1973
“There is always the possibility that while others write history, that we can write comics.”
Juan Sasturain.
\ am the American journalist John Nitsch. \’m 67 years old, and 40 years ago \ was sent to Chile to cover Salvador Allende’s political career. This was my experience…
11:30 am - Tuesday. September 11, 1973. Santiago, Chile.
claudia...
6:00 am - Valparaíso.
You could feel it in the air…
...her phone wasn’t working...
...no one was certain it would happen, much less a foreigner like me. Much later \ managed to put together a timeline of the events.
claudia...
Claudia, wait for me…
The commander of the Chilean Navy was abruptly informed that he was no longer in command.
The president was alerted.
It all happened as if it were a scene from a movie…
6:00 am - Sánchez Fontecilla Street, Santiago. The residence of Commander Raúl Montero.
6:30 am - Tomás Moro Street, Santiago.
7:40 am - The Government Palace. Known as La Moneda.
claudia...
since very early that day, each player had been in position.
the conspiracy was already in motion.
8:25 am
this is the president of the republic speaking from the moneda palace.
reliable reports indicate that a faction of the navy has surrounded valparaíso…
…and that the city has been occupied, which means there has been an uprising against the government…
…the legitimately constituted government…
according to the commander of the garrison, Santiago is quartered off and stable.
in any case, \ am here, in the government palace…
…and \ will remain here defending the government that \ represent according to the people’s will.
the masses are on alert and willing to make great sacrifices in defense of the achievements they have won, to defend the legitimately constituted government, and the chilean revolution.
a group of uniformed traitors will not manage to stop the country’s march toward its definitive liberation.
we will not stop our broadcast because we have been given this responsibility by a large majority mandate of the nation’s people. We will be on air as the country continues its march toward the future.
school of telecommunications. peñalolén, santiago. magallanes radio. claudia?
1971
“The present is wide open at the beginning of the 70's, but some of our people proposed armed struggle and others popular struggle. This divided us.”
José Ángel Cuevas
During 1971 Chile was a country at its extremes in many ways. The people poured out onto the streets and regardless of the difficulties, the people’s celebrations took over the Alameda.
Damn this is great!
A little while ago \ saw Luisín Landáez, the cumbia singer, playing his heart out on stage.
And even Don Francisco is performing on one of the stages down that way.
From the depths of the nation’s melting pot, the voice of the people rises.
From "Sábados Gigantes"?
go figure. \ would not have ever imagined.
Remembering the brave soldier, whose example made him immortal.
First, we will face death, never betraying the homeland.
My Chile is a new country now.
Have you ever seen anything like this?
Never, gringo, never.
It was exciting to feel Claudia and José’s fervor, but something kept me from getting carried away in their enthusiasm.
\ wanted to be an observer like Neumann or at least \ tried to be. What \ did see was that the path between Utopia and disappointment was crisscrossed with dangerous shortcuts.
We will overcome, we will overcome. A thousand chains we shall break. We will overcome, we will overcome. We will learn to overcome misery.
It’s true that the Popular Unity’s campaign is antiimperialist, antimonopoly, and antilatifundista.
We in MIR support them, but it’s a critical support. Allende’s victory is important, but it’s not definitive.
True. This is a pre-revolutionary phase, John. We still have to make the masses aware and overturn the capitalist system.
You don’t listen, gringo. We have to prepare the working class in our neighborhoods, in our industrial unions, in our villages for when the moment comes.
Revolutionary change necessarily implies a confrontation.
But isn’t that exactly what Allende and the Popular Unity are trying to do?
The strategy of making the revolution from within the system is a trap.
The Communist Party’s “Class Collaboration” is not viable.
It’s just the selfpreservation of the dominant class.
It was clear they had both studied Guevara. \ was impressed by their sharp and firm language; they were on a warpath.
\ will tell you again, Chile needs an authoritarian government to come and straighten out all this chaos, to give us back a country united by our national values.
