Foreign Minister Nanaia Mahuta today paid tribute to the 50th anniversary of the coup d'état in Chile with the following tweet: “September 11 marked 50 years since the coup d’état in Chile. It is a day to reflect on the sad loss of lives, and the importance of strengthening democracy and upholding human rights. Aotearoa New Zealand stands with Chile in support of both, on this important day.”
This raised eyebrows amid the usual global commemoration of the 9/11 terror attacks. Some 3,000 people were murdered in a single morning in New York and Washington DC. Much of the world, including New Zealand, was plunged into a twenty-year war. Eight New Zealand servicemen died in that war.
The minister’s particular formulation, including an invocation of the date September 11, feels somewhat unnatural. It certainly breaks with convention. Across the world, the date is an immediately recognisable shorthand for the outrages of 2001. In the same way, you wouldn’t preface a tweet about Tonya Harding with “January 6 marked…”
This is not to say that the Chilean coup d'état's legacy is some kind of historical footnote. The coup saw the overthrow of elected Marxist Salvador Allende and ushered in a brutal, 17-year dictatorship by Augusto Pichot. And yet the events remain contentious in Chile.
Important context is that while Pinochet's regime was notorious for its human rights violations, Allende's presidency was far from a model of democratic governance. There were noted cases of political repression, including harsh treatment of critical press. The administration often bypassed the legislature in an attempt to rule by decree. Both Chile’s Court of Appeal and the Supreme Court protested that Allende refused to follow their orders or uphold the rule of law.
Pinochet and Allende are not to be equated. It is possible that, if left in office, Allende may have become a proto-Hugo Chavez. We will never know that because he was murdered. We do know what happened with Pinochet, who died comfortably in his bed of old age.
He was a latter-day Franco. Not a totalitarian, but he was still tyrant. That he never spent a day in prison after being cast from office is offensive.
Pinochet died in December 2006. Opponents celebrated his death in the streets while supporters grieved outside the Military Hospital. Everything that happened next was a compromise.
The government did not award him a state funeral. He did, however, receive a military funeral in his capacity as the former leader of the Chilean army. Tens of thousands of supporters showed up. No official day of mourning was declared, but flags were flown at half-staff.
Even today, a significant portion of Chileans continue to support Pinochet’s legacy. Recent surveys indicate that around four in ten Chileans believe he was justified. The same number somehow believe that the general was not a dictator.
Ideological alignment or political convenience has always driven people to overlook the evil men do. Selective condemnation and rationalisation have always distorted historical realities. How many New Zealanders who condemn what happened in Chile simultaneously romanticise Che Guevara and Fidel Castro, or at least minimise their crimes.
And yet, the minister's decision, in her capacity as a diplomat, to choose to highlight something which remains divisive in the country concerned is a bit perplexing.
This is especially given that, as of yet, the minister seems to have made no mention of the attacks in the United States.
While I am sure it was not intended, the comment almost looks like something of a diplomatic slight. Or at the very least a pointed remark. It certainly doesn’t look like it was formulated that way on accident.
So, yeah. Weird tweet.
Allende committed suicide.