Chileans march to remember victims of coup, military regime

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Chileans march to remember victims of coup, military regime

(Xinhua) 13:24, September 09, 2013

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SANTIAGO, Sept. 8 -- Some 30,000 Chileans on Sunday marched through the capital city of Santiago to commemorate the victims of a U.S.-backed military coup 40 years ago.

The coup ousted democratically elected President Salvador Allende and installed the government of dictator Augusto Pinochet.

The march began around midday from the city's Plaza Los Heroes to the General de Santiago Cemetery, home to a memorial to the victims of the 17-year-long military regime of Pinochet. A rally was held in the cemetery.

Leading the march were relatives of victims of Pinochet's rule. Many of the survivors are still searching for their missing family members and demand those responsible be put behind bars.

Lorena Pizarro, president of a rights group representing victims' relatives, said it was important to remember this passage in Chile's history. "Truth, justice and memory are essential to building a country," said Pizarro.

The march, organized by the National Human Rights Assembly and other social, political and student organizations, was mostly peaceful, though at the gates to the cemetery, some marchers clashed with the police, who used water cannons.

President Sebastian Pinera has acknowledged the military regime committed indefensible crimes and questioned many leaders of the country's political right, to which he belongs, for their "complicit silence" in the face of systematic human rights violations.

The Chilean government estimates that more than 3,000 people were executed from the time of the coup to the end of Pinochet's regime in 1990.

（Editor：LiangJun、Yao Chun）