A long mural to erase the horror: the colors to cover the cries of the prisoners, the drawings so as not to forget the torture scenes. Next September 11 will be the 50th anniversary of the coup by Augusto Pinochet. Many know what it was; few remember the deaths, the dead, the disappeared, the terror that he expressed above all from 12 September to the end of November 1973.
At least 20,000 people, mostly young students and workers, men and women only suspected of being sympathetic to the left, were taken from the streets and at home and locked up in the National Stadium which was transformed into a large concentration camp. No one knew why he was accused, of what, when he would be tried, when released. The prisoners remained massed on the bleachers or in the middle of the field and waited only for the uniformed thugs to pronounce their name. There were horrific violence and actual executions. The order was to exterminate the Communists. But few of those locked up were.
Chile, protests after the no to the new Constitution: clashes with stones and sticks, the police chase the demonstrators with water cannons
by Elena Basso
Outside, in anguish, mothers and fathers asked after their children. Only from trapdoor number 8 was it possible to see what was happening outside. “We took off a garment with which we could be recognized and waved it high, so that our loved ones knew where we were and would come looking for us in the following days”, recalled those who were lucky enough to be saved. The majority disappeared into the black hole of the disappeared. Who was tortured to death, who was raped, who was thrown into rivers or ditches now dead. A massacre, a real genocide.
To commemorate that tragedy desired and carried out by the general who managed to die of old age in his bed, despite being pursued by an international arrest warrant, accomplice Margaret Thatcher who refused to execute it, the gray concrete walls were covered by a long colorful mural with contributions from artists, singers and actors from 19 countries.
Chile, a chorus of no for the first lady who would like to abolish a role she considers “antiquated”
by Daniele Mastrogiacomo
The work opened the thirtieth edition of the Santiago a Mil International Festival, one of the main ones in Latin America. Throughout the month of January, he writes the country from Santiago, 130 theater, dance, music, installation, performance and visual arts shows are planned. “Theatrical reviews”, explains the director of the Festival Carmen Romero“resumes the point of suspension that the country experienced with works inspired by that dark stage and returns to wondering where the disappeared are”.
“One of the plays, fait accompli”, add the organizers, presented for the first time in 1981 by the playwright Juan Radrigan, “was written during the dictatorship, against the dictatorship, yet still today it takes on a dimension that we never expected. Because it touches on very topical issues: from feminism, to private property, to the Constitution, to poverty. But also climate change and migrant flows. Radrigán appears as a seer”.
The mural, the Spanish newspaper explains, commemorates the coup in the National Stadium, which will host the Paralympic Games in November; it shows the prison, alternates the music with the ruined faces of those who were being tortured, tells the drama of the young raped women, retraces the nightmare of searching for missing prisoners. Even the prisoners of the time and even their grandchildren made it. A way to unite three generations affected by the same tragedy. To remember, not to forget, to prevent it from happening again.