Salvador Allende (2004) Movie Script

That's almost all that's left from Salvador Allende,

president of Chile in 1970.

On September 11, 1973,

he was overthrown by a military coup.

In his lifeless body,

these objects were found...

scattered history.

The dictatorship of Pinochet

crushed that democracy

which had perfectioned itself

over two centuries,

and destroyed, day after day,

for 18 years, the country I knew.

Thousands of Chileans were

murdered and tortured

and hundreds of thousands went

into exile.

Searching in museums and archives,

only this fragment is on show

to the public.

OPTICAL SPECTACLES OF PRESIDENT

SALVADOR ALLENDE,

FOUND IN THE MONEDA PALACE

AFTER THE BOMBARDMENT

The appearance of the memory

is neither confortable nor voluntary,

it's always staggering.

Salvador Allende marked my life.

I wouldn't be what I am

had he not incarnated the utopia

of a fairer and freer world

that sweeped my country at that time.

I was there, actor and filmmaker.

The past doesn't pass,

it vibrates and moves with the twists

of my own life.

Here I am, in the same spot

that thirty years ago

said goodbye to me:

a simple wall near

the airport.

Held at the National Stadium,

submitted

to the machine of oblivion

that was put to work,

a sole desire encouraged me:

save the reels of "The Battle Of Chile"

which contained the proof of

the dream

we had lived with Allende.

I left the country with them

and when I finished the film,

my exile began.

Today I return

and beginning this new voyage

I find the man

that painted the walls and wrote

the name of Salvador Allende

in every street of Chile.

The walls contained and were of the people.

In Chile who does the media represent?

The right.

So, what do I know?

That the streets

for us are like the headlines

of the newspapers.

During the campaign of Popular Unity

government they played a big part.

What we did was conquer

the streets for Allende,

in a way that every wall in Chile

had to have his name, every single one!

This was the logo for at the time

of Allende's campaign.

"Vote for Allende. "

We acquired

strength in the streets and a

method of working.

That's where the "Ramona Parra"

brigades came from,

the mural brigades,

the street brigades.

During the dictatorship,

"Mono" Gonz?lez

kept on painting

with the team he created 30 years ago.

"Mono" refused to leave

the country, lived the repression

and the political transition.

He never forgot anything, not a detail

of the times of Allende.

Like him, many people haven't

forgotten.

This has been badly stored for

a long time.

"Mono" keeps with care

the drawings

of the famous painter Roberto Matta

with whom he made

many murals for Popular Unity.

Power cultivates oblivion,

but underneath the blanket of amnesia

that covers the country,

memory emerges,

memory vibrates anew.

30 years ago, I was 10

and I worked for the campaign of Allende.

The day he won I wrote him a letter

and went to deliver it personally.

He took it and said,

"Now is when the hard times begin... "

A week later I received his answer,

a letter that has acompanied

me for all this years.

I see exile as a puzzle,

as a land that has become many tiny islands,

where each one

lives with his landscapes, with his memories.

I don't see exile as

an immense land where we all are.

I think it is a very intimate thing.

When I discover the painting of Emma,

I see the Chile I live,

A land fragmented in many pieces,

drifting islands that do not meet.

When returning, one...

one thinks he will find what he left.

That's not true.

And how can you live

if you feel like a foreigner

in your country?

Where do you live?

In an utopia,

in a place I create

to keep going, because it can

be very hard,

this thing of being anywhere.

I see it as a ship without a port,

a ship that is just...

drifting...

When I first saw Salvador Allende,

with Pablo Neruda, I was very young, and I just went by

Then, coming back with my film degree,

it was the people's face what I wanted to film.

Allende was there,

he was part of the human landscape

of this story,

but I didn't realise that there would

be no story without him.

Today, his figure keeps growing in my mind

I need to know who was this man,

how can one be revolutionary and democrat at the same time.

When I found this album,

I entered a party of another time,

the Chile of my childhood...

of the sweetness and the sound of the wind

in the trees.

Images eaten away.

The family of "Mama Rosa",

Allende's wet nurse,

buried this album for 20 years,

so that the dictatorship did not destroy it.

Here, Allende,

"the Chicho" as we called him,

celebrates her 92nd birthday with her.

After the dictatorship,

the album was dug up by Anita, "Mama Rosa's" daughter,

who is 87 today.

When "Chicho"...

was little

My mum made him this suit.

- He has curls.

- He is curly...

he was blonde,

he was very handsome.

But he pulled my hair,

he was wicked.

To you, was Salvador

Allende like a brother?

Like a brother,

we grew up together.

Until when...

he went off to become a doctor.

And how was he as a child?

He was a fighter.

He played with the top, with marbles,...

He made speeches.

Very beautiful speeches

from an early age; about anything.

