Chile, Photo Essays, Southern Cone
Hundreds Protest Pro-Pinochet Film In Chile
June 13, 2012 By Juan Pedro Catepillan Tecay
SANTIAGO, CHILE — Chilean human rights organizations staged a rally on Sunday to protest an event held in honor of deceased former Chilean dictator Augusto Pinochet. The screening of a new documentary film perceived to be sympathetic to Pinochet and Chile’s 1973-1990 military regime took place at Caupolicán Theater in Santiago and was organized by the September 11 Corporation, a group named after the date of Chile’s September 11, 1973 military coup.
Pinochet died in 2006, but Chilean society remains deeply divided over its period of military rule and state terrorism, in which tens of thousands of Chileans were tortured and at least 3,000 murdered, according to human rights reports. The documentary film screened Sunday, “Pinochet”, credits the former dictator for the new economic policies introduced by the military junta and explains the military’s justification for the coup.
However, Andres Chadwick, a spokesman for the Chilean government under Chilean President Sebastián Piñera and a former legislator to the dictatorship, said he regretted his past support for the military regime. “We shouldn’t continue paying homage to figures from the past. It generates division,” he said.
Police blocked protesters from the area surrounding the theater, while protesters shouted slogans and hurled objects as people entered the theater. The police fired water cannons and used tear gas against the crowd. At least 64 people were arrested during the protest and 22 were injured.
Chilean human rights groups called on the government to cancel the controversial event, taking the case to a Chilean appeals court. However, the court ruled last week that the screening was legal and had to be permitted.
About Juan Pedro Catepillan Tecay
Self-taught photographer JP Catepillán was born Puerto Natales, in the Magallanes region of Chile. He graduated with a degree in History, Geography and Civic Education from the Universidad Austral de Chile de Valdivia. He also studied regional and municipal public affairs at the Universidad Alberto Hurtado and political science at the Universidad de Chile. He is married and has two children. His photos can be viewed at www.jpcatepillan.cl and www.flickr.com/photos/chilefotojp.