The Popular Unity’s class hate is going to drag us into a civil war. As a North American, Mr. Nitsch, you perfectly understand the threat of Marxism.
You must have heard their talk of revolutionary violence.
Understand that we will also fight to defend what we have achieved through our hard work.
Did they really believe that it was an alternative to the electoral process? Was that what everyone in the Popular Unity wanted?
Part of the left-wing firmly believed that Chile could and should follow Cuba’s example.
The loss of our constitutional rights will be the definitive breaking point for our democracy.
We must avoid it at all costs. It’s possible we may even need a little help. Do you understand?
A frightened right-wing was turning into a ferocious enemy of the Popular Unity’s goals.
They were willing to do anything to protect their privileges and to save Chile from the Marxist threat and its insolent “plebs”.
January 1971.
the Corporation of Agrarian Reform (CORA) announced the expropriation of the largest landgrant cattle ranch in Patagonia.
It was property that belonged to landowners that exploited the Tierra del Fuego.
Rural communities as well as the Huilliche and Mapuche peoples, actively participated in the agrarian reforms.
David Baytelman, the vice-president of the Corporation of Agrarian Reform, stated: “The intention of the government is that there be no individual ownership of land.”
For the right-wing, the Popular Unity was simply an “accomplice in the illegal expropriation of numerous agricultural properties in the south of the country.”
January 4, 1971: The Popular Unity’s first 40 measures began to be implemented. The daily distribution of a half-liter of milk to every Chilean child began.
Outrageous salaries were suppressed; homes, electricity, and drinkable water for everyone…
…No taxes on food items; welfare for all, and true agrarian reform; these were a few of the measures.
February 12, 1971.
On a national broadcast, José Tohá indicated that the agricultural land reforms would be carried out legally and by democratic means.
The state acquired ZigZag, one of the most important publishing houses in the country…
…and after suffering a prolonged labor conflict, it was renamed as Editorial Quimantú.
Relying on land reform laws established by the preceding presidency, the Popular Unity prepared to expropriate the largest land-grant ranches and plantations.
Was it possible to expropriate lands from private agriculture within the framework of the existing democratic institutions?
The government reaffirms its decision not to accept the existence of armed paramilitary groups of any kind.
The functions of maintaining order and security belong exclusively to the official armed forces and the police.
Some were convinced that it was not possible…
be carried out through democratic and legal channels.
…while others claimed that the rightwing only wanted to delegitimize the government and present it as the great destroyer of private property.
It must be categorically reiterated that the actions of the government will invariably
January 4, 1971: By the insistence of a presidential decree, 43 members of MIR and the ultra-left People’s Vanguard Organization (vop) were pardoned after having fled justice as accused and convicted criminals.
Allende spoke on the subject on January 5, 1971 in Valparaíso.
We have signed a decree of pardon for the directors of MIR that, long in hiding, have eluded the action of justice.
For taking this stance, bitter and harsh criticisms have been thrown at us. \ have made use of a constitutional right.
January 16, 1971.
\ believe that these young militant leftists, with whom we had strategical differences…
acted incorrectly but were inspired by a superior yearning for social change.
They were convicted of armed bank robbery.
In Viña del Mar, an explosive device was discovered meters from the residence where the president was staying.
January 17, 1971. The president of the Christian Democrats, Narciso Irureta, challenged Allende on television. He spoke of the illegal occupation of farmlands and the growth of armed militant cells on the right-wing as well as on the left.
Later, on February 3, he denounced the existence of a guerrilla camp in Liquiñe.
They did it, it is true, and \ know it. But they did not harm anyone, and they did not kill anyone.
They did not spill the blood of a police officer, nor a bank employee, nor a worker. They risked their own lives upon the altar of an ideal.
February 1, 1971. Five members of the People’s Vanguard Organization (VOP) had a confrontation with the police.
They were captured and charged with theft and the illegal possession of firearms.
February 14, 1971. Luis Corvalán, Secretary General of the Communist Party, referenced the occupations of farmlands in the newspaper El Siglo.
No one in the Popular Unity government is inspiring these farmland occupations. And as far as \ know, MIR is not officially supporting them either. Whoever is motivating these occupations, we see it as an error.
Upon completing five months in office, on March 30 at 7:55 pm, Allende spoke from plaza de la constitución.
Puro Chile: “The president of the republic stated that there had never been greater freedom of the press in Chile, ‘They attack us’ he clarified ‘because we are carrying out the Popular Unity program that wounds a privileged minority’s interests’.”
Puro Chile: “And finally he made a dramatic call to the people. Be alert, because seditious actors planned to unleash violence on April 4, carrying out attacks against the police and the military.”
Sunday, April 4, 1971.
On March 14, Congress ratified the constitutional reform which allowed, for the first time ever, eighteen year-olds and non-citizens with five years of residence to vote.
General Augusto Pinochet, at that time the commander of Santiago’s military garrison, pointed out the climate of complete normalcy surrounding the elections.
\ am not a politician, \ do not understand politics, \ am a soldier and the constitution is my framework.
\ feel pride and satisfaction in the completion of each citizen’s duty.
Tribuna: “He could find nothing better to do than repeat his attacks on the opposition press, identifying independent journalists with the repetitious and injurious term ‘mercenaries’.”
The municipal elections were a success for the Popular Unity with 49.75% of the votes, although their goal of surpassing 50% was not achieved.
Puro Chile: “Reactionary violence will be met by revolutionary violence.”
Twenty-one days later Chileans would elect 1,753 city council seats. Each party would measure their true strength and the Popular Unity would have their first political evaluation.
These elections have been a rebuttal against those who thought that democracy would be abolished with the election of a government of the people.
“They are not exactly secret service.”
They are all young militants from the Socialist Party and MIR whose mission was to protect the life of comrade Allende, who was affectionately nicknamed “Chicho”.
“They are a group of comrades and \ worked with them because my life was in danger.”
And they are not my bodyguards, they are my comrades.
that was the way Allende referred to his entourage, the ‘GRUPO DE AMIGOS PERSONALES'. (gap).
As Allende explained in March of that year, the group was willing to protect him “at the cost of their own lives, if any danger were to lay in wait for me”.
Claudia, how are you? \ know MIR and the Communist Ramona Parra Brigade don’t get along, but would you come with me tomorrow to…
…would you do it for me?... Thank you… three in the afternoon would be perfect.
…\ think it’s an event that might interest you…
We will meet with Alejandro ‘Mono' González…
What do you think of the exhibit?
It’s excellent… unclassifiable…
Ha, ha, ha… maybe so. Listen, at first they rejected us, then we took to the streets and now even academia embraces us.
Isn’t it a contradiction to have your art here in a museum now?
Mono González is an artist that understands, in his own way, that the revolution is imminent and has worked accordingly… despite being a communist.
What we do in the streets is art, Mr. Nitsch, and literacy. It communicates Allende’s triumph…
…the Popular Unity’s platform in images and to do that all spaces are valid and necessary.
Even here in this museum our work continues to be clandestine, ephemeral, and collective.
Claudia… there’s something that’s caught my attention.
…the Quinta Normal Museum of Modern Art?... …a Ramona Parra Brigade muralist.1972
“Pinochet appears to be a common soldier, friendly, slow-witted, totally involved in the new field of security, public order, and political happenings. And he clearly enjoys feeling important.”
– Secret CIA CableJanuary 1972.
You left my life, but you returned. You returned with a ruined soul. You returned with hope.
You’re a survivor, Marcelo. You’ll be fine. Here, at the corner…
\ don’t know how long \’m gonna last. A lot of my co-workers are on strike because there aren’t any replacement parts for their taxis. Things are getting ugly.
Leave me wicked woman, forget me, \ beg you.
