CHILE’S SEPT. 11 COUP ANNIVERSARY CONTINUES TO INCITE VIOLENCE, PROTESTS

CHILE’S SEPT. 11 COUP ANNIVERSARY CONTINUES TO INCITE VIOLENCE, PROTESTS
Friday, 11 September 2009
Government Permits Four Commemorative Ceremonies; Recent Attacks Against
Police Prompt Greater Security Measures


The anniversary of the Sept. 11, 1973 coup that ousted President Salvador Allende and swept Chile into a dictatorship under Gen. Augusto Pinochet continues to incite violent demonstrations and protests more than three decades later.

More than 3,000 armed Carabineros (uniformed police) will line the streets today, Friday, while high-tech security helicopters monitor the situation from the skies in anticipation of violence. But bombs and gunshots, which authorities have linked to Sept. 11 violence, have already struck some areas of Santiago.

A homemade bomb was detonated Wednesday night outside a noncommissioned Carabinero building in Santiago, injuring Officer Juan Carlos Alvarez. The bomb was placed beneath his vehicle, a gray Honda, in the parking lot while the officer watched the televised soccer match between Chile and Brazil TV with six other employees in the building.

“These types of actions only seek to cause pain and suffering,” said Raul Arellano, General Director of Santiago's Carabinero force. “This community wants to live in peace.”

More:
http://www.santiagotimes.cl/santiagotimes/index.php/2009091017128/news/political-news/chile-s-sept.-11-coup-anniversary-continues-to-incite-violence-protests.html

New film examines Chile's 'Guantanamo'
by Moises Avila Roldan Moises Avila Roldan – 41 mins ago

SANTIAGO (AFP) – A new film by a renowned Chilean director focuses on a Tierra del Fuego island prison, a sort of "Guantanamo Bay" jail for political dissidents who endured hellish conditions there 35 years ago.

Dawson Island, located at the western entrance to the Straights of Magellan, was home for more than a year to 99 politicians and personalities close to the deposed socialist government of president Salvador Allende.

"Dawson - Island 10," a film by Oscar-nominated Chilean director Miguel Littin, is based largely on the autobiography of Sergio Bitar, Allende's minister of mining.

Soon after the September 11, 1973 coup Bitar was bundled off to the bleak, wind-swept island located some 3,000 kilometers (1,864 miles) south of the capital Santiago.

Bitar, now 69 and Minister of Public Works in President Michelle Bachelet's center-left government, was assigned the number 10 of the movie title.

More than 3,000 people were killed or went "missing" during Chile's 1973-1990 military dictatorship, while some 28,000 others were tortured.

More:
http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20090911/ennew_afp/entertainmentchilefilm_20090911132658