Plainclothes police officers forced me into a car and blindfolded me. They could hit me freely… And they hit you? Yes, they hit me, asking me who was with me at the demonstration...”
40 years ago, a coup d’état overthrew the government of Salvador Allende. Prepared by the United States, organized by the CIA, perpetrated by the military. The first attempt at a peaceful and democratic socialist revolution was crushed in blood. Only President Allende and a handful of those close to him resist the bombing air force and the shelling tanks. Armed with machine guns, there are around thirty of them defending Chilean democracy which is faltering... On the airwaves of the last radio still capable of broadcasting, the warm timbre of Salvador Allende's voice...
“During a historic moment, I will pay of my life my loyalty to the people. And I affirm it with the certainty that the seed that we have planted in the worthy conscience of thousands and thousands of workers cannot be definitively mowed down.”
After more than 13 hours of flight, the plane approaches Santiago... I return to Chile... This country in which I lived for several years...
I come to look for what remains of Salvador Allende, of his dreams of justice and his political projects… Difficult to imagine what his dreams were half a century later, he himself would not recognize his country.
After socialism in democracy, Chile experienced economic deregulation in dictatorship. A strange fate for this small Latin American country... Yesterday's example of the European left, today's model of the ultra-liberal right...
In the heart of the business district, nicknamed Sanhattan, a contraction of Santiago and Manhattan, the economy market seems to have won the game... But this is only a part of reality... Another Chile pulsates... The hidden memory of Salvador Allende...
In the center of the city, the Alameda, the main artery of Santiago... In the newsstands, the Chilean press is now free...
The dictator Augusto Pinochet left power 23 years ago... Democracy has returned... But in front of the Presidential palace, the army is still there... Today Wednesday, the parade guard in front of La Moneda… Like every week. It’s time for succession. The start of the show.
At the corner of Morandé Street, which runs alongside the Moneda Palace... I find two people who are dear to me... They helped me write a book about Salvador Allende...
Patricia Espejo, the President's secretary... And Pedro Matta, a lawyer and human rights defender… Hello! Good morning ! It’s been so long… So many years have passed without seeing us. How are you ? Well, I'm doing very well. Hello Thomas, it’s a pleasure to see you! How are you ? So, shall we go to La Moneda? Here we go.
With them, I go to the gates of the presidential palace. / Behind these walls, on the first floor, is the Toesca salon, where the president killed himself. For three months, I have been asking for permission to film this piece, without success. Under the discreet lens of the military, I try one last time with the help of Patricia and Pedro. Is the entry ban permanent? No, it’s more complicated than that… And the Chilean citizens? They can take a tour with a guide. With a guide? And on the first floor? No, we can't go there.
Impossible to enter... to access a place which for many, is a symbol of the history of this country. Paradoxically, a few meters from the Palace, the statue of Salvador Allende dominates the square. /
40 years after his death, the work of memory remains a work in progress... In Chile, two visions of History clash... Those of Allende's enemies, and that of his supporters...
This is where President Allende is dead ? If you look from around the corner, it’s the fourth window. This is the Toesca lounge. Where the President committed suicide, so as not to surrender to the military. Why do you think we can't access the place where President Allende died? This salon was redone during the mandate of Socialist President Michelle Bachelet, it was open to the public, with certain restrictions obviously. We couldn't go there every day. But today, it’s incredible! With this government, we can no longer visit this historic place. I come to La Moneda frequently, during visits that are authorized by the Palace, and I bring students here, mostly from the United States. And this year, I was systematically refused access to the living room where President Allende died.
In power since 2010, the conservative government of Sebastian Pinera seems to me to be obscuring the cumbersome memory of the coup d'état.
In your opinion, what version of history is being given to this school group that we saw entering the Palace this morning? To these young people, we tell a distorted story not only of this place, but above all of an important part of the History of Chile. I am certain that we are not showing them the location of the death of President Allende, nor are we telling them what happened here on September 11, 73. This is not just hiding a part of the History of Chile, it is much more serious. This is lying about the History of Chile.
