THERE are historical events that make their mark on a generation, and the fascist coup in Chile, 50 years ago on September 11, 1973, was certainly…
THERE are historical events that make their mark on a generation, and the fascist coup in Chile, 50 years ago on September 11, 1973, was certainly one of them. Those coming of age and interested, as I was, learned lessons about how the power and wealth of capitalist interests could ditch democracy and turn to violence when threatened.
The crisis in Chile caused by deliberately contrived shortages, “bosses’” strikes and unrest within sections of the military, was leading in an inevitable direction throughout 1973.
In the days following the coup, thousands were detained, and in many cases, tortured and murdered – an estimated 8000 disappeared within the first few weeks. The country’s national football stadium in Santiago was used as a detention and torture centre. Back in the UK, the Tory government silently welcomed the coup and the protection of British financial interests that would follow.
Allende’s supporters in Chile were faced with stark choices: Go underground, continue activity and face death as a consequence, flee the country, or keep quiet and watch and wait. The detentions and murders of many of those who stayed, either by choice or lack of it, continued for several years: the country’s prisons filled up with former activists held indefinitely without trial as “prisoners of internal war”.
What made Rolls-Royce East Kilbride different was that some of their work involved refurbishing Hawker Hunter engines. In early 1974, a shop steward who was a Second World War veteran and Christian, Bob Fulton, noticed an engine with Chilean markings, quickly identifying it as having possibly been used in the coup.
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