Op ed re Chile 9/11/1973 – John Foster
At the invitation of the Casa Salvador Allende in Toronto, and marking the celebration to inaugurate Salvador Allende Court off Ossington St. on September 10, I drafted a brief reflection on the refugee movement to Canada away from Pinochet’s repression. That reflection follows:
Salvador Allende Court comes to life
As Chileans and Canadians mark what we might call the “first nine-eleven”, debate about refugees is in the headlines. In September, 1973 Chilean armed forces overthrew the democratically elected socialist coalition of President Dr. Salvador Allende in a bloody coup d’etat which continued for weeks of arrests, torture, disappearance and repression. A military junta led by General Augusto Pinochet, began a dictatorship that lasted almost two decades. Thousands of Chileans and other South Americans were killed, and thousands more sought refuge in foreign embassies – including Canada’s -- and exile.
Before 1973 Canada had virtually no experience with refugees from Latin American dictatorships. Because of Soviet interventions in Hungary and Czechoslovakia Canadians had responded to refugees from Communist regimes. To consider refugees of left-wing background in what was still a cold-war world was something strange. Further there was there was the persistent stereotype of Latin American coups d’etats, wasn’t this just more of the same. While a couple of Embassy officials assisted a few seeking refuge, the Canadian ambassador was hostile. The Trudeau government was resistant to pleas for help.
The post-coup months were full of activity by pro-refugee Canadians – church leaders, academics, Chilean and Latin American students, progressives, the Toronto-based Centre for Spanish Speaking Peoples. Delegations repeatedly knocked on the doors of Trudeau’s cabinet. Fact-finders and reporters were sent to Chile to check on the government’s contention that things were “normalizing”. Chileans of Canadian background reported continued killing, torture and repression. Allende’s widow, Hortensia Bussi, toured Canadian cities. Public pressure accelerated and in Parliament the misleading cables of the Canadian ambassador were released, embarrassing the government. A special mission by Geoffrey Pearson, son of the former Prime Minister, came back from Chile with advice for a shift in policy, and late in 1973 plans for a first plane-load of refugees were confirmed.
Sustained pressure at the political level resulted in programmes which brought 7,000 or more refugees to Canadian centres. A number of non-Chileans who had initially taken refuge from dictatorships in Chile, also came to Canada.
At the community level in Toronto and many other Canadian cities groups scrambled to find volunteers who knew a little Spanish, and as in so many other refugee movements, people who could help with housing, transport, medical issues, schooling, and – it was winter initially – clothing.
One of the unique initiatives of the Canadian churches was a programme for political prisoners, trapped in Pinochet’s jails. Led by George Cram of the Anglican Church and Roman Catholic (Bishop emeritus) Francois Lapierre it grabbed the opportunity presented by the General’s desire to offload “enemies”. Prisoners and their families were carefully interviewed, need and willingness to leave their homeland was confirmed, Canadian officials accepted the candidates, and approximately 200 families were transferred north.
In 1972 I had the privilege of almost two months in Allende’s Chile, while attending a global UN conference. We visited a daycare centre in a nationalized textile factory. We saw the new construction and expansion of poor people’s homes in a poblacion. We witnessed the Minister of Agriculture distributing new titles of farm land to previously landless peasants. We sampled mid-night bar-b-cue while listening to the “New Chilean Song”. In short, the Chile we encountered was a society of hope.
The elected government of Salvador Allende and the Popular Unity coalition was full of promise. And, promise realized. The wealth-producing copper mines – “Chile’s salary” -- were nationalized, as posters cried “Chile has put on its long pants”.
But there were those, like Henry Kissinger, who thought “the issues much too important for the Chilean voters to be left to decide for themselves.” Funding political parties and opposition press was not enough, the CIA and allies in the military were essential. T
The Coup of 9/11/73 was unleashed and the President – Salvador Allende – dead in the burning Presidential palace. Almost 50 years ago, yet the threat is as fresh as the remarks of President Trump and CIA Director Mike Pompeo about intervention in Venezuela a couple of weeks ago.
Today, when public debate over the significance of memorials is in play, the creation and naming of Salvador Allende Court could hardly be more appropriate. It embodies collaboration of Chilean-Canadians and Canadians of all backgrounds; the spirit of welcome and acceptance of refugees; and the persistence of resistance to oppression, and hope.
John W. Foster
Dr. Foster was chair of the Toronto Welcome Committee for Refugees from Chile and a co-founder of the Inter-Church Committee on Chile. He was recently one of several Canadians awarded a special citation of gratitude by President Bachelet of Chile.
Spanish/English notice of the inauguration: