Speech
Reconciliation and peace for Chile: Reflection 40 years on from september, 1973
Sebastián Piñera Echenique
President of the Republic of Chile
Good afternoon.
I have just arrived from the re-inauguration of the Plaza de la Constitución, which is one of the symbols of this, our Republic of Chile. And now we are here, assembled at La Moneda Palace, the home of every Chilean, to commemorate and remember the painful events which took place 40 years ago and which still divide part of our society.
As President of all of the Chilean people, I want to share some thoughts with my fellow Chileans.
Why is it good to remember?
Because the traumatic moments experienced by countries are like human wounds. It is not a good idea to ignore or cover them up, because that way they will never heal. Nor is it a good idea to constantly poke at them, as they can ultimately become gangrenous. What we must do is acknowledge them, clean them, and treat them so that they can heal.
Why should we remember?
To relive the same divisions, violence and hatred that caused so much damage in the past? Or to cast a light on the way forwards and learn from past mistakes so as to ensure we never repeat them?
This second option is, without doubt, the best for our nation’s soul. It is what the vast majority of the Chilean people want. And it is the path that this government, which I have the honor of leading, has been and will continue to be committed to taking.
We realize that when thousands of people suffer human rights violations, such as happened in Chile, there is no solution which can fix the pain and suffering caused. Unfortunately we cannot bring back the dead nor can we recover those who disappeared and restore them to their families. But we can and we must alleviate this pain, making progress in terms of truth, justice, reparation and reconciliation, as we have all done together, since democracy was restored. And we can and we must have greater respect and take better care of our democracy, our healthy coexistence and our Rule of Law, which, when all is said and done, constitute the best antidote for ensuring that those painful events never occur again.
The Unidad Popular Coalition Government and the Breakdown of Democracy
On September 11, 1973, a violent coup d’état put an end to the Unidad Popular government. This fractured our democracy and marked the start of 17 long years of military regime.
However, that painful fracture of our democracy was neither sudden, inopportune nor surprising. On the contrary, it was the foreseeable – though not inevitable – outcome of a long and arduous demise of republican values, of a progressive deterioration in civic fellowship and a serious fracturing of our Rule of Law.
In effect, from the 1960s, little by little, almost without us realizing, the good sense of Chilean society began to be replaced by overriding passions, divisive projects and the preaching of hatred.
Significant sections of Chile’s left-wing publicly announced their contempt for the existing democracy and insisted that it was legitimate to impose their visions and projects for the country through the use of force and violence should this be useful or necessary. The Unidad Popular government repeatedly transgressed the legislation and Rule of Law that was in force, and this was reported and denounced by the highest institutions of the Republic, such as the Supreme Court, the Chamber of Deputies and the office of the Comptroller General. This situation, together with bad public policies generated growing political, economic and social chaos, which seriously affected the lives of the Chilean people and the future of the nation.
Healthy republican dialogue and the search for agreement began to be replaced by intolerance and violence. For many, any Chilean who thought differently ceased to be an adversary to be persuaded and became instead an enemy to be destroyed.
The political atmosphere became strained and our democratic, pluralist and tolerant society began to be replaced by another society, marked by profound fractures, hatred and divisions between her own children, expressed as slogans that were as popular as they were unconducive. A senator declared his intention of denying “salt and water” (i.e. even the most basic support) to the government, which had recently been elected by an ample majority. One president claimed that he “would not change a single comma of his government program even for a million votes.” Another President said he was “not the president of all Chileans.”
Ultimately, the breakdown of democracy in 1973 meant the failure of a generation which was unwilling or unable to protect our democracy, our rule of law and our healthy coexistence. This does not mean that all of those involved were responsible nor that all are equally guilty. However, the responsibility for what happened was far more collective than is usually acknowledged.
The Military Government and Human Rights Violations
The coup d’etat of September 11, 1973, and the military government that followed, were not phenomena unique to Chile. They were a reality that extended to almost every country in Latin America against the backdrop of the Cold War. With them came significant restrictions on freedoms and painful, unacceptable human rights violations. The significant impact on these events by the two principle world powers of the time, locked in a difficult Cold War and divided by walls and the iron curtain, has been amply demonstrated. We must never allow this sort of foreign intervention to be repeated.
When looking at apportioning responsibility, there are various kinds that we must address. First is criminal responsibility. This applies to individuals and, under the Rule of Law, they must be tried and punished by the Courts of Law. There are also responsibilities of a political nature. These may be collective and are normally assessed and judged by the people. Finally, there are those of a moral character. These belong in the area of private conscience.
Some people would like to believe that the sole responsibility for what happened lay with those who committed or ordered others to commit human rights violations. This position is correct in terms of criminal responsibility. But it is incomplete and insufficient in relation to the other kinds of responsibility.
In my opinion, those who failed to respect the Rule of Law and promoted the intolerance, hatred and violence which ultimately led to the breakdown of democracy in our country, also share responsibility. At later stages, responsibility was shared by those who occupied senior positions in the Military Government or those who, as a result of position or influence, were aware of the situation yet failed to raise their voice, either because they put their own interests before principles, or because they succumbed to fear.
The Judiciary must also take some responsibility. In accordance with the Constitution and the laws of Chile, it was responsible for upholding human rights. It could have taken had a more decisive and effective attitude in defending human rights, by granting amparo remedy petitions and overseeing the Military Tribunals during times of war, but often failed to do so.
Responsibility also falls to some of the media, which often merely broadcast the Government’s official version of events and did not always investigate and report with the objectivity and truthfulness that the seriousness of the human rights abuses required.
Finally, many of us, who could have done more to defend human rights, must also carry our share of responsibility.
I am sure that if we could turn back the clock; if we were given the opportunity to deal with this situation again - sadly not a possibility – the vast majority of those involved would behave differently and better, before, during and after September 11, 1973. We would better defend our democracy and better protect the human rights of all.
With respect to the serious and repeated human rights violations which occurred in our country, we must be categorically clear: none of the events, causes, mistakes or responsibilities that led to the breakdown of democracy in Chile justify the unacceptable violations of the rights to life, integrity and dignity that followed the coup.
That is why it is both right and necessary to recognize, highlight and thank the many brave people and institutions that raised their voices and worked hard in defense of human rights. They include churches, the families and lawyers of the victims, human rights organizations, some judges and journalists as well as friendly nations who also made a valuable contribution.
Successes In Recovering Our Democracy
But just as the institutional breakdown, the weakening of civic relations and the loss of democracy in the 1970s became the “Great Failure” of an entire generation, the exemplary way in which we recovered and consolidated our democracy, healthy coexistence and republican institutions over the past 25 years constitutes the “Great Success” of another generation. Some of our political leaders belong to both.
Typically, transitions from a military regime to a democratic one occur in the midst of political crisis, economic chaos and social violence. However, the Chilean transition avoided such problems because, in the end, it was the result of broad-based national agreements, in which almost all sectors of Chilean society participated and contributed, with the wisdom and courage to give priority to a vision of unity and the future. This vision has benefitted us greatly and enabled us to build a much better Chile than that of 1973.
The armed forces and the police also participated in that process, and today we have highly professional and well-respected defense and law enforcement institutions that are fully subordinate to the constitution and democratically elected civil authorities.
Lessons for the future
This perspective on the past is necessary for building the future. We must ask ourselves what lessons we can learn from the past, to illuminate the future and help us avoid making the same mistakes or stumbling over the same obstacles. Undoubtedly there are many diverse lessons, but I would like to highlight the ones I believe are most important.
The first is to admit, without any reservations of any kind, that even in extreme situations of institutional breakdown, including external and internal wars, there are moral and legal rules that must be respected by everyone, combatants and non-combatants, civilians and the military, leaders and subordinates.
Therefore, phenomena such as torture, terrorism, politically motivated assassination or the forced disappearance of people can never be justified without falling into a severe moral vacuum. In other words, the end never justifies the means and there is no state of exception, or any revolution, regardless of its orientation or motivation, that supports the degree of violence or the human rights abuses that we experienced in Chile in those times. The human rights of all persons must be respected and defended universally, at all times, in all places and under all circumstances. And this moral obligation, to which all citizens are subject, must be honored with even more zeal and reason by the state and its agents, as representatives and guarantors of the common good.
