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The
11th of September 2003 will mark an important chapter in the personal
stories of many Chileans and an important chapter in the struggle for
the advancement of Human Rights. 30 years have gone by since the dreadful
Tuesday morning when our beloved Martyr President Salvador Allende was
killed during the coup d'etat orchestrated by the CIA and the most undemocratic
forces in Chile. Ever since, our people have live in a vortex of terror,
injustice, humiliation and abuse.
In
these 30 years, all rights conquered with enormous effort and tremendous
lose of lives by the workers, peasants and First Nation people's have
been obliterated and the country sent back 500 years when the law of the
bully was brought to our land for the first time by the conquerors of
our land. The history of Chile is one of horror and war; Salvador Allende's
government was an exception in this dreadful history.
Salvador
Allende was a man who loved his people and was determined to a fair distribution
of resources and wealth through the democratic mechanisms at his disposal.
Salvador Allende was a law-abiding president and he remained true to his
vision until his last breath.
On
the Tuesday morning of the 11th of September 1973, Salvador Allende was
offered safety for himself and his family if he resigned as the president
of the country. Salvador Allende declined because he was the president
of his people and only the people had the right to ask him to leave. He
paid with his life the price of being an honest man and a man of honour.
He knew he would not be able to live with his conscience if he capitulated
like a coward leaving his people behind at the mercy of the murderous
regime that took control of the country after his death. This is why today
Salvador Allende shines like a star in the sky: the sky of Human Rights
and Human dignity.
There
are many extraordinarily committed people in Chile that in spite all the
many dangers this implies, worked throughout the dictatorship of Pinochet,
and still do to bring justice to the country. It is not revenge that we
seek but justice, as a girl 16 years old said in South Africa after the
fall of apartheid: I am prepared to forgive, but I need to know whom I
am forgiving and what i am forgiving.
We
cannot just forget, we would like to forgive, but forgiving can only happen
if justice is made and the people who have committed crimes of Lesa Humanidad
pay for their voluntary actions. One can be given the order to kill, it
doesn't mean one has to obey. One can be given the order to torture, it
doesn't mean one has to obey. One can be given the order to rape, it doesn't
mean one has to obey. We are born with the capacity to know right from
wrong, this is the simple truth of being human.
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