9/11/1973: Chilean coup d'etat.
US worked via the CIA to assist overthrowing of Chile's socialist government of President Salvador Allende
by General Pinochet, leading to repression and thousands of deaths. Most executed, died under torture or “disappeared”.
Margaret Thatcher ghoulishly thanked Pinochet for bringing "democracy to Chile" & he received support for years from Canadian ruling class
including Albertan premier Ralph Klein, the Fraser Institute, the National Post, members of the Progressive Conservative party and
Peter Munk, CEO of Barrick Gold, who praised Pinochet both at a 1996 stockholders meeting and in the pages of Time Magazine.
Working class people in Canada & progressive orgs like our party, Canadian Labour Congress, Task For on Churches & Corporate Responsibility
& local solidarity orgs did not support the criminal junta, however; & organized against it, forcing Canadian gov to accept more refugees.
Campaign to force the Trudeau gov to not recognize criminal junta was unsuccessful & Canadian companies remained the largest investors in
Chile (particularly mining companies), but it did reveal a spirit of international solidarity against imperialism with the power to force
certain changes that remains as necessary today.
Remembering the spirit of Salvador Allende and Unidad Popular, we say #HandsOffVenezuela! #HandsOffDPRK! #CanadaOutOfEverywhere!
In Toronto you can visit Salvador Allende Court & Victor Jara Lane, two streets off Ossington that remember two victims of Pinochet's terror
Comrades demonstrating on September 11th, 1984 at the US Consulate in Vancouver
1977: Ricardo Recabarren, Chilean exile living in Coleman Alberta. His father, two brothers & a sister-in-law were among the disappeared.
May 17, 1983: picketing the Chilean Consulate in North Vancouver
May 27, 1978 : Hunger strike at Canadian Memorial Church, aimed at compelling Chilean junta to release information on the disappeared
January 26, 1983: picketing at Chilean ship at Centennial Pier in Vancouver
September 13, 1979: Canadian Labour Congress & International Woodworkers of America convention delegates march on Chile boycott week
May 4, 1981 - Protesting at Consulate against May Day arrests in Chile
October 19, 1981: protesting Canadian Association for Latin America & the Caribbean conference of Chilean businessmen at Hotel Vancouver
September 16, 1977: picketing Vancouver liquor store along with South African Action Coalition
September 18, 1986 demonstrating against Inter American Press Association
December 2, 1973 - Hortensia Allende, widow of slain Chilean Popular Unity president Salvador Allende at rally in Vancouver
February 22, 1984 - Demonstration at Hyatt Regency, protesting Henry Kissinger visit
Critical for understanding Allende, the popular process, Pinochet, imperialism & the criminal junta is the work of filmmaker Patricio Guzman
In 1st part of Battle of Chile: Insurrection of the Bourgeoisie, similar tactics as are being deployed in Venezuela
Part 2: The Coup d'état
La Batalla de Chile: El poder popular
Guzman's later works are some of the most heartbreaking films ever made. Nostalgia for the Light
And finally 2015's The Pearl Button
Machuca (2004), about class and children and the period before and after the coup is also worth your time
Interesting notes on how overthrow of Allende's Unidad Popular government affected the social democratic government of Dave Barrett in BC
Social democratic capitulation & anti-labour behaviour in its wake...
Parti communiste du Québec protests La Esmeralda's arrival in Montreal this July, ship used for Pinochet-era torture
Commemoration tonight in Montreal. While fascist forces are mobilizing in Quebec & Canada, an opportunity to recall lengths to which capital
is ready to go to defend its power...
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