Chile's 'darkest day' remembered in exhibit
A group of five men, called Alas, having been collecting artifacts such as books and art banned during Chile's Pinochet's reign of terror.
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It’s considered Chile’s darkest day.
On Sept. 11, 1973, ruling president Salvador Allende and his democratically elected socialist government were overthrown in a bloody military coup that saw the country’s military murder, kidnap and imprison thousands of citizens and establish Augusto Pinochet as its brutal dictator.
Forty years later the country is still healing, but the event and ensuing nightmare are still etched in the memory of five Toronto men — all born in Chile — who remember that fateful day and are putting on an exhibit of photos, posters, art and books that were banned by the new regime.
“It was my birthday … I was turning 12,” says Alex Ciudad, 51, one of the organizers who came to Canada in 1990. “I saw the bombing of the palace … I remember the smoke.”
A curfew was immediately put in place with the public being told that anyone found on the streets would be shot on sight.
“Of course, none of my friends came to the party … it’s something a young person would remember,” says Ciudad. “But I also remember being very scared, everyone was.”
The exhibit that runs to Sept. 11 at the Beit Zatoun House, 612 Markham St. (free admission), was compiled by the men over the years. Much of the material was produced before the coup and the rest came from various countries during Pinochet’s reign.
Ciudad said the items in the exhibit — called El Derecho de Vivir en Paz (The right to Live in Peace) — were hidden by the public during the dictatorship. More and more items are surfacing as time goes by.
During the Pinochet era people risked their lives to preserve the items. Through their travels, scouring the internet and through word of mouth, the event organizers have assembled a sizable collection.
“We have magazines, films, records, cassettes, art,” says Ciudad. “They were considered subversive by the Pinochet regime, dangerous to his government, and if you had any of them in your possession you could be detained, tortured … you could disappear because you wanted to know the truth.”
One of the more interesting pieces is the front page of one of the country’s leading newspaper published the day after the coup.
The men said the daily — El Mercurio — actually supported the coup.
The group called Alas, includes Helmut Sabando, Leo Leiva, Lautaro Fuentes and Nano Valverde. Together they describe themselves simply as “fathers who want to pass on a piece of our life to our children and community.”
Ciudad says the exhibit will hopefully rekindle the city’s collective memory of the event and that people — who lost loved ones or have been forever disabled physically and emotionally — are still suffering.
Fuentes, 45, who was 5 years old the day of the coup, said his father, a professor at the time, went into the centre to help. Because of his activism, he was forced to flee the country for eight months. “Then my mother was taken away for 30 days,” he says. “My older brother was just 10 — he had to take charge of the (five) kids.”
Sabando, 51, said his father was in the military at the time and suffered due to the duress eventually detaching himself emotionally from his children.
The exhibit culminates Sept. 11 with an audio presentation and music by Moreno and Valverde.
Conservative estimates say 30,000 citizens went “missing” during Pinochets reign of terror that eventually ended in 1990 from “western pressure” and a referendum. Allende broadcast a speech in a valiant attempt to bring hope to his people but, after defending himself with a machine gun, he took his with the same firearm.
The free exhibit runs until Sept. 11 at the Beit Zatoun, 612 Markham St., 647-726-9500
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