Former Political Prisoner and Torture Survivor Michelle Bachelet Elected as Chile's First Female President
Tuesday, January 17th, 2006
http://www.democracynow.org/article.pl?sid=06/01/17/1449210
In Chile, former political prisoner Michelle Bachelet has become the
country first-ever female president. Running on the Socialist ticket,
Bachelet beat her billionaire rival in Sunday's election. Bachelet is the
daughter of an air force general who was tortured and died in prison
after Augusto Pinochet seized power in 1973. She too was imprisoned by
Pinochet's regime before fleeing into exile. We speak with
Chilean-American writer Ariel Dorfman, Chilean torture survivor Emilio Banda as well
as Joyce Horman, the widow of a U.S. journalist who was killed by
Pinochet forces. [includes rush transcript]
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In Chile, Socialist presidential candidate Michelle Bachelet was
elected to be the