The dictatorship (1973-90) left 40,175 victims classified as politically executed, disappeared detainees and victims of political imprisonment and torture, according to official accounts. In addition, there were hundreds of thousands of exiles.
Within the framework of the commemoration, the government launched two weeks ago a National Search Plan to systematize information on a thousand missing people, with the aim of establishing step by step their final trajectory, which has been welcomed by family associations.
A divided country
Half a century after the military coup, Chile remains divided between those who defend and repudiate the dictatorship.
Chile is coming from turbulent years, not only because of the pandemic. At the end of 2019, it was shaken by a social outbreak, economic activity has slowed down and the country faces new and severe challenges in violence and crime.
Allende’s political heirs currently govern, but the Republican Party, which claims Pinochet’s legacy, won the recent elections of the constituents who are writing a draft Fundamental Charter to replace the one that was written during the dictatorship.
According to the Criteria survey, 49% consider that the commemoration of the coup “is irrelevant”, while 48% said that these acts “affect future coexistence.”
“The most revealing finding may be the signs of disconnection between the political class and the general public: a majority consider the commemoration to be inherently divisive and retrograde”; said consulting firm Teneo in London, warning that disenchantment could affect the second attempt to replace Pinochet’s Constitution, currently underway after a first failure.