Prime Minister António Costa, speaking at the ceremony marking the 50th anniversary of the coup that ended Chile’s democracy in 1973, opined that “there is a certain irony” that preparations for April 25 had begun before that moment, suggesting that the Carnation Revolution would ultimately take revenge on “the dictatorship installed in that Latin American country.”
António Costa held this position at La Moneda Palace, headquarters of the Chilean government, where ceremonies took place to mark the 50th anniversary of the military coup led by General Augusto Pinochet, who overthrew democratically elected President Salvador on September 11, 1973. overthrew Allende. , took place. Pinochet’s dictatorship, officially responsible for some 3,200 murders, would last seventeen years, until 1990, two years after a popular decree removed him from power.
“It is with great pleasure that I accepted the invitation of the President of Chile, Gabriel Boric, to be present at these ceremonies,” the head of the Portuguese government said, adding that it is “a day to remember that democracy exists every day.” is achieved”. day”. For António Costa, September 11 “is a day to remember that if democracies are never achieved, dictatorships will always end too”. “They can last longer, they can last shorter, but dictatorships are never a solution and that is why they always have an end”he emphasized, before recalling April 25, 1974 and the end of the Estado Novo regime.
“This year, as we celebrate the 50th anniversary of the military coup in Chile, in a few months we will also celebrate the 50th anniversary of the Carnation Revolution, which ended a 48-year dictatorship in Portugal and opened up the country for development, European integration, peace and a relationship with all the countries of the world, in a very intense multilateral cooperation,” he stated. “There is a certain irony in this. Two days before the coup in Chile, the Portuguese army gathered to overthrow the dictatorship and restore freedom. It seems that our April 25 has avenged the dictatorship that was installed in Chile.”said Costa, who, at the invitation of the Chilean president, signed the ‘Santiago Declaration’, an international political commitment to defend human rights and democratic regimes in the world.
12,000 women watch
Around La Moneda Palace, 12,000 women dressed in black held a vigil that would evoke the crimes of the dictatorship, which were never brought to justice. “We stand in solidarity with the people who have been executed, disappeared, tortured and exiled, without justice to this day. The women’s movement was very important against the dictatorship and is now leading the demand for justice against impunity for crimes committed during the dictatorship.”Lídia Massardo, 57, told Lusa.
After leaving the government, Pinochet remained head of the army, a position independent of the Republic’s other powers, and later became a senator for life, a position he created to maintain power and impunity. He died in 2006 without being convicted.
With Lusa
Source: DN
