11 de Septiembre

Hello Everyone,

September 11th is a date that everyone now knows around the world, but in Chile it has had special importance since 1973. That was the year that the democratically elected Socialist government of Salvador Allende was deposed in a military coup. The resulting dictatorship, led by General Agusto Pinochet, ruled Chile for almost 20 years and commited numerous human rights abuses. The anniversary is usually marked by street protests in Santiago. Although many people are still upset about the lack of persecution of military and police leaders after the return of democracy, the protesters are mostly students and other young people who are protesting the social ills of the moment, or simply looking for trouble.

A couple friends and I went down to La Alameda, Santiago's main thoroughfare, to watch the demonstrations. The atmosphere was fairly calm, although the Chilean riot police, the Carabineros, were out in force. The wore full body armor and many were on horseback. There were also large armored vehicles mounted with water cannons. South American protests have a tendency to get violent and many protesters wore masks and carried lemons to suck on if they were tear-gassed, a common anti-riot tactic. All was calm in the day time, and I got a few pictures of of the scene. I posted a few on the blog and more (including some from a hike I took later in the afternoon) can be found by following the link below. The protests did turn violent during the night in several poorer Santiago neighborhoods. Rioters set up barricades, lit bonfires, destroyed property and threw molotov cocktails at riot police. One Carabinero was shot and killed and over 200 were arrested.

As I mentioned before, these protests really had nothing to do with the coup, other than pro-leftist leanings among many of the rioters. Most are simply impoverished young people looking for trouble. It is interesting to look at this form of political expression as a result of Chile's neo-liberal economic program, which has helped the country grow economically but also increased the gap between rich and poor and forced many rural peoples to move to Santiago to find jobs. These urban poor see the current government as controled by America and the West, and as a "new dictatorship" because of its continuation of economic policies begun during the Pinochet regime. Their heroes are Allende and Che Guevarra, and they believe that free market economics have failed the Chilean people. On the other side are the Chilean middle and upper classes, many of whom believe that Pinochet, despite his brutality, was the best thing that ever happened to the country. Among the more well-to-do youth, a sort of political apathy has set in, as they are more concerned with making money and buying the lastest Western gadgets or clothes than with continuing the ideological battles of the past.

The coming weekend is an exciting one. On Friday, my group is going to visit the Chilean wine country and tour a few vineyards. Then, I am going to go with my host family to the coast to celebrate the Fiestas Patrias, which last until Wednesday. I should have lots of pictures to share with you guys. Speaking of, here are the ones I took yesterday.

http://rice.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2032118&l=f44bc&id=3004624

Once again, I love and miss all of you.

Daniel