Having lost love and \ found it in a pool of blood.
You left, you left, you left, but you returned as the jackal of my love…
Are you gonna meet up with your friend, the hot dish we met at La Peña? claudia? no, no…
During 1971 Chile’s GDP grew 9%, commerce and industry 16%, and spending went up 113%. Inflation decreased from 35% to 22%.
Everything seemed to be going well but rationing began early on.
Listen… \’m older than you, mister, and \’m telling you…
be careful with that girl. She’s beautiful, but she’s only going to make you suffer. Remember what \’m telling you.
Forget my love, for \ have forgotten you…
\’ll be back after a beer.
Long lines appeared everywhere, and people began protesting by banging pots and pans in the upper-class neighborhoods. These protests were called the cacerolazos.
It’s not what you think but thank you for the advice. \’ll be ready in an hour.
Shortages were becoming a daily reality for Chileans.
\ only have $5 dollars, but \’m going to make them stretch, my dear…
…hoarders and stockpilers should be sent straight to jail…
They have products, but these crooks are hiding them all!
…shut down the black market once and for all…
Thanks to a neighbor they found hidden stockpiles of sugar, detergent, coffee, rice, milk, and soap.
As you can see, it’s all being sold to the people in the neighborhood now.
Something wrong mister?
Nothing. \ was just thinking about the hopes all these people had…
Chile is starving, mister.
Those dreams are all foolishness, nothing more. Just stupid dreams.
January 23, 1972.
Allende’s weaponless revolution was facing a difficult challenge.
The extreme Left was also unhappy, for the Revolutionary Communist Party’s Maoists…
…the government was revisionist and its reforms were only a facade at the service of the bourgeoisie. ,
The Popular Unity faced its greatest crisis up to this point, while its opponents regrouped their forces.
…could not truly modify social structures…
January 20. Allende’s entire cabinet resigned.
The Christian Democrat Eduardo Frei harshly criticized what he considered the government’s economic errors.
…while insisting respect for the rules of democracy’s game.
Allende no longer had support in parliament, where he was confronted by the powerful Christian Democrats, whose split with the Popular Unity became worse by the day.
In Chile two elections were held on January 16 (the representative for Linares and the senator for O’Higgins).
In both elections the opposition triumphed. For MIR, this peaceful and legal revolution was a farce.
January 22. The senate approved the constitutional accusation against the Minister of the Interior José Tohá, stripping him of his office.
Maybe the argument was true, that the Chilean path to Socialism…
In this situation, Allende’s decisions became increasingly complex.
And this was precisely the reason that Allende had gained the attention, and in some cases…
…even the sympathy of many…
Sorry, sir. We are all out of cigarettes.
What?
The Directorate of Industry and Commerce gave the tobacco companies a short timeframe to reestablish the supply.
Between you and me, \’ve heard they are only distributing cigarettes to a select few.
Thanks.
SHIT!
Something wrong, Marcel?
And it’s just ramping up. The attacks are going to come from within and without.
No. Journalism, John, demands we witness the events.
“they shall not pass!” was shouted in Spain. Do you remember what happened after that?
Should we start packing our bags?
Speculation and stockpiling.
And lose our front row seats to history? No. \’m staying.
Even cynics have morals?
The old fox. \ really wished \ could tell him he was wrong.
In February of 1972 Allende restructured his cabinet.
Hernán del Canto replaced Tohá after his disgrace.
External aggression found an example to follow in the embargo on Chilean goods in the U.S. led by the Braden Cooper and Anaconda companies.
The headline: The Radical Left Party began supporting the government.
The moment that the North American companies have chosen to put their embargo into effect curiously coincides with the renegotiation of our external debt in Paris.
We propose the reestablishment of the rule of law; replacing the arbitrary will of the executive branch with legal norms.
The end goal is to strip the government of the most important legal means that it has used to create social change.
