On September 11, 1973, Popular Unity Government of Salvador Allende was overthrown in a violent coup d’état carried out by the Chilean military with the backing of the government of the United States. The coup leader, General Augusto Pinochet, implemented a bloody campaign of torture, imprisonment and murder. Thousands were killed; thousands more imprisoned; perhaps 200 thousand more were forced into exile. Several hundred found a safe haven in Winnipeg, Canada.
These political exiles, along with friends and supporters in Winnipeg, came together at the Franco-Manitoban Cultural Centre on September 11, 2023 to remember those dark, terrifying days from half a century ago and to honour the many brave men and women who resisted Pinochet’s tyranny. Here is the video I recorded of this commemoration.
Paul S. Graham 