Fifty years since the coup d’état against Salvador Allende

Mr. Chair,

Permanent Representatives, Observers,

Mr. Assistant Secretary General,

Ladies and gentlemen,

It is an honor for me to address you today, at a moment of reflection and collective memory, to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the coup d'état in Chile that overthrew President Salvador Allende.

That event, which took place on September 11, 1973, marked a turning point in the contemporary history of Latin America and left an indelible mark on the political conscience of the region.

History teaches us that democratic stability is not a permanent state but an ideal that requires the constant commitment of everyone concerned.

The coup d'état in Chile was an event that shook the foundations of democracy in Latin America, and its reverberations were felt across the continent.

The interruption of the democratic mandate of Allende, a democratically elected leader, was a blow to confidence in democratic institutions and left a legacy of division and mistrust that still has repercussions.

The legacy of Salvador Allende in Chile is complex and many-sided, but unquestionably significant in the political and social history of the country and of Latin America as a whole.

Since his overthrow in 1973, the process of historical memory in Chile has been a tortuous road, shot through with the pain of the human rights violations of the Pinochet dictatorship, but also with a collective effort to recover and understand the meaning of the Allende period.

Museums, monuments and commemorations serve as spaces for reflection and dialogue about this crucial chapter of Chilean history.

A chapter that led to the installation of a military dictatorship that lasted 17 years.

During that period human rights were systematically violated, with forced disappearances, torture and the murder of thousands of Chileans, and of foreigners as well.

Those acts left deep scars on Chilean society, scars that have not yet fully healed.

But they also left scars, direct and indirect, on the Dominican Republic.

One of our own, for example: Juan Andrés Blanco Castillo.

When he was returning from studying abroad at the end of 1972, his father recounts, he arrived at Las Américas International Airport in Santo Domingo and was refused entry. The reason was none other than his having traveled to countries that were unacceptable at the time.

Juan Andrés was expelled from the Dominican Republic.

We expelled him from our own country.

And so he left. He went first to Venezuela, then to Uruguay, and finally found refuge in Chile, where from January 1973 he went on with his life.

He enrolled at the university as an engineering student; he was barely 25 years old.

On October 14, 1973, Juan was detained at his home in Villa Alemana and taken to the naval air base at El Belloto.

From that date nothing more was heard of him.

Some time later, testimony made it possible to reconstruct where he had been and what he was subjected to. Everything indicates that he was last seen in detention aboard an infamous Navy vessel known as the Lebu.

His body was found in the Valparaíso region at the beginning of 1974.

Only a few months ago, in 2022, after years in which the family of Juan Andrés and the Dominican government pursued the case as complainants, the Chilean courts handed down a conviction against the military men, members of the Air Force, who seized, confined, tortured, burned and murdered Juan Andrés, for the “crime of kidnapping with grave harm.”

In 2018 the University of Chile posthumously awarded him the degree of Ingeniero Comercial, with a specialization in economics.

Dear colleagues,

This process of historical memory is essential not only for Chile but for the entire region, as a reminder of the risks inherent in the erosion of democratic institutions and as a call to constant vigilance in the defense of human rights and social justice.

The commemoration of this anniversary also gives us the opportunity to reflect on the fundamental values that sustain the OAS: democracy, human rights, security and integral development.

It reminds us of the importance of strengthening our democratic institutions and of respecting the rule of law. It urges us to be vigilant in the protection of human rights and in the promotion of social justice.

It is in this context that the OAS must continue to play a proactive role in promoting democracy and human rights in the region. We must work together to ensure that events such as the coup d'état in Chile are not repeated.

The history of the coup d'état in Chile is also a lesson in the importance of regional unity. The absence of a collective and coordinated response at that critical moment is a reminder of what can happen when the international community fails to act as one.

Mr. Chair,

The suffering of the Chilean people under the dictatorship and that of our Dominican people under the regime of Rafael Trujillo are two painful chapters that share harrowing similarities in the history of Latin America.

Both dictatorships were marked by systematic violations of human rights that scarred the social fabric and the collective memory of both nations. The Dominican people, who lived under the yoke of Trujillo for more than three decades, understand deeply the pain and suffering that the dictatorship inflicted on the Chilean people.

In the Dominican Republic we too lived through our own coup against the first democratically elected government, 10 years earlier, when our progressive President Juan Bosch was deposed only a few months after taking office.

This mutual understanding of pain and oppression, of the flagrant overriding of the will of the people by force, creates a bond of empathy and solidarity between our peoples.

In remembering our own wounds we feel a deep sensitivity to the suffering of the Chilean people, and this shared understanding moves us to work together to ensure that the atrocities of the past are never repeated in the future.

The memory of these experiences must serve as a constant reminder of the importance of protecting and promoting human rights and democracy throughout our region.

In conclusion, the 50th anniversary of the coup d'état in Chile is an opportunity to reflect, to learn and to act.

It is a call to reaffirm our commitment to the democratic principles and human rights that are fundamental to the mission of the OAS. As we remember this somber event, let us renew our commitment to work together to build a more just, peaceful and democratic future for all the peoples of the Americas.

Thank you very much.