A few meters further, 80 rue Morandé... The door through which all the Chilean Presidents entered and left ... Until the day of the coup d'état. This door was closed by the dictatorship, after the coup, just after the lifeless body of the president was evacuated. This door is therefore a symbol of the dictatorship's intention to erase part of Chile's history. Is it through this door that the last fighters of September 11, 73, left? Indeed… Through this door came the members of the group who accompanied President Allende. This group was targeted by the soldiers, then forced to lie down on the road. They were then threatened by a tank ready to attack them.
As for the remains of the President-martyr, it was transported 120 km away. Viña del Mar, the Garden City, on the edge of the Pacific Ocean... This is where Salvador Allende was buried.
At the cemetery, I have an appointment with Patricia Espejo. His closest collaborator, the one who knew everything about his life. For years she kept silent. “We are in the Santa Ines cemetery, the place where, one sad and painful morning, the military buried Salvador Allende, hidden, in the greatest secrecy. Only his widow Tencha, his sister Laura and his nephew Eduardo Grove were present… Is this the grave? Yes, this is the grave, the grave of the Grove family, Allende's relatives. Since then, the body of Salvador Allende has found a more official burial. “Long live our President Salvador Allende. And may he rest in peace.” 40 years later...
It was logical that Allende gave his life. If he had not done so, the President would not have respected what he said he was. I believe that this is Salvador Allende's strongest heroic act.
Allende's political journey ended in this cemetery... Ironically, he also began in this place... At the burial of his father...
Here he made an oath that he would carry out what he would do... his father had always believed. He was going to work for the most deprived... Make a democratic revolution... In a country that was difficult, where social inequalities were immense.
Everything began in Viña del Mar... Defending the poorest, fighting injustices, this will now be his fight. Salvador is not yet Allende: he is only 23 years old...
Allende will be one of the founders of the Chilean Socialist Party in 1933. He created the section of Valparaiso, his hometown... He became a deputy there at the age of 27, before becoming Minister of Health of the Chilean Popular Front the following year.
In a continent in turmoil, Allende has chosen his path: that of democracy... Ballots, not guns...
In this country where 40% of people live in extreme poverty, where no children of peasants or no worker has access to university, Allende's projects are radical: Increase in wages, school and housing for all, access to care for the most deprived... His strategy? Popular Unity, made possible by the union of the left...
After 3 failures in the presidential election, it finally allowed him to access the supreme office in 1970...
To make his program a reality, Allende surrounded himself with very young collaborators... Among them, Patricia Espejo, Anibal Palma, Minister of Education, Jorge Arrate, economic advisor... They spent 1000 days with President Allende... I found them in the restaurant where they had lunch at the time... It is a historic place? The Presidents of the Republic came here. You have photos of all the Presidents of the Republic, with the exception, naturally, of that of the dictator.
On the evening of the victory, Jorge and Anibal are still only socialist activists... Patricia works in a hospital... Do
you remember the night of the victory on September 4, 70? Patricia: I remember... We were at the hospital... We were keeping guard because we thought there might be clashes. There was a group of doctors, listening to the radio, making phone calls to find out what was happening... And there, the announcement of the victory made us cry. Even the strongest doctors wiped away tears. We took to the streets through Providencia to Fech, the Federation of Students of Chile, the most disturbing thing was the silence. Because Providencia was a neighborhood of well-off people. A silence... All the windows were closed, there was not a single light... like in an empty country. And we arrived at Fech, where we saw Allende who was really happy... He was beaming with happiness! I believe that I saw his idea of so many years of fighting for a better country come to fruition. I remember that at that moment, people were dancing, playing music, around him everyone was really very happy.