Allende felt a strong admiration

for his grandfather,

Don Ram?n Allende Pad?n,

who had been a doctor,

- he had taken part in the Pacific war,

and repeated with pride these things,

He had been the creator of the first

secular school in Chile

And was a great Freemason,

Seren?ssimo of Freemasonry in Chile.

And a man with whom Allende

really felt identified...

and definitely had a great impact

in the life and political orientation of Allende.

Erm,... his father,

had been a solicitor, and...

he 'skipped' the figure of his father.

On the other hand, his mother,

really, he professed her an enormous

affection, tenderness and a great love.

I took her home many times.

When I left her, she would always

say to me: "Take care of Salvador for me.

Take care of him".

And did you?

No, that would be exaggerated. I just...

felt great affection for him.

VALPARAISO, HOMETOWN OF SALVADOR ALLENDE

Allende knew the works of Marx

some Lenin, too.

But fundamentally, Allende was,

in my opinion...

a man inspired by the French Revolution.

He believed in the three values

proclaimed by the French Revolution.

And where did he get his marxism from, then?

That is if he was a marxist...

I don't think one can say he wasn't.

What I know, for many times

we discussed just the

two of us, about philosophy,

politics, art,...

Because Allende was a cultured man,

he didn't have, shall we say...

only one source of insparation,

but many.

So you didn't talk about marxism?

No!

- Then, why..?

- What he once did tell me...

as a mayor, he said,

because I was a communist,

"Drop the dictatorship of the proletariat".

After that he invited me, and

he said: "Look, Sergio,

the dictatorship of the proletariat

isn't in the government programme,

We'll not get to that."

So he wasn't a marxist.

No!

At least not a 'classical' marxist,

he wasn't.

And leninist?

That I'm pretty sure he wasn't.

Why?

Because he didn't agree with two

fundamental ideas of leninism.

First, the role of the single

party.

He never accepted that.

And secondly, the concept

of dictatorship of the proletariat.

And what does he take from marxism-leninism?

I would say two things: the preoccupation for

the workers and the poor,

and...

the idea of equality.

That is to say, he had a libertarian thought?

(i.e "Libertarian socialism")

Exactly. Libertarian. Well said, because...

and it's good we are having this

conversation in Valpara?so,

because..., let's say,

at the end of childhood...

in his first teenage years,

Allende had a big influence

from the libertarian thinking

of an anarchist shoemaker

that lived in Valpara?so.

Who exactly was Juan de Marci?

He was a simple shoemaker

of that time,

he arrived in Chile... a refugee.

Where was he from?

Erm... Italian.

Deep down he was, I'd say,

Allende's first teacher

as a social fighter.

- And did Allende tell you that?

- Allende. He was proud of it,

he talked about Juan de Marci

with great affection

What would they have talked about?

The anarchists of that decade...

from 1920 to '30, all that decade,

were, as I understand, and I'm...

quite sure, because my father was one of them,

erm... the ones that started the struggle

to awake class consciousness amid

the workers.

So we can say that the

old man that taught Allende

was one of those.

In 1926...

Salvador Allende starts medical school

The ER made him come into contact

with poverty and ignorance.

He was a deputy for Valpara?so

aged 29, and co-founder

of the Socialist Party,

a workers' party which wasn't aligned

with Moscow.

He directed the campaign of Pedro Aguirre Cerda,

president of the third Popular Front

in the world, after the Spanish and French ones.

Allende was 30 when he was appointed

Health Minister in 1938.

The Popular Front was directed

by the bourgeoisie, it was reformist.

It's moto was:

"Bread, roof, and work".

It aspired to a greater social equality,

and wanted to stregthen the modern State.

This Front, served as a foundation...

for the future alliances

that supported Allende,

but this time dominated by

communists, and socialists.

Allende's life was a long

electoral campaign.

He was candidate to the presidency four times...

and other four as a deputy or senator.

Under the slogan "All steam ahead with Salvador",

he left Santiago on the first

victory train in 1952.

He was 44.

He travelled the entire country,

town by town, home by home,...

Then he met the real Chileans

He loved to listen,

to teach, to create consciousness, movement,

even knowing he couldn't win.

With good humour, he erased distances...

and made friends along the way.

I remember, because I was very young,

the feeling there was.

People felt radiant,

they came from the South, it was...

I don't know,

Going village by village,

meeting and talking to people.

with the attention that he gave them.

The people came gladly

And it lasted four weeks, I think

and he changed team twice or thrice.

Those who accompanied him were exhausted,

really, waking up early and staying

up until the night, they couldn't keep up.

And he was as fresh as a lettuce.

It was impressive, he had an

extraordinary vitality.

Communist Youth of Chile!

He was a very... and convinced people quickly.

He could convince an enemy, Allende.

Because he changed a proposal

they were presenting

for his own proposal

for his law and his projects

to the Senate.

