The Communist Party of Chile (PCCh) participated in a series of commemorative activities marking the 53rd anniversary of the military coup of 11 September 1973, which overthrew the Popular Unity government of President Salvador Allende and inaugurated 17 years of dictatorship.
Communist Party of Chile commemorates 53rd anniversary of 1973 coup
Through marches, floral tributes and ceremonies honouring communist militants murdered or disappeared by the regime, the party reaffirmed its commitment to historical memory, the defence of democracy and Allende's political legacy.
The commemorations began with the traditional memorial march to Santiago's General Cemetery on 6 September, organised with the participation of the PCCh, the Frente Amplio and human-rights organisations. Thousands of people marched to the Memorial to the Detained-Disappeared and Executed Political Prisoners, carrying flowers and banners demanding truth, justice and guarantees of non-repetition. Communist parliamentarians Nathalie Castillo and Marcos Barraza took part in the political interventions. Castillo highlighted the responsibility of present generations to preserve the memory of those persecuted, executed and disappeared by the dictatorship, while Barraza emphasised the continuing struggle for justice and against impunity.
The party also organised and participated in commemorations honouring communist militants and leaders who were victims of the dictatorship. On 8 September, it paid tribute to Felipe Rivera Gajardo, an electrician, public-sector worker and communist militant executed by dictatorship agents in September 1986. The ceremony was attended by his partner, Alicia Lira, his sister Ester Rivera Gajardo and PCCh president Lautaro Carmona. The tribute also recalled other victims of the September 1986 killings, including Gastón Vidaurrázaga, José Carrasco and Abraham Muskablit.
Another ceremony, held at the headquarters of the Central Unitaria de Trabajadores (CUT), marked 50 years since the disappearance of VĂctor DĂaz LĂłpez, a historic trade-union leader, former secretary-general of the CUT and former deputy secretary-general of the Communist Party. A delegation from the party's national leadership attended, including Carmona, General Secretary Bárbara Figueroa and representatives of the party's leadership. The tribute recalled DĂaz's contribution to the labour movement and his role in the Communist Party's resistance during the dictatorship.
On 11 September, the PCCh joined representatives of other political organisations, including the Socialist Party, the Party for Democracy, the Democratic Christian Party and the Frente Amplio, in commemorations organised by the Salvador Allende Foundation and the former president's family. The party delegation, headed by Carmona and Figueroa and including Communist Youth (JJ.CC.) leaders Catalina LufĂn and Gonzalo GarcĂa, first laid flowers at Allende's mausoleum in the General Cemetery and subsequently participated in a tribute at his monument in the Plaza de la ConstituciĂłn, opposite the presidential palace of La Moneda.
Speaking at the monument, Carmona reaffirmed the party's commitment to Allende's political legacy. He highlighted the Popular Unity government's nationalisation of copper, its social reforms and its commitment to international solidarity and anti-imperialism. He argued that the Popular Unity experience had not been politically defeated but had been interrupted by the coup and the use of force against the Chilean people and their elected president. Invoking Allende's famous promise that the great avenues would open again, Carmona declared: “With Allende always, with Allende in memory, with Allende as an example, we will win a thousand times.”
The anniversary also became an occasion for the PCCh to criticise the new government of President José Antonio Kast, which decided not to organise an official state ceremony marking the coup. On 10 September, Carmona argued that the president had a responsibility to represent the whole country and acknowledge that the coup had been an attack on Chile's constitutional order. He criticised the government's decision as a failure to recognise the historical significance of the event and its victims.
The commemorations continued on 12 September in La Ligua, where the PCCh's National Directorate participated in a ceremony at the Playa La Ballena Memorial marking 50 years since the discovery of the body of Marta Ugarte Román. Ugarte, a communist militant and party leader, had been detained by the National Intelligence Directorate (DINA) in August 1976 and murdered by agents of the dictatorship. The event brought together General Secretary Bárbara Figueroa, ValparaĂso Regional Governor Rodrigo Mundaca, Alicia Lira of the Association of Relatives of Executed Political Prisoners (AFEP), relatives and representatives of trade-union and social organisations.
Figueroa recalled Ugarte's work as a teacher, seamstress and communist militant who continued political activity clandestinely after the coup. Referring to the government's refusal to hold an official 11 September ceremony, she stated: “The memory of our people does not depend on the will of any government. The fact that the state remains silent will not make us silent.” She reaffirmed the party's commitment to truth, justice and reparation.