When we talk about this connection of Allende with young people, it is not only the speeches on the balconies of the Federation of Chilean Students, it is also in the composition of his government. Never in the history of Chile has there been a cabinet with as many young people as during the government of President Allende...
you told me an incredible anecdote... “It was a Saturday morning... around 9 o'clock the telephone from my bedside table rings. I pick up. “Jorge?”… It was the President’s voice. I told him “Yes, Sir”. He said to me: “Jorge, I need to speak to you immediately. Come without delay to the presidential residence.” “Very well Mr. President, I’m coming, but I’m going to take a little time because I have to shower. » He said to me: “You, a young man, at 9:30 in the morning on a Saturday are you still in bed? » “Yes, Mr. President.” And he asks me: “Are you alone? » “Yes, Mr. President.” And he said to me: “Look, in addition to being lazy, you’re an idiot.”
The President uses his humor to relieve the tension... In the Palace of La Moneda, the days are heavy, the task colossal... The people are waiting for the promised reforms... “What he announced in his program, he achieved. And that provoked great resistance from conservative circles. Before, as today, in Latin America, we are used to promises being nothing more than campaign propaganda.”
Were you aware of the risks? He had the absolute desire to continue his program. So he anticipated that there would be a very strong conflict, and it actually took place, a violent confrontation with the right-wing groups, the intelligence agencies of the capitalist countries and he knew that he was putting his life in danger. He always knew that. We all heard him say, he often said it, that they were going to take him out of La Moneda “feet first”.
Premonitory thought... Allende was disturbing... A measure will seal the fate of the Chilean experience and the destiny of Allende... A campaign promise that has become the emblematic project of Popular Unity... The one who thought it up, and carried it out, It's Jorge Arrate. At the time, he returned from the American University of Harvard to participate in the government. He is one of the main actors of this socialism in democracy. Were you aware at the time of what you were achieving? We knew that the Chilean experience attracted a lot of attention from foreign countries. We had important visits from personalities… I was there when Fidel Castro came, and when a delegation came to Chile led by François Mitterrand… They came to see what this Chilean path to socialism was, which was being done without weapons, by electoral means. But not only through the electoral route, it was also through the route of social mobilization, but peacefully.
Of President Allende's projects, which ones caused the most problems for the United States and large multinational companies? J: Definitely the nationalization of copper.
The nationalization of copper, the country's primary resource. The project should make it possible to finance social reforms. But it directly affects the interests of 3 North American multinationals, which exploit the red metal in Chile... I participated in the study that the government had carried out. In this study, we measured the rate of profits they obtained in Chile, and throughout the world, but also in their countries of origin, the United States. The difference was staggering! By investing in Chile, they had profit rates of 40% or 50 % per year. Whereas in their mines that they operated in the United States, the profit rate was in the single digits.
To determine the level of compensation for multinationals, Chileans must set an acceptable profit rate... If they choose too high a level, this will enshrine the right of companies to exploit the resources of underdeveloped countries. If it is too low, the measure will be economically questionable. How was the limit set? By establishing this rate, Allende knew that he was setting a precedent for other Third World countries. And that if he set a rate of 25% or 30%, he would stick a knife in the back of these countries which hoped to recover ownership of their natural resources. It was a very important element. The other significant element was that the rate had to recognize that capital could generate profits! The President therefore looked for an intermediate, reasonable rate, and it appeared to him that it was 10%.
10%... A rate far removed from the enormous levels of profits made by multinationals in Chile for years... The calculation is relentless... To nationalize, the Chilean state does not need to compensate North American companies... What
if these men had been right? Consider that there are excessive profits... The idea at 40 years old... It seems to me, however, still so relevant today...
And Salvador Allende's speech to the UN, in October 1972, is further proof... When he comes to New York to defend his political doctrine. And warn the world of a new danger.
We are facing a real head-on conflict between large corporations and states. The latter appear to be parasitized in their fundamental decisions – political, military and economic – by global organizations which do not respond legally to any Parliament, nor indeed to any institution representing the collective interest. In one sentence, the entire political structure of the world is being undermined. Large multinational corporations do not only attack the interests of developing countries, their devastating and uncontrolled action is also expressed in the industrialized countries where they have their headquarters. It is our faith in ourselves that nourishes our faith in the great values of humanity. With the certainty that these values must prevail, that they cannot be destroyed! »