Circadian Disrhythmia and a Chilean Coup d'Etat

For the first time since starting this trip, both K and I have found that our circadian rhythms are bang out of whack with everyone else. We have jet lag. When midnight hits, our bodies think its 9am and helpfully bring us out of the slumber we have just fallen into, in order to start the day. On very little sleep last night, it was a slow start this morning. We would need every ounce of groggy concentration to help us with our chosen activity for the day.

Museum of Human Rights

As seems to have been customary when visiting a new country, we today visited a museum to the human rights violations perpetrated against its people. It is disheartening to find so easily such memorials in each country, each one of which tries to draw salutary lessons from a troubled past, so that similar mistakes are never allowed to happen again.

Chile's tragic history is one of the most recent, covering the rule of the military junta under Augusto Pinochet from 1973 until 1990. Long before the date 11th September again created resonance in the public consciousness, it was a day of great significance to Chile; the day on which representatives of the army, navy, air force, and police combined to overthrow the socialist government. They stormed the government palace in Santiago, La Moneda, whereupon the incumbent, Salvador Allende, took his own life.

In their first televised address to the nation, the heads of the freshly installed dictatorship expressed regret at the undemocratic process by which they came to be there, but paternalistically assured the Chilean people that the country, until then under a 'Marxist tyranny' would soon be restored to political, economic and moral order. However, it was soon revealed that such reform came in the form of book burning, censorship, restriction of freedoms, and a 17-year long campaign of intimidation and torture.

Seahorse - a symbol of freedom

In a story that is by now all too familiar, objectors to the junta and defenders of the 'old regime', were quickly 'disappeared'. Many were sent for torture (mostly by electrocution), but many unluckier found themselves shot, burned to death, or weighted and thrown into the ocean. Control of the national press meant that these stories were suppressed, but the propaganda machine even went so far as to collude with foreign press agencies to create fake periodicals outside of Chile. These published articles claiming that the disappeared had died abroad; these reports were then quoted by domestic press as legitimate sources. It takes an evil sort of PR to cover up the horrific truth in such an ingenious manner.

The museum's exhibition was an excellent, if horrifying, chronological description of the 17 years under Pinochet and the junta. Televisual reportage from the time shows beatings, shootings and immolation of 'Marxist' rebels and protestors. However, the most arresting image was the papal visit in 1987, which juxtaposes Pope John-Paul's mass to the assembled crowd with scenes of the same congregation being corralled and fired upon by police water cannons in front of the powerless pontiff.

At this time, the Pope told the people that "love is stronger" - presumably stronger than the military might of the junta. I doubt this to be true, but the Chilean people did demonstrate an indomitable spirit, even when threatened with surprise house raids, kidnapping and murder. They protested, marched and demonstrated until the end.

Despite the acquisition of power by force, the junta's rule was quickly presented as a democracy, with plebiscites organised to justify its ongoing existence. The first two of these showed overwhelming support for Pinochet. Fortunately, the story has a happy ending, as the final referendum - surprisingly for a dictatorship - voted 'No' to the continuation of status quo. True democracy returned to Chile.

We attempted to reconcile the images we had seen with other questions we had on our walk back to the centre of town. How does a country become unable to feed itself such that soup kitchens are required? How does a dictatorship allow itself to be deposed under a fair election process? To what extent were foreign powers involved in supporting or funding the coup (or did they stand idly by while the dictatorship tortured its people)?

We mulled these and other questions over dinner at a surprisingly popular vegetarian restaurant we stumbled by in an arcade.

Ensalad "Soju"

While K enjoyed a huge and thoroughly laden salad - complete with marinated tofu, orange slices, artichoke, hearts of palm, and potatoes - I savoured a Chilean specialty in its vegetarianised form.

Corn pie

Pastel de choclo feels like a hearty winter dish, comprising layers of minced beef (in this case soya mince), seasoned and combined with black olives and dried raisins, topped with mashed sweetcorn (choclo). The dish is typically baked and served in individual paila dishes and ends up like a shepherd's pie. It was surprising enough to find a vegetarian (and vegan!) restaurant, but even more to discover that it serves beer from a local 'microcervecería'. I enjoyed a nice glass of Kross golden ale. I think we will be coming back to Soju.