It was March 6th, the chilean left wing leader Gladys Marín died.
The government (of Ricardo Lagos Escobar, left of course) declared 2 days of national mourning, even when she went underground to cooperate with terrorism and divided chileans. But the chilean right respected all of this, considering she was an important figure to many people.
How different things were for general and president Augusto Pinochet, who died this sunday 10 of december of 2006 at 14:15 hours! Since the news were known, the chilean left (wrong) expresed their misrespect by making a spontaneous celebration of thousands of people at Plaza Italia. Not even barbarians (those viewed as the incarnation of uncivilized behavior) celebrated the death of an enemy!
The government of Michelle Bachellet (you guessed, left) refused to declare national mourning of the expresident, and only allowed to honor him as an ex-commander in chief of the army, explaining that Pinochet is someone who divides the chilean people (just like Gladys Marín). She had previously declared that it would do violence on her to declare national mourning on someone who is involved in violations to human rights, perhaps she ignores that it does violence on many of us to have as president someone involved in acts of terrorism.
So, anyway, 60,000 people waited about 6 hours in line to see Pinochet for the last time, and here is the ceremony at the Military School:
The defense minister Vivianne Blanlot, the only lefty on the ceremony, was not welcomed by the crowd (Bachellet refused to assist), the people said "¡que se vaya!", ("go away!"), "¡ministra de defensa, eres una ofensa!" ("defense minister, you are an offense!"), or "Dónde está, no se ve, la guatona Bachellet" ("where is she, we don't see her, the fat Bachellet").
The people shouted all the time phrases in favor of Pinochet, like "chi-chi-chi, le-le-le, viva Chile Pinochet", "¡gracias Pinochet!" ("thank you Pinochet!") or "¡duelo nacional!" (demanding national mourning).
There were many speeches, from his wife Lucía, his grandsons, the present comander in chief of the army, but everone was surprised by a grandson named Augusto Pinochet, captain of the army, who expressed honestly and freely his political views of his grandfather. He'll be probably expelled from the army for thinking differently than the present government (that's right, welcome to the chilean democracy!).
The commander in chief of the army, general Izurieta, did not jeopardized himself, eluding speaking of the great work of Pinochet, probably following orders from Bachellet. The people called him "¡cobarde!" ("coward!") and "¡lacayo!" (kind of servant or slave-of Bachellet of course).
A three volley cannon salute took place. Suddenly, a crowd of journalists entered, unwelcomed by the crowd. Journalists (specially foreigners) are the ones responsibles for Pinochet's bad image: they only told one side of the story, the left (wrong) side. People shouted at them "¡digan la verdad!" ("tell the truth!").
To what level has history been changed? Some people can't even remember what they said or think about the situation:
Can a revolution and a civil war be stopped without blood splitting? Making Pinochet responsible for "the missing" or the deaths of that time is like making Roosvelt responsible for the death of german soldiers during WWII. Gladys may have got 2 days of national mourning, but only Pinochet got the attention of all the world. He received a country in ashes in the edge of civil war, and returned the pacified stable democracy and stable economy that we have today.
Thank you Pinochet, you were our best president! You can rest in peace now, away from the hate of the ideology of hate, you have our gratitude.
After about 20 minutes I manage to get out with all of my friends, and Teto, the only car driver that night, decided to go home, and Migo and Nari decided to go back with him.
