Chile marks 50th anniversary of Salvador Allende's ouster

By Laura Gamba

BOGOTA, Colombia (AA) - Chile’s leftist President Gabriel Boric commemorated the 50th anniversary of the violent overthrow of the socialist government of Salvador Allende with an historic event at the La Moneda presidential palace Monday.

The event brought together Latin American leaders in a gesture of solidarity and with a commitment to respecting human rights in the region.​​​​​​​

The presidents of Mexico, Colombia and Bolivia arrived in the capital Santiago to participate in the ceremony, which included musical performances, poetry readings and even a speech by Isabel Allende, a congresswoman and the daughter of the late Allende.

"This coup has tried to be justified. We see with pain that today, historical revisionism is promoted. In an unusual way, they seek to distort the facts," she said.

In a heartfelt speech, Boric emphasized that "democracy is a continuous construction and the only way to advance to a more just and humane society."

The commemoration events took place in the midst of a divided and polarized Chile. Both the traditional right-wing parties represented by the Chile Vamos coalition and the extreme right-wing Republican Party declined to sign a joint declaration in favor of democracy.

A survey conducted in May found that 36% of people believe that Augusto Pinochet "liberated Chile from Marxism.”

On Sept. 11, 1973, the army, led by General Pinochet, overthrew the democratically elected government of President Salvador Allende, who took his own life while troops closed in to take power.

During the Pinochet dictatorship, which lasted 17 years from 1973 to 1990, 3,200 people were murdered and 1,162 disappeared, including children, according to human rights organizations.

"Reconciliation is not about matching responsibilities between victims and perpetrators but about doing everything in our power to have truth and justice," said Boric, who recently announced the first national plan to search for those who disappeared during Pinochet's regime.