Before the government could recover from this loss and prepare a counterattack, the first pieces of evidence of external threats appeared:
Allende was facing the constitutional reform project HamiltonFuentealba from the Christian Democrats…
…that sought to halt the expropriations and nationalizations by the executive branch.
February 19. These constitutional reforms were approved.
We will not return the nationalized factories.
The scandalous revelations of a conspiracy between the CIA and ITT.
Eduardo Novoa Monreal. President of the National Defense Council. Juan Hamilton, Christian Democrat Senator. Orlando Millas, Communist Representative. Pedro Vuskovic, Minister of Economy.March 21, 1972.
The secret documents that were rescued from the shredder show that ITT was in regular contact with the CIA…
…and that at one moment had considered provoking a military coup to stop Allende from being elected.
The scandal put an end to Nixon’s supposed neutrality. From Paris, Allende announced the expropriation of ITT’s stock shares.
The U.S. Congress launched a series of investigations into the CIA’s undercover operations in Chile and ITT’s anti-Allende actions.
The indignation of the Chilean Left reaffirmed their suspicions… …of undercover operations by the North American government. The North American journalist Jack Anderson revealed secret memos from the International Telephone and Telegraph Corporation (ITT)… …and uncovered a conspiracy orchestrated by ITT, the CIA, the White House, and embassy officials. Osvaldo Olguín, Vice-President of the Christian Democratic Party. 75 Broad Street, Manhattan. ITT Headquarters. The conspiracy is just a smoke screen created by the government.1973
“I do not recall, but it is not true. It is not true and if it were true, I do not recall”.
– Augusto Pinochet
January 1973.
Fernando Flores, Minister of Finance, began a neighborhood rationing campaign through the problematic Supply and Price Committees (JAP).
The Supply and Price Committees are another way for the working class to participate. The committees do not belong to any party, they belong to Chile, comrade.
“Marxism has laid waste to the nation’s economy (…) now it proposes to destroy the public’s liberties”.
- Editorial in El Mercurio. January 11, 1973.
“Either the goods are distributed in an equitable way to each neighborhood or it will only be a privileged group that enjoys them…
March 4, 1973. Four million six hundred thousand voters would choose representatives after a season of aggressive electoral campaigns.
“…effectively establishing a rationing system which only accepts money”.
- Marta Harnecker in Chile Hoy Magazine.
The Supply and Price Committees strained the relationship between established businesses and customers.
They were accused of carrying out raids and illegal practices, provoking criticism from all sides.
Marxism will not be defeated just by winning these elections.
Do not let yourselves be fooled, those of you who do not go or do not dare to vote… …cannot mourn, after the fact, for what you did not defend like men.
The difference between Socialists and Communists were notorious.
To end it we must fight without fear, without vacillation, without insecurities or cowardice.
Eduardo
Rumors spread about a confidential report by MAPU which indicated…
…that the moderate Communist Party would likely work with the Christian Democrats.
The consequence: a radicalization of the extremes.
The Popular Unity government faced an opposition that had conglomerated as the Democratic Confederation (CODE). Frei, former president of the Republic and senate candidate. Pablo Rodríguez, Fatherland & Liberty.With more than 40% of the vote, the government increased its number of representatives and senators, saving Allende from a right-wing impeachment.
Neither shortages, inflation, nor internal rivalries could overthrow Allende.
The Left celebrated this unprecedented event.
The Right alleged electoral fraud. Some of those who had expected the defeat of the Popular Unity government fled the country.
In an effort to maintain their neutrality, Prats and the other military officials resigned from Allende’s cabinet.
April 26. For the first time ever, the Moneda was attacked with a Molotov cocktail. The Communist and Socialist parties’ headquarters were sacked.
April 27, 1973.
The workers from the industrial belts went on alert.
The worker José Ahumada was killed by machine gun fire and another six were injured while passing near the Christian Democrat headquarters in the capital.
Later, in a confusing incident, a member of Fatherland & Liberty died.
