Santiago post Pinochet

Just a few weeks ago, I was walking through peaceful streets of Santiago that are now in flames. But even then, before ex-dictator Augusto Pinochet´s heart attack, the unresolved issues of the dictatorship were not far below the surface. Those guilty of the disappearances, kidnappings, and murders of the Pinochet regime have not been brought to justice, neither had Pinochet himself, who lived with continuing support from some quarters until his death yesterday. The families of those who lost their lives have never had their cases resolved. Many of the changes to the Constitution and the laws put in place under the Pinochet regime remain in effect.

¨It is better to remain quiet and to forget. That is the only thing we must do.
We must forget. And that won't happen if we continue opening up lawsuits,
sending people to jail. FOR-GET: That's the word."

(Former General Augusto Pinochet, September 13 1995, two days after the 22nd anniversary of the military coup, as quoted on the Chile Human Rights website.)

The Chilean people have not forgotten what happened, and neither should we.

The U.S. had a large part to play in the coup that overthrew the democratic government of Salvador Allende and put in place a dictatorship that lasted nearly two decades. Then-Secretary of State Henry Kissinger insisted that a successful socialist democracy in Latin America would be against U.S. interests, and the U.S. role in destabalizing the Allende government is well documented.

Let it never happen again.