September 8, 2024, Santiago de Chile
Impunity Never! photo: Prensa Latina
Thousands of Chileans marched on Sunday to pay homage to the victims of Augusto Pinochet’s dictatorship, on the 51st anniversary of the coup d’état against the Popular Unity Government of former President Salvador Allende.
Marchers started at the Plaza de los Heroes on the Alameda Avenue at 8:00 a.m., they then moved on to pass by the La Moneda Palace, seat of the presidency, after that they hiked several more kilometers to the General Cemetery.
The pilgrimage closed roads and streets for public transportation and private vehicles for eight hours according to the Police Traffic Prefecture.
Today’s mobilization was called by the National Coordinator of Human and Social Rights Organizations, whose slogan is: “Yesterday’s Impunity is the Cause of Today’s Injustices.” Chile it should be remembered still retains the national constitution of the military dictator Pinochet.
According to reports from different Truth Commissions, the total number of victims of the Pinochet regime amounted to over 40,000, including those executed, disappeared, tortured and imprisoned. Official data has uncovered a total of 1,469 people who were detained-disappeared or executed without handing over their bodies during the 17 years of Augusto Pinochet’s military regime (1973-1990) or revealing the whereabouts of 1,100 that is still unknown. On the 51st anniversary of the military coup, the Government announced the decision to lift the secrecy of the Report on Political Prisoners and Torture.
Source: Prensa Latina