Closure For The "Other September 11th"?
The death of former Chilean military dictator Augusto Pinochet
Pinochet died Sunday at the age of 91 due to complications from heart failure. But, for some of those who suffered under his rule his death brings little comfort.
On September 11, 1973, Pinochet lead a bloody military coup, backed by the US, to overthrow the democratically elected President Salvador Allende. Allende was a socialist who believed in equality for all people and rights for the poor.
On that horrific September 11th, Pinochet's troops marched the streets of Santiago, Chile to bomb the Moneda presidential palace (Palacio de La Moneda.) Allende delivered a passionate final radio address – before he took his own life – where he declared: "it is possible they will smash us, but tomorrow belongs to the people, the workers!"
Meanwhile, a dentist named "Mario" was working at a hospital in a neighboring city. He was a supporter of Allende. Military soldiers stormed the hospital and took Mario away to a concentration camp in the Southern part of Chile. For days, he was not given anything to eat or drink. Mario says about 100 people were put in a small room where they slept standing, pressed up against each other. There was a container in the middle of the room that served as the bathroom. Every night, each person was taken one-by-one and tortured. To this day, Mario has a hard time talking about the torture. But, he does say electrical shock was one of the methods used.
Mario spent a year and a half in the concentration camp. He was never charged with a crime or found guilty of anything. He says he was merely a supporter of an equal society that looked out for the poor.
Pinochet ended up ruling Chile from 1973 to 1990 during which time thousands of Chileans – both men and women – were tortured and killed.
Now, some 33 years later, the suffering 62-year-old Mario endured is still vivid although he is trying to put it behind him. He says the death of Pinochet has divided Chile where he still lives. Supporters are sad, opponents are happy and Mario is neither. He says Pinochet is a symbol of the horrific injustice that happened – like Osama Bin Laden is for September 11, 2001. But, dead or alive, it doesn't erase or change the past.