President Sebastian Pinera yesterday marked the 40th anniversary of the military coup that overthrew Salvador Allende by urging Chileans never to forget the events of September 11, 1973, that launched a bloody 17-year dictatorship.
That day, fighter jets unleashed an attack on the La Moneda presidential palace, and tanks and soldiers surrounded the building as it burst into flames. Allende, the democratically elected President, committed suicide rather than surrender to the coup plotters led by General Augusto Pinochet.
"After 40 years, the time has come not to forget but rather to overcome the traumas of the past," said Pinera, Chile's first conservative President since the country's return to democracy in 1990.
Allende's family, sympathisers and former members of his personal guard later observed a minute's silence in his memory at a statue of the late marxist leader outside the presidential palace, which is engraved with his last words: "I have faith in Chile and its destiny."
Allende launched what he called "the Chilean path to socialism", nationalising the copper industry that had been dominated by US companies and using the money to fund land redistribution while improving healthcare, education and literacy.