Allende was a very...

sympathetic guy.

I talked to him...

eating some pie, with a little wine,

and he would tell jokes, fool around.

Some say he had another woman,

could be... Sometimes,...

it's good to have another for a change.

I say that...

just as I say that politicians have

a lot more ease...

to get to people, to women,

they are more sympathetic.

There... I think Allende had this,

And he made the people fall in love,...

captivated them, and he would go

on to become president.

Everything excited him...

He lived his life intensely

We went to Chiloe,

Valdivia, Puerto Montt,

thanks to the campaigns.

It was a always a big lesson,

really.

And he, even if there were only

2 or 3 people in a homestead,

he'd stop to talk to them,

two or three houses, wherever.

In Valpara?so, we also went

on the hills,

walking, house to house.

You'd greet them, go in,

and you'd start to talk,

and thus our dialogue began.

Allende, Allende,

the people defends you!

Allende, Allende,

the people defends you!

PU, up you go! PU, up you go!

Allende, Allende,

the people defends you!

Allende, Allende,

the people defends you!

Finally, September 4th 1970,

Allende won the Presidency,

after 20 years of campaign.

He did not get an absolute majority.

There was no second turn on Chilean elections,

and Parliament had to swear him in.

His coalition was formed by marxists,

social-democrats and christians.

A wave of indignation took place in the country,...

and the Christian Democrats finally voted for Allende

in Congress.

This time the CIA's plan failed

but it became known that there were

civilians and military implicated.

Mr. Allende.

Result of the voting:

For the senator Salvador Allende,

153 votes.

Long live Chile, damn it!

Due to the results of the vote

The Congress Assembly proclaims

President of the Republic

the citizen Salvador Allende Gossens.

The session is finished.

If our land asks us,

we have to be ourselves,

us that built Chile,

so we must be off to work.

We shall take the reins of

all our business,

And let it be understood,

One shoulder, all together.

Because this time it isn't

about changing the president.

It will be that people that will

build a different Chile.

Because this time it isn't

about changing the president.

It will be that people that will

build a different Chile.

?Excelency, your hand, Excelency!

I remember the freshness of the air,

the profound inspiration

that united us to one another,

and beyond, to the entire world.

We filmed this radiant dream,

with lucidity and fervour.

It was an entire society in love.

Along 43 years, this man convinced

all of the left

that the only way of getting there

was through peaceful means

While in Latin America, the violence...

and the guerrilla spread everywhere,

Allende created a mass movement

for electoral victory.

A little after, Allende won the

municipal elections as well.

He believed that the logical

result of democracy,

was building socialism.

To build this wall...

bring me every hand,

the blacks, their black hands,

the whites, their white hands.

A wall that goes...

from the beach to the hill,

from the hill to the beach,

there, beyond the horizon.

The left, the workers, the peasants,

the public servants,

the professionals, the technicians,

the intellectuals, triumphed in Chile.

On the night of victory,

200.000 people gathered together.

There wasn't a broken glass,

there wasn't a burnt car,

there was no adversary of ours,

who could even say we offended him,

not even verbally.

On the other hand, the defeated,

the far-right, has begun plotting,

has set up all this economic

sabotage,

and it has its mercenaries,

who set up bombs.

Now, then,

where is the democracy?

We shall create an

authentic democracy,

for the people, and not a minority,

as it is now, shall take part.

Now, when a people has conscience

of the aims it must reach,

this people is capable of sacrifices.

I'm sure the people of Chile is mature,

because it has already understood,

and will understand in the days to come,

that we, all of us, have to make sacrifices.

What for? To sow for the future.

The 2 or 3 first years will be hard

but on the basis of a straight, moral government,

where there are no privileges

nor concessions for minorities.

The people will respond.

This is the mandate I have.

The wholeness, the patriotism,

and the moral of the Chilean people.

In the South, thousands of peasants

took the lands,

and our camera ran after them.

To speed up the land reform,

the Ministry of Agriculture

worked on the countryside

The latifundia was being abolished,

and what impressed...

me the most was the speed

with which things were done.

To this day the formidable acceleration

of history moves me.

I have read you this record,

that means that in this farm in this moment,

the property of the land...

is transfered to the administration and

to the peasants,

by the hand over of...

the former owner,

D. Lorenzo Aste Aste.

Is that good?

Louder?

Eh?

I can't say I'm too happy

about giving away something I made,

it wouldn't be true;

but, unfortunately,

you are the responsible ones for

this reform, I did not want it.

I can't say I'm happy about

the way the handing over...

was done, but...

considering the circumstances, I agreed

hoping that the production is kept

up, if that is possible.

Support, support,

the popular government!

Workers, to power!

Popular Unity, against the criminal burgeois!

In every corner of the country and of the city

each man, woman, and child

participated in the creation

of a new life.