Two leaders from Fatherland & Liberty were arrested while attempting to smuggle weapons from Argentina into the country on a prop plane. The same plane that was implicated in Roberto Thieme’s disappearance on February 23.
April 12, 1973.
The Right, the Catholic church, and the armed forces saw Allende’s National Unified School’s educational reforms as a form of Marxist indoctrination.
The government indefinitely postponed the project.
April 18. The opposition announced a new constitutional accusation against Allende’s entire cabinet.
“The people have won a battle, but have not yet won the war”, - Carlos Altamirano, Secretary General of the Socialist Party.
The government sought to expropriate 93 large businesses. “This is the end of private business”, declared Orlando Saénz, President of SOFOFA.
May 15, 1973. A mining strike began in El Teniente and a new truck drivers’ strike was announced.
Free-for-all battles between workers and police were frequent.
News of bombings, strikes, and clashes with the police repeated daily.
June 7, 1973. The president of the National Party, Sergio Onofre Jarpa, openly demanded a change of presidential command…
“…without a change of government there is no possibility of halting Chile’s accelerated process of ruin and disintegration”.
the climate was one of total turmoil.
June 13, 1973. The Socialist Party’s secretary general, Carlos Altamirano, declared:
the violence was raging. The calls for a coup d’état were becoming more and more explicit.
“…the Right has (…) two tactics: (…) one, the tactic of the fascists led by Sergio Onofre Jarpa, who want a coup today, and the other, that of the rightwing Frei, who plans a coup for August or September”.
June 27. General Prats was the protagonist of a confusing incident that led to him firing his service weapon in a public place.
June 29, 1973. Under the direction of Commander Roberto Souper, a segment of the armored division #2 took up arms and arrived outside the Moneda riding in tanks.
This military protest became known as the “Tanquetazo”.
At this point, Allende made a desperate plea: “Let the people take to the streets, but not to be gunned down (…). If the time comes, the people will take up arms. But \ trust that the armed forces are loyal to the government”.
Was this attempted coup a rehearsal for future actions?
The Argentine cameraman Leonardo Henricksen filmed his own death at the hands of one of the conspirators. Prats personally put out the rebellion.August 9. Allende recruited commanders of the Armed Forces and Police into his new cabinet (the sixth during his presidency).
July 10. The Socialist representative Mario Palestro gave a fervent message to his constituents: “they will not trick us into provoking a civil war!”
July 13. MIR’s Miguel Enriquez called upon soldiers and police officers to disobey their superiors.
July 16. Fatherland & Liberty announced their transition to clandestine activity.
We ask that political leaders and the executive branch of the government exhaust all diplomatic options between them… we recommend a truce be called.
July 20.
July 26. The Assistant to the President of the Navy, Captain Arturo Araya, was assassinated in his home in Providencia.
Supported by gun control laws, soldiers began violent raids of factories and left-wing organizations in search of weapons.
August 8. The Navy court-martialed 23 men accused of subversion aboard the ships Blanco Encalada and Almirante Latorre.
August 8. Rafael Cumsille called a strike.
That same day, Augusto Pinochet from the Army, Gustavo Leigh from the Air Force, and José Toribio Merino from the Navy, assumed acting command of their branches of the armed forces.
It became common for right-wing women to toss wheat and corn at soldiers as they passed, calling them chickens or cowards.
August 21. Some 300 wives of military officials protested outside General Prats’ home, and they submitted a letter demanding that he take a position against the Popular Unity government.
Two days later, Prats resigned from his positions as Secretary of Defense and Commander of the Army.
August 23. After a meeting between Allende, Prats, and Pinochet, the latter was named the new commander-in-chief of the Army.
August 13. 253 terrorist attacks, 5 deaths, more than 100 injured, and millions in property damages were reported.
August 13. Allende described the transportation strike as “seditious, criminal, and subversive”.
