrat.
  
• Sebastian Piñera, a very important bussiness man from the center-right. This is the second time that he runs as a presidential candidate (last time was on 2005)

What about the last surveys? Piñera is leading all the surveys, so -at least until today- he'll probably be the next president of Chile, the first democratically elected president from a right wing coalition in 50 years... what do you think about this? Let me know!

Novels you can read about chilean history and politics: Death and the Maiden by Ariel Dorfman

Years after she was blindfolded and tortured by Pinochet's police force, Chilean woman Paulina marries Gerardo and through him meets, Roberto, whose voice she is certain was that of the man who tortured her years before.

Editorial Review: "This powerful political drama and psychological thriller by the noted Chilean writer premiered in London last summer, where it won the Time Out Award for Best Play. In March it opened in the United States on Broadway, with direction by Mike Nichols and starring Glenn Close, Richard Dreyfuss, and Gene Hackman. The play focuses on a woman who finds herself in the position to exact revenge upon a man whom she believes to have been her torturer 15 years earlier. In telling this story, the author also addresses the dilemmas which touch all our lives: innocence and evil, truth and lies, forgiveness, and revenge. This is a worthwhile addition to modern drama collections."- Howard E. Miller, Blue Cross & Blue Shield of Missouri Lib., St. LouisCopyright 1992 Reed Business Information, Inc.

See the book in Amazon.com

See the movie directed by Roman Polanski on the Internet Movie Database (IMDb)

An Interview with Salvador Allende

In this historic interview with Salvador Allende, Chile's new president articulates his basic beliefs and lays out the program he intended to persue as leader of the Popular Unity government. The conversation shows with rare candor Allende´s deep-seated belief in the Chilean Constitution and in the ability of his coalition to maintain control for the elected six-year period. He discusses the legal road to socialism, the anticipated problems with the Nixon Administration and the CIA, and how he planned to handle the antagonism of the Chilean bourgeoisie. He also talks about his early days as doctor, recounting how his medical career and contact with the poor led to his conversion to socialism.

Watch the video here (in spanish with subtitles in english)

The 1988 referendum: Yes or No

As I've told you in the lecture, Pinochet's new constitution included a referendum in 1998 to define the continuity of his administration. Pinochet was convinced that he was going to win, so he prepared the referendum (plebiscito in spanish) defining himself as the candidate.

In those years Pinochet's advisers commited a terrible mistake: the government gave to the to options Yes and No, fifteen minutes on TV every day at 11 pm for free for political campaign. The Coallition of Parties for Democracy saw immediately the opportunity that 15 minutes on TV meant, and they put all their efforts to send a message positive, optimistic, talking about change, hope, and future. In fact the campaign slogan was "Chile: Joy is coming".

Pinochet's advisers didn't have much interest in this fifteen minutes. Who's going to watch and resist fifteen minutes of political campaign? they asked. But the truth is that everyone watched it, and after that, citizens matured their ideas and opinions, and then, on october 5Th of 1998, they decided: No option obtained a 56% of the votes. Yes option obtained a 44% of the votes.

I leave you two videos for you to watch: the No campaign and the Yes campaign. You'll notice the differences! After a few weeks, Pinochet's advisers tried to change their campaign, but didn't work either. Here we have the results.

Chilean Human Rights Program

After the democracy was restored, former president Patricio Aylwin organized a comission -the Rettig Comission- to investigate all the human rights violations commited in Pinochet's Dictatorship.

Here we have the link to the Chilean Human Rights Program where you can find all the reports and documents about the victims, that were in total 3.195. 1.183 of them are missing detainees.

Augusto Pinochet: 1915-2006

One year after his death, the right wing chilean newspaper El Mercurio published an interactive special about Pinochet, with multiple information about his life and the place that he has in chilean history (in spanish). In english you can visit our link section and then go to the Times Topic about Pinochet in The New York Times.

What chileans think about President Bachelet?

Few days ago, ADIMARK (an important researcher in public opinion here in Chile as Gallup in USA) published the results of the last poll about President Bachelet Job Approval. Here we have the results (in spanish):

Evaluacion Gobierno Febrero09

Publish at Scribd or explore others: Politics & Governmen Presentations & Slid 2008 Gobierno