We were overwhelmed.

the camera registered many colective actions.

It was the age of the great

historical leaps.

Allende kept his political programme:

he nationalised factories

and monopolies.

Nationalised the banks,

the saltpeter, the steel, the coal and the copper.

He didn't forget his promises.

During the first year he created

a situation

of great prosperity.

The energy was tangible and could be felt.

Advance, without stop!

To the loyalty of the people

I shall respond with the loyalty

of a socialist militant;

and as the President of Chile,

I shall carry out impecably the

program of Popular Unity.

I feel like a foreigner

erring through a hostile geography.

I can't forget that the dictatorship

crushed life,

drowned the democratic process,

imposed money and consumerism

as the only values

But behind the coldness of this city,

there are persos, dreams, struggles,

which I must look for.

Me? I'm proud of him,

proud, proud. Deeply proud.

Still when I listen, and he speaks to the

young ones, still my heart skips a beat.

That is to say, that guy could say:

"These are my dreams and we are 'eaded there. "

And I felt I was part of that dream

I was part of it,

part of it, absolutely.

I believe those times we lived,

were the most beautiful of times.

You know why?

Because we had leaders,

we had dreams, we had an utopia,

we had a whole world to change.

That is why I say...

that we have to go with the young ones,

to build something different.

We may not live to see it, but we must...

give them dreams, values,

so that they forge their own

leadership,

their own movements.

And if the parties of the left

are worn out,

Well, they'll have to set up a new one;

But these ideas of revolution,...

of change,...

of overthrowing this system are legitimate.

And they will be legitimate all life.

What dishes did he like?

stewed chicken,

and pie.

And did the boy bring many friends...

to this table?

Many. Deputies,

senators, ministers,...

He'd tell me...

like 4 or 5 hours before coming:

"Ther'I Go", he'd say.

More than anything, he'd come

when he was running for the presidency,

then he brought up to a

hundred people.

But that was 30 years

ago now...

Was Salvador impacient?

Yes... he was quite nervous.

but you know, so many problems...

"Hurry up deary" he'd say

So many problems...

Last time I saw him,

he had a cup of coffee,

where my mother was...

at the hospital...

He was returning from Argentina.

He said: "By God, am I tired"...

"Haven't you a cup of coffee

somewhere around. "

Yes, I said, I have one.

It was... half past one in the morning,

he was just back from Argentina.

Allende isn't talked about much,

And people don't talk about him,

because Allende is like,...

a blow to their conscience

He broke...

the usual political style.

And I think that...

Allende, necessarily...

must be recovered; his ethical image

his moral lesson.

Because, I believe, there will

never be politics

worthy of its name,

as service to the commom interests,

and complete abandonment of the self

for the community.

That is what politics need

to reclaim itself.

But not a word is spoken

about this in Chile,

nobody talks about it.

So, at best,

even by people who respect him,

Allende is presented

as a dreamer.

And still, Salvador Allende

is, let's say...

kind of...

silenced, in his own country.

To me Salvador Allende represents

this: the history of

the workers in Chile.

How come you have kept

this knowledge,...

while most people haven't?

Because I...

I want to know what it means

to be a worker.

why does one fight,

where does one have to go

to reivindicate,

be part of the unions, stregthen

the working class' parties.

Thas. The workers.

That is important.

The Chilean worker is not taking

part of what is happening today,

of wealth, earnings...

He is marginalised from that.

After the first year of government, Allende

was visited by Fidel Castro.

Never before had Fidel Castro,

been in South America.

It was a commotion,

and the right was scandalized.

We have come to learn,

how do human society's...

laws behave.

We have come to see...

something extraordinary,

something extraordinary is happening

in Chile. An unique process,

Something more than unique. Unheard of!

Unheard of!

It's a process of change!

A revolutionary process,

where the revolutionaries...

are trying to carry out the

changes peacefully.

An unique process!

Practically the first in the

history of mankind.

Salvador Allende helped...

the armed struggle in Latin America.

He admired Fidel,

Ch?, Miguel Enr?quez.

He shared the courage and audacity

of them, his friends.

But the links of loyalty and respect,

never clouded his convictions.

To Salvador Allende,

only the democratic path...

could create,

day by day, Socialism in Chile.

The first year was a great success

for Allende.

Half of the people identified

themselves with him.

But he also became the most

hated man by the right.

In October '72,

an enormous employers' strike

fell on Allende.

70.000 trucks and thousands of buses...

stopped running.

There was no petrol, food shortages,...

and some raw materials didn't

get to the factories.

The pretext was the lack of

American spare parts.

But this was an aggressive political strike.

Nothing less than the first step in

the bourgeoisie's plan.

This halt shall last 'till we triumph.

If this means the fall of Allende,

so much the better, so much the better for Chile.

The strike was a nerve-hacking war.