August 28, 1973. Fatherland & Liberty, through Roberto Thieme, sent a chilling message: “We will overthrow the Popular Unity government, cost what it may. If thousands must die, so be it”.
The Cardinal Raúl Silva Henríquez emphasizes the Church’s position…September 4. The Popular Unity government commemorated its third anniversary with a massive and enthusiastic march. Taking advantage of the fact that the majority of workers were attending the anniversary ceremony, the Air Force destroyed the businesses Madeco and Mademsa.
Allende was clear in his speech:
“These tenacious and constant enemies existed before the election. Since (…) they have risen up with greater vehemence, seeing their interests threatened, seeing their privileged world sink”.
“We must be vigilant, very vigilant, without losing our serenity, with cool heads, and ardent hearts. We are facing a grave conspiracy”.
Carlos Altamirano (Socialist Party), óscar Garretón (MAPU), and Miguel Enríquez (MIR) were accused of inciting rebellion among certain sectors of the Navy.
Miguel Enríquez leaked information that suggested Rear Admiral José Toribio Merino was a conspirator in the coup threat.
The Army’s conservative sector no longer hid their discontent.
The transportation strike continued after almost seven weeks of halted work.
The opposition multiplied its declarations demanding Allende’s resignation.
September 9, 1973.
Disregarding a direct order from Allende, Carlos Altamirano gave a problematic speech in the Chile Stadium and admitted to meeting with naval petty officers.
\ am accused of attending meetings with marines and petty officers…
…\ was invited to hear their complaints against subversive acts allegedly perpetrated by naval commanders.
The coup cannot be fought with debates. The coup can be crushed by the strength of the working class…
Bombings and confrontations spread across the entire country.
Between July 2 and September 7 the military carried out 21 raids.
During one raid, the Air Force leveled Sumar Industries with a considerable amount of gunfire.
…the civil war in which the reactionaries are involved, stimulated, supported, and sustained by North American imperialism, can only be cut off by the true power of the people.
The feeling in the air was that Allende was willing to make certain concessions…
…but would never step down…
…and that a coup d’état was imminent.
September 10, 1973.
Between all the chaos and my work with the newspaper \ didn’t see my friends much.
Even more so because \ had heard the rumor that in the coming days…
…Allende could announce the risky maneuver of calling for a plebiscite…
Claudia told me about an exposition that Allende would inaugurate the following day at the State Technical University. She wouldn’t be going.
Was Allende in any position to win a plebiscite?
What was he talking about?
Or was it just an elegant way to step down?
Nobody wants you around here sticking your nose in things that have nothing to do with you.
But \ was interested in going to the exhibition.
\’m not gonna tell you twice.
…so that citizens could speak out about the current political situation.
Somebody who cares about you is asking you to leave the country ASAP. Understood?
When \ woke up, there was a man tied up in front of me.
We could kill you, but they want you clean and out of Chile.
You’re far luckier than your friend here, the big mouth.
FALSE FLAG!
Friend?
Remember, you’re not gonna want to be here… …when the ball drops tomorrow.
Later \ woke up in my own apartment and things began to fall apart with an unusual fury.
September 11, 1973.
"My words do not come out of bitterness, but rather disappointment.
“All persons offering resistance to the new government…
"Surely, this will be the last opportunity for me to address you.
"May they be the moral punishment for those who betrayed the oath they took as soldiers of Chile…
"History is ours, and it is made by the People.
"Workers of my country:
\ want to thank you for the loyalty you always had…
"…will abide the consequences…
\ will not resign!
being situated at a historic crossroads, \ will repay the loyalty of the People with my life.
"…otherwise the armed forces will act with the same energy and resolution…
They have the power, they could dominate us, but social processes are not stopped neither by crime nor by force.
"…with which they attacked The Moneda, with land and air forces."
"…in a man who was only an interpreter of your great yearnings for justice…
"…who gave his word that he would respect the Constitution and the law, and that I have done.