Chile, 40 Years Later …
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Chile, 40 years later … IN MEMORY OF 11 FRENCH HOSTAGES MURDERED BY PINOCHET 11.09.2013 : 40 years after SALVADOR ALLENDE’s death This text may be of interest to you, for one or two reasons 1st Reason: If you consider that Human Rights must be prioritized above everything else. It may interest you if you consider that there is no case for wich Torture should be allowed. Similarly, if you consider that in politics the end can not justify the means. 2nd Reason: If you consider that it is important to give consideration to the public interest, then this text can be of interest to you. Similarly, if you consider that our system contains unjustified inequalities that need to be corrected. For all of these reasons, thank you and happy reading. 1 A French hostage survivor, give us his testimony 40 years later … … Contents 1 - Introduction 3 2 - In memory of eleven French hostages murdered by Pinochet's regime 4 3 - Justice for the French hostages murdered by Pinochet's regime 8 4 - The dictatorship reaches out to Argentina and Uruguay 9 5 - In memory of sixteen French hostages murdered in Argentina 10 6 – Pinochet’s Dictatorship - More than 3 000 murdered and disappeared 13 7 - The pain of families 16 8 - Political repressive organizations and the extreme rightwing civilians 18 9 - The fate of the disappeared 20 10 – Pinochet’s French hostages who survived 22 11 - Prison and torture: reparation, but with impunity 23 12 - Torture: detailed testimony of a French survivor 27 13 - Chile: level of the exile according to the UN - "Exonerados" 36 14 - Civilians' villainous vengeances against the "losers" 38 15 – Party Politics, negationism and moral crisis in Chile 40 16 - Evolutions in Chile: macroeconomic Analysis 48 17 - Chile, country of disparities 55 18 - Neocolonialism and racism - Disparity factors 62 19 - Chile: marxist socialism and fascist liberalism 68 20 - Chile: evolutions of a fragile democracy 75 2 A French hostage survivor, give us his testimony 40 years later … … 1 - Introduction Many things have already been written about Chile, but little by the French for readers who have a European grid. I was born in Chile of French parents. Having lived my youth in Chile, I subscribed to the political project of Salvador Allende and I witnessed events that followed the coup d'état of September 11th, 1973. I was repatriated on November 9th, 1973, almost two months after the coup d'état. In Algiers, where I lived until 1981, I actively participated with Chilean organizations to denounce the abuses and the grave breaches to human rights committed by the Pinochet dictatorship. Although I’ve lived mostly outside of Chile - I have only visited Chile in 1987 and in 2008 - I’ve always felt close to the fate of the Chileans. I got back my Chilean nationality only after the end of the dictatorship. On the occasion of the 40th anniversary of the death of Salvador Allende, I offer my testimony about these 40 years, with the decline of the time passed and the breaking of the law of silence imposed by the dictatorship. This is my duty of memory for the eleven murdered French and all the victims of this fascist regime. For this reason, I pay homage: To the eleven French hostages murdered by the Pinochet regime, To the sixteen murdered French hostages and all the victims of Videla, To those murdered and disappeared by the Pinochet regime, as well as their families, To all men and women tortured by the Pinochet regime, to the exiles, to the “exonerados” and to the victims of the politically-motivated job terminations These realities force us to answer the following questions : Why so much violence? In this document I try to explain, on the basis of economic data, why and how the coup occurred in Chile. Without this perspective, this document would be a 'trivial' expose of the misfortunes of the Chilean people. What traces have these events left on the Chilean people? My intention is that the reader understands the nature of the moral crisis that Chile faces. What economic developments are possible for the people of Chile? I try to disseminate basic economic concepts to analyze the development experienced by Chile before, during and after the Popular Unity, and during and after the Pinochet regime. Relative to inequality, what changes and what comparisons can be made between the various periods and between various countries? I try to popularize the concepts of the main indicators of inequality. Have racism and the range of ethnic origins of the Chilean people played any role at all? I present my affirmative answer in this regard. How to represent the “real” Chilean experience (and not just emotionally or proactively) in the context of doctrinnaire schemes? Can we go towards a more just society, a multi-party democracy without weakening the continuous improvement of the standard of living and the respect for the ecological balance in our planet? What political lessons can be drawn? I present my personal thoughts on this subject. This tribute to the victims also wants to be 'useful' by drawing lessons and providing some reflexive enlightment to the reader. In memory of all the victims of Pinochet. Saint Dizier, September 11th, 2013 Félix Manuel LABORDE ETCHEPAREBORDE 3 A French hostage survivor, give us his testimony 40 years later … … 2 - In memory of eleven French hostages murdered by Pinochet's regime AMIELE BAQUET, Marcel-René This Frenchman, mechanic officer, lived on the border between Chile and Argentina. Born in Limoges, he was 35 years old during his disappearance, February 9th, 1977. This disappearance remains the most mysterious within the framework of the Operation Condor (coordinated by the dictatorships in Chile, Argentina and Uruguay). The absence of any trace about the conditions of his arrest (he was most probably arrested in Las Heras, near Mendoza, a city that is close to the border with Chile where he lived) did not allow the establishment of a file to bring justice to his case at the Paris trial of December 8th, 2010. CHANFREAU, Alphonse Alphonse Chanfreau was arrested, with his wife, Erika, on July 30th, 1974. Student of philosophy, this activist of the MIR (Movimiento de la Izquierda Revolucionaria) was 23 years old. He spent fifteen days at the detention/torture center located at London street No. 38, and subsequently in the Villa Grimaldi (headquarters and center of torture of the DINA in Santiago). Erika, who was expelled from Chile in November, 1974, has delivered this testimony: "[ ] every time Alphonse came back from interrogation and torture, he was postrated with grief and regularly moaned. “Sometimes, he was not capable of eating the little food we were given. [ ] he was tortured, [ ] I heard his screams from the ward where he was in”. On August 13th, 1974, Alphonse Chanfreau was removed by his executioners from the Villa Grimaldi with six other prisoners. His wife never saw him again... CLAUDET, Jean-Yves Jean-Yves Claudet Fernandez, activist of the MIR and responsible for his international relations, was arrested in Argentina on November of 1975 by the Batallion of Intelligence 601 and transferred to the Chilean DINA. He was 36 years old. He had left to France after having been arrested in Chile twice, on 1973 and on 1974. He had returned to Buenos Aires in October, 1975. Proofs have been collected about the collaboration between the agents of the DINA (Dirección de Inteligencia Nacional) and the Argentine military authorities (Colonel José Osvaldo RIBEIRO). A representative of chilean national directorate for intelligence (DINA) in Buenos Aires latr on informed, in a memorandum sent to his syperiors, that Jean-Yves «Ya no existe » (do not exist any more). Disappeared since that moment, the conditions of his death in Argentina remain not clarified. JARLAN POURCEL, André This French priest was murdered in Santiago, on September 4th, 1984, the eleventh year of the dictatorship. André JARLAN POURCEL was 43 years old. He was a vicar of the parish Nuestra Señora de la Victoria and was shot dead (while he prayed at his home) by the police (Carabineros) during the tenth National Day of Protest. As for the case of Enrique ROPERT (see below), among others, to have been able to get back his body did not allow to include him as a victim in the trial led in France on December 8th, 2010. 4 A French hostage survivor, give us his testimony 40 years later … … KLEIN, Georges Georges KLEIN, doctor, assisted president Allende up to the coup d'état. This psychiatrist, communist activist, was arrested during the grip of the presidential palace Moneda. He was tied with wire by feet and hands, thrown and piled up in a garbage truck, and then taken to the Tacna Regiment with 48 other prisoners. According to the testimonies of some survivors, on September 13th, 1973, “he was taken to the shooting range of Peldehue (30 kilometers from Santiago), where he was shot dead with 20 other prisoners, by orders of major general Rafael Ahumada Valderrama. MENANTEAU ACEITUNO, Humberto Juan Carlos He was detained by the DINA at the end of 1974 by the DINA, and was released and imprisoned back several times in the Villa Grimaldi. In this period of time, he was forced to declare (with other activists of the MIR), in a television broadcast, that the MIR was overcome and that the organization had to give up its demands. His parents were French, he was married and had a child. He was released for the last time in September, 1975, and then detained for last time on November 19th, 1975.