The opposition created terrible ...

difficulties for everyday life,

its results, sometimes dramatic,

were blamed on the government.

It was like playing the cop

and the thief at the same time.

I promise here,

as a Chilean and as a trucker,

that this struggle will go on to the end.

Now, the end may be

very close or very far away.

The enemies of Allende almost

won the battle.

But no factory closed,

no train stopped running,

the ports stayed open,

the public services carried

on working.

Allende named General Carlos Prats

Minister of Interior and put

two other military in his government.

The strike was called off.

Allende advanced, unstopped

by the obstacles.

Despite all this, the

more radical left

reproached that he trusted

the generals more than the workers.

- I don't like militaries in government

- Why?

Because they aren't a part

of the democratic system.

And why did Allende want militaries?

The situation was too grave.

It was necessary,

for just a circumstancial moment...

the authority to restablish things.

I hope it's not a permanent thing...

just for a little time.

At the end of 1972, Allende spoke

at the United Nations

no only dennouncing the US

de-stabilization

but to indicate something

much more serious:

the lack of control over

multinationals and

their harmful role.

This was just before the

neo-liberalism,

that today dominates the world.

We are before

a truly frontal conflict

between the large multinational

corporations and the States.

They are being under threat

in their most fundamental

political,

economical and military

decisions by global corporations

that do not depend on any State,

and whose activities

are not fiscalised by and do

not answer to any Parliament,

or any institution that

represents the commom interest.

In a word:

the very political structure

of the world

is being undermined.

The large multinational corporations

not only go against the interests

of developing countries,

their dominating and uncontrolled action

exists also in the industrialised nations

where they establish themselves.

It is our trust in ourselves,

that which increases our faith

in the great values of Mankind,

in the certainty that these values

shall prevail,

that they cannot be destroyed!

Despite millions of American dollars,

despite the wear and tear,

in the elections of March '73,

Popular Unity won the 43,4% of the votes.

The opposition was far from the 2/3s it needed

to legally impeach Allende.

The bourgeoisie couldn't believe

what was happening

and went out to celebrate a victory

they never won.

Let the president be officially accused

and let them impeach him May 21,

because he's made the country

crumble to dust.

This is a corrupt and degenerate

government,

corrupt and degenerate,

full of dirt!

Filthy communists out of Chile!

On May 21 we shall have, God willing,

the cleanest government ever,

with democracy and without the rotten

marxist communists. God damn them!

On May 21, 3 months before the coup,

the President gives account

of his government

before the congress.

Allende still believes the legal

way is the only way.

I still hear the words that set

his political line,

said in 1971:

"Chile is the first nation on Earth

which sets up a model of transition

towards socialism".

Two years later,

Allende repeats it with conviction.

The world sees in us

the simultaneous realisation

of the most transcendental

aspirations which interest

Civilization:

the struggle of a people for dignity,

to advance to socialism

with pluralist liberties

and tolerance to ideas and creeds.

It is the struggle of a people to

dominate

internal violence and the

external aggressions.

I shall fulfill my duty

and will use every resource

of the State,

but there will not

be a civil war in this country!

However, the political forces had

already defined themselves in this:

the direction of Christian

Democracy

has already joined the strategy

of the overthrowing.

It's parliamentaries are here,

but they do not listen

whilst the right, with its

physical absence

demostrates it coupist tendency.

A month later we recorded

a regiment

which uprose itself.

But it still wasn't the moment

for the coup.

Leonardo Henricksen,

an Argentinian cameraman,

records his own death.

Just after the copper strike,

the truckers were about to

start a new one.

In the factories, the impatience

of the workers grew.

We were asked for organization,

organize the workers,

create industrial 'belts',

organize every front.

Comrades, we have organized

fronts by townships;

we have organized workers' fronts,

unions;

"cordons" too, and we're still

with the same thing, boy

"it's not the time",

there is a legislative power

and we must accept the judicial

power. We still say,

the comrade president may ask us

for patience,

that we go on organizing.

But, what for?

What is his fight plan?

'Till when?

I ask you, comrade:

Do you not trust the people's power?

Do you not trust the Unions?

Us workers that this friday went

in front of comrade Allende

to cheer and aplaud him.

Does he not trust the

organizations we have formed?

Do you not know the class

composition

which exists today in the

armed force?

Do you not know that most

officers are for the coup?

You all know that we,

the working class, have won

power with this government,

but not all the power.

And we agree that we have to find

the adequate way to deal

with our problems.

But lest we forget, comrades,

that there is a government

presided by comrade Allende,

and that we must obey it;

that there a workers' organization,

and that there are organizations

the class-parties,

that also lead us.

I, comrade!

the conclusions of the 500 workers

of the containers factory are:

stregthen the industrial belts,

the communal councils,

stregthenthe neighbourhood assemblies,

stregthenthe Price and Supply Assemblies

and all the community' organisations.

Evidently, we say:

we must prepare ourselves in some way.

We cannot hide our heads in the sand.

We must go out and see what happens

and go against any attempt

of military coup against the government

that we have led to power.

So it is, it is true that

there were comrades,

willing to give away their lives.

It's true! There was

passion to defend the government.

But we never had,

never, a popular army

capable of being victorious.

We had comrades with class

consciousness,

very stimulating, by the way,

but we never had an army.

Remember that we marched

with sticks, with sticks!

We looked like "boys scouts".

We are talking of 1973!

What does that mean?

If the people have broomsticks,

they will never face an army,

they don't have the means.

It may have passion and stregth,

but not the means.

It may have consciousness and even

reason,

but not the means!

We never believed that,

the armed forces stood

by the constitution.

We'd have to ask Corvalan

why did he say it?

Because that paralysed people.

There was a moment when the people

of Chile believed

the cry "Soldier, friend,

the people is with you".

We had the streets painted with that.

We supposed Allende could handle

the situation with his hands.

But he couldn't.

Allende was a gentlemen. He believed

that all those outcasts

were also

honourable gentlemen.

Allende wasn't a revolutionary.

He wasn't able of facing

the circumstances.

Was Popular Unity's program revolutionary?

- It was revolutionary.

- So Allende was also a revolutionary!

The socialists, the communists

and Popular Unity

aspired to keep a democratic

system

of government suppoting

the growth

of the capitalist economy.

What you are saying is grave,

very grave. Do you know why?

Because you are distorting History.

We have a tendency of caricaturizing

revolutionaries, like Che Guevara:

Comrades with a rifle,

that take up a rucksack,

go up to the hills

and make the Revolution

taking power by assault.

How was power taken in Chile?

The legal way, the electoral way,

the process determinated it was such.

It wasn't a cell that felt revolutionary

and felt it should be that way.

There was the people who had

unleashed

this process.

We must not forget,

that the final aim of Popular

Unity was to lay down the bases

for Chile to become socialist

and that is revolutionary.

There is no historical project

in Latin America like PU's.

Create, create, popular power!

The coup attempt increased the

divisions in the left.

The conflict was "popular power",

a away of self-management

which wanted the armed defence

of the process

The communists, with Allende,

wanted to stregthen themselves

without breaking the legality.

The socialists threatened to leave

the government

if there wasn't an armed strategy

for taking power.

At least that's what they said.

No more conciliation,

it's time to fight!

No more conciliation,

it's time to fight!

I want to speak.

We need more unity

inside Popular Unity!

We need more unity

to use a revolutionary

language that can be understood!

And we must call on the revolutionary

forces which aren't

in Popular Unity to join with us

to advance with historical responsibility

to the socialist revolution!

We must stregthen popular power,

We must stregthen the communal commands!

We must stregthen the industrial belts,

not as a paralel power to the government,

but as popular forces

with the strength of your government,

the popular government!

Near Valpara?so, I found the buses

that helped Allende.

Those which didn't go on strike

because they belonged to the State.

This vision makes us ask ourselves:

How could we have canalised

the popular power

to have carried on?

Nothing.

The forces played alone,

each on its own.

Allende's message was heard,

it got to the people, but

wasn't turned into organisation.

Each party of the left impulsed

their own tactics,

without listening to their militants,

to their basis.

Allende's loneliness was palpable.

From outside, Cuba was willing

to support him with weapons

and men, while the Soviet Union

denied any important economical aid.

He who doesn't jump is burgeois!

Despite all the dificulties,

despite the American money,

the parliamentary blockade,

the employers' strikes,

the economical boycott,

the terrorist propaganda,

the hatred of the right,

the middle-classes' panic,

Allende's support grew, there

were thousands and thousands of us

who went out on the streets,

conscious and willing,

believing it was possible to

create a freer and fairer world.

This is the mystery to solve,

it still surprises us today

Allende, Allende,

the people defends you!

Popular Unity!

Allende, Allende,

the people defends you!

I tell you, comrades,

comrades of so many years,

I tell you calmly,

with all tranquility:

I'm not made to be an apostle,

nor am I made to be a mesiah,

or martyr,

I'm a social fighter that

is carrying out a duty,

the duty the people gave me,

but understand,

that those who want to go

back in History

and do not respect the majoritary

will of Chile.

Without being a martyr,

Let them know that I shall not

give a single step back!

I will leave the Moneda

when I have carried out the people's mandate!

I have no alternative,

Only by shooting me

will they stop my will

of carrying out the people's programme!

I believed we lacked courage,

in the way that, maybe,

if we knew the coup was coming,

dunno, dunno...

but have looked for a gun,

or maybe even attacked a police station!

That day, the 11th, I remember

they blocked the way and we came up

here to the hills

to a house to think what to do.

Going through the streets the

peole that knew him,

identified Vuskovic,

Andrade,

who was a deputy, and they shouted:

"We'll call the police to

come and take you. "

We separated,

and a group went to the

"Bella vista" church,

where there was a Chilean

flag raised celebrating the coup.

And we stood there watching

men playing football

without worrying about

what was happening.

And we wanted

to plan something, what do we do?

My God, what do we do? Where do we go?

I believe

we had nothing for sure.

People said there were guns,

but we didn't have anything

because the politics of

the left-wing parties,

which by that time had grown a lot

communists, socialists, radicals,

MAPU, MIR,... they didn't have

anything in their HQs.

Then again, had we had guns,

and attacked, they'd probably

have killed us all

because they had tanks, planes, everything.

I believe Allende

showed he was brave, showed

he'd fight to the end.

But I believe

he'd have been more useful alive, Allende.

Allende would have helped us

a lot more being alive:

the dictatorship wouldn't have

been so strong.

because with Allende dead,

he was dead,

and alive at an Embassy, or out

of the country

with all the presidential scrolls,

he would have helped us,

the dictatorship wouldn't have been as strong.

I believe the people

should have gone to the Moneda

to defend it.

- But there were no weapons.

- Doesn't matter.

The weapons don't matter.

I don't think

they'd have killed all the people,

defending their president.

The people should have gone out

on the streets.

Maybe you are right.

We will never know.

When they moved the body of Salvador Allende

from Valpara?so to the general

cemetery, were you there?

- Yes.

- What did you feel?

Ah, feelings of seeing my father's

memory go by.

Moving,

watching pass by

the figure of a man

who really put all he had in

for my interests,

those of my family, my children

my grandchildren,

the people of Chile's,

my neighbours'.

Why did it remind you of

your father?

Because I appreciated Salvador Allende's

spirit very much,

and my father was very comprehensive,

A man who helped me a lot.

And he was an anarquist,

He helped me become what I am,

what he was then,

until he died.

I'll keep a good memory.

Of Allende too.

A man

who helped do for Chile

what my father

had done for me.

Workers of my fatherland:

I want to thank the loyalty

you have always shown,

the trust you have deposited

in a man

who was just an interpetre of the

cries for justice.

Surelly Radio Magallanes

will be shut down

and the calm metal of my voice

will not get to you.

It doesn't matter.

Other men shall overcome

this bitter and grey moment,

where treason tries to impose itself.

Long live Chile, long live the people!

Long live the workers!

These are my last words and I am sure

that my sacrifice will not be in vain.

Death is not the end.

It's necessary to go back to that

voluntary act of Salvador Allende,

last defender of the Moneda.

His suicide was neither desperate nor romantic.

It was a realist act

that showed that politics

does not have to bow down before the impossible.

I have to start again,

to recommence.

- Good Day.

We are making a survey

we wanted to know, were you

a witness of the bombardment of

Allende's house 30 years ago?

- No, try the neighbours.

- Thnaks.

I was at school,

2nd grade.

We wanted to know if you were

a witness of the bombing

of Allende's house 30 years ago?

Me, yes. Yes...

Yes? Can we make you a few questions?

Impossible. I can't now. I'm late

and I have to go.

- Yes?

- Good day, madame.

Excuse us, we are making a survey

to see if the people here saw

the bombardment

of Allende's house 30 years ago?

No, thank you.

What is it about?

We wanted to know if you saw

the bombardment, 30 years ago,

of Allende's house?

I can't answer that

because I wasn't here.

- You didn't live here?

- No!

Well, thank you very much.

They say they came in afterwards?

Ah, yes... 'Course,

they pillaged it!

But I don't know who it was.

They took the paintings and everything.

Who could it have been?

Today, the house that was the official

residency of the president,

is retirement house for the

Chilean Air Force.

It's a secret museum, a place of amnesia.

Crossing the mirror of dirty

conscience, the memory emerges.

Yes, here there was a moment

of armed resistance, weapons were found

but nothing that justified the

barbarity of the pillaging,

The hatred thrown against this house.

And they knew, by the way,

by the time they were bombing,

that the president wasn't here.

The president was speaking from

the microphones of the Moneda.

So, the bombardment was done

knowing that

the president wasn't here,

Only his wife was here.

The neighbours took paintings,

jewels,

underwear, personnal photos.

Afterwards the military took the rest.

To this day, Chile has not

reflected about his.

Only a few objects managed

to be recovered by the family.

Let's see!

Exactly, this is the one.

This is the room

where the President of the Republic slept.

In this door,

Pinochet was promoted

when that Sunday,

after talking to him, he said

he wanted him to be coordinator

of the Armed Forces,

of the Army especially

to put down any coup attempt

that went against individual

rights and the Constitution.

The day after the bombardment,

Allende's widow was taken

in a military plane to

to bury her husband at Vi?a del Mar.

She wasn't allowed to see Allende's remains,

which were laid down in an

unmarked tomb

Hortensia Bussi, the "Tencha",

who is today 87 years old,

became the central figure of the

international campaign

of solidarity with Chile.

I think that

Allende lived his presidency

is great loneliness.

It's true he had a group of friends and

colaborators

who were very loyal and close to him.

In this group there were two women:

Beatriz, the "Tati",

his eldest daughter, a doctor like him,

loyal colaborator and critic,

she accompanied him all his life.

She shot herself in Havana in 1977.

And Miria Contreras, the "Payita",

his personnal secretary.

"La Paya" was...

of an incredible warmth.

And such tenderness, she captivated,

as much for her beauty as for her tenderness,

she really captivated Allende.

She was with him in the last

electoral campaign,

and, when he gets to power,

she becomes his personnal secretary,

moreover she was in such a position,

even though she simpathised

with the left wing tendency

of the Socialist Party or the MIR,

despite that,

all political parties trusted her.

And why do you not feel important?

No, I don't thing I played any

important part...

in all those things.

All I did was

always support him, you know,

so that he had...

a friend, someone he could trust.

But this dedication was precisely

a very substantial part of his

strength,

of his energy, in the last phase, I think.

Yes, sure. It was important

to him, but to him...

that doesn't make me special.

I believe it was one of the most

beautiful love stories in the country

No, you are exaggerating,...

But... well...

About the historical bit,

you are putting me here

because you from this side (?)...

The President's office was here,

more or less in this direction.

From here the president took the phone,

and... on three occasions adressed

the Chilean people.

The president was like this,

here, and talked on the telephone, like this.

And...

it has been said this speech

that was his legacy...

the last speech,

the president didn't have nothing written.

I didn't notice any had notes, nothing.

After that speech,

there was a meeting, in a room

called the Toesca room.

- And there he says "Well, the air

strike is about to begin,...

I don't want martyrs...

so I have asked for a deal."

Which wasn't respected, of course.

"But he who can't defend himself, should go.

I will stay, for it is my duty as President.

The President does not abandon the Moneda.

And every woman is going, no questions about it. "

At the end of the meeting nobody left, everyone stayed.

And the women had to be sent away,

practically by force.

and the "Paya" hid herself.

When it's imminent, when there

is nothing left to do,

The Moneda is in flames,

then Allende says:

"Well, we'll give ourselves up,...

make a line and go down, one by one. "

And he repeats: Empty pockets.

I got at the end, first goes the Paya. "

And that is how it was,

we made a line...

the military were already...

on the stairways.

There were about 30 of us,

and I was at the end...

and that's how I saw the moment...

Allende shot himself,

not the very moment,

but I see him dead.

Because I hear the shot, no?

Enrique Huerta, who was the palace's

intendant:

"The president is dead. "

Then I turn around and I see

the president, dead,

and there Patxi Gij?n turns back,

and I get pushed out

and Patxi stays with the president...

dead.

- But you saw him.

- Yes, I saw him dead, yes.

Well he was sitting in an armchair,

with his back to Morand?,

and was... wore a grey jacket

with a sweater,

no glasses,

he had the machine gun between his legs,

and had his head open,

cracked and bursted .

Now we are in the place

that corresponds to where President

Allende spent his last minutes

before his death.

- The building has been reshaped?

- It's been completely reshaped

and this place where... It's an estimate

and there are witnesses that confirm it.

The past doesn't pass.

About our recent history,

there are few books.

There is no biography of Allende,

the files of power are still secret,

the arrogance of the victor lives.

September 11, 1973

is always present.

Salvador Allende loved life,

and life loved him.

With this life in our minds

we go on acting, thinking,

and inventing the future.

The past doesn't pass.

The river inverts the course of its stream

The water from the waterfalls goes up.

The people start to walk backwards.

The horses walk backwards.

The military break ranks.

The bullets leave the flesh.

The bullets go into the barrels.

The officers hostle their guns.

The current goes into the power plugs.

The tortured stop shaking.

The tortured close their mouths.

The concentration camps are emptied

The disappeared appear.

The dead leave their tombs.

The airplanes fly backwards.

The rockets go up into the airplanes.

Allende shoots,

the fires go out.

He takes of his helmet

The Moneda reconstructs itself.

His skull recomposes itself.

He goes to the balcony

Allende returns to Thomas More.

The detained walk backwards

from the stadia.

September 11!

The Armed Forces respect

the Constitution.

The military return to their barracks.

Neruda is reborn!

V?ctor Jara plays the guitar,

sings!

The workers march, singing:

"We shall win".

Salvador Allende (2004) - full transcript