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Theater festivals, interventions and presentations by prominent musicians, as well as exhibitions that include national and international archives, are some of the milestones with which Chili will remember throughout 2023 the 50 years since the coup that broke the democracy in 1973 and began a 17-year dictatorship.
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Artists of the stature of the award-winning Chilean singer-songwriter mon lafertethe muralist Alejandro “Mono” González, the popular group Congreso and the playwright, writer and actress Nona Fernández are some of the names that already occupy a special place in what will be a year marked by memory and collective reflection focused on the human rights.
It was mon laferte who inaugurated this week the events with a mural drawn together with Mono González in the National Stadium, one of the main sports venues in the country that functioned as the largest detention and torture center in the national territory during the first weeks of the civic-military dictatorship by Augusto Pinochet (1973-1990).
It is estimated that close to 50,000 prisoners passed through it between September and November 1973, when the stadium was closed as a detention center so that the national team could play the World Cup qualifiers in 1974.
As in the National Stadium, multiple memory sites will display an agenda full of culture, tributes and remembrance of bankruptcy.
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PERMANENT MEMORY
Close to turning 13 years since its foundation, the Museum of Memory and Human Rights, located in the heart of the Chilean capital, prepares a special program focused on this anniversary, one of the “most relevant events for the country”, in words of its executive director, María Fernanda García.
Its agenda, which will include guided tours on the 11th of each month by people with recognized experience in the defense of human rights, considers special events for International Women’s Day, an annual exhibition that presents a tour of the military coup and its consequences, together with works that also review the dictatorships in Spain and Argentina.
“Countries should always be remembering their history regardless of how many years have passed. Unfortunately this story has not been very present in our country, it has depended on the will of associations and groups that want to move it forward, but there has not been a strong defense from the State “García told Efe, emphasizing the need to promote permanent policies in this matter.
“There are denialist groups all over the world and we also obey global trends, there is ignorance, there is a historical revisionism that is not healthy for society. I understand that for some it is uncomfortable, but this is about understanding and analyzing reality “he added.
For her part, the president of the Museum of Memory and Human Rights FoundationMarcia Scantlebury, pointed out that both the existence of the museum and your proposal for this year remain a “resistance against oblivion, a necessary act so that these crimes are never repeated”.
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In his opinion, this 50th anniversary commemoration comes at “a time of uncertainty”, although he is optimistic, noting that it is “a very good period to remember”.
“Without memory and without remembering what happened, we cannot face the future well, that is, it is impossible to build without remembering”he told Efe.
Until today, in Chili there are still 1,159 victims of forced disappearance during the dictatorship who are still wanted by their loved ones.
The dictatorship of Chili It lasted 17 years and left more than 40,000 victims, including those executed, detained, disappeared, political prisoners, and tortured, according to figures from the official commission that compiled testimonies from victims and relatives. More than 3,200 Chileans died at the hands of state agents.
Source: Elcomercio
I am Jack Morton and I work in 24 News Recorder. I mostly cover world news and I have also authored 24 news recorder. I find this work highly interesting and it allows me to keep up with current events happening around the world.