A second lesson is that democracy, peace and civic fellowship are values that are more fragile than we believe, and therefore they must always be protected and strengthened, not only by our actions but also by our words and attitudes.
A third lesson is that there is a very close relationship between political democracy, economic progress and social justice, as these concepts mutually nurture and strengthen each other, such that the weakening of any one of them inevitably undermines the others.
A fourth lesson is the understanding that truth and justice are necessary for peace and reconciliation. That is why we must continue to move forward in our search for greater truth and justice. Those who have relevant information have the moral obligation to disclose it, and our courts are responsible for continuing to investigate the truth and mete out justice.
But healing the wounds of the past and strengthening our reconciliation also requires magnanimity, generosity and the capacity to ask for and grant forgiveness, which is undoubtedly the most noble and intimate area of the human conscience.
Towards a Culture of Human Rights
Our government has taken up with great energy and decisiveness, the causes of national reconciliation, the strengthening of our democracy and the promotion of the fundamental rights of humans, from the moment they are conceived until the time they pass away naturally.
For that reason, we set up the National Institute of Human Rights, which oversees and defends the human rights of all persons. We also submitted a bill to establish the Human Rights Undersecretariat as part of the Justice and Human Rights Ministry, and this organism will coordinate and be responsible for all government efforts in this area. Moreover, we instituted reforms in the system of military justice, clearly limiting its jurisdiction to what is strictly military and always excluding, under all circumstances, matters involving civilians.
And that is why we improved the Anti-terrorism Law, which is essential in all democratic societies, by improving the classification of crimes, strengthening due process and streamlining sentencing.
That is also why we enacted the Anti-discrimination Law, to more effectively combat arbitrary discrimination in our country.
That is why we have incorporated lessons on a true culture of respect for human rights into our educational system and state organisms.
The government’s commitment to strengthening and revitalizing our democracy has been expressed in important reforms such as the implementation of automatic voter registration and voluntary voting, a system of voluntary, binding primary elections to choose candidates, and the direct election of regional councilors, as well as bills introducing a new Law on Political Parties and a new electoral system.
Final Thoughts
I want to end this short speech with three brief reflections and an invitation to all my fellow Chileans.
First: The past has already been written. We can remember it, study it and discuss it, but we cannot change it. Therefore, we should not be held prisoners or hostages to it. Because when the present is too deeply anchored in the past, we lose the future. After all, three of every five Chileans today had not even been born in 1973, and more than eight of every 10 was a minor when the coup d’etat occurred. We cannot allow the older generations to pass on to newer generations the divisions, hatred and conflicts, which caused so much damage, pain and suffering. Today, as Chileans we must take up our pens, overcome the past and freely mark out the roads to a better future.
My second reflection is that achieving peace, civic fellowship and reconciliation is more than simply a goal; it is a process that requires ongoing effort and a generous and constructive attitude, to which all of us must contribute, without exception. In this area, once again the citizens of Chile appear to have moved ahead of our political leaders in wisdom and generosity.
My third reflection is that over the last 25 years, Chile has had to face two transitions. The first was the transition from a military government to a democratic government. We made that transition successfully. The second, the new one, is the transition toward a developed country, without poverty, with greater justice, with real opportunities for all and with solid moral values. This transition is now underway and it is the responsibility of our generation, the generation of the Bicentenary, to ensure that it is completed successfully by the end of this decade.
Therefore, I want to conclude by inviting all of my fellow Chileans to remember and commemorate, peacefully and thoughtfully, this 40th anniversary of the coup d’etat of September 11, 1973, with a true sense of unity, nation and the future. Because unity is the root of our strength and division is the seed of our weakness. And we also know that beyond any legitimate differences we may have, we all love our Chile and we all want a better future for our children, their children and those yet to come. And therefore, we must give priority to what unites us, because it is much stronger than what divides us. That’s why, and as a symbol of this coming together, we have opened wide the doors of La Moneda Palace, which belongs to all Chileans, so that every weekend they can visit and be a part of it, and so that it shall always be a symbol of Chileans’ unity and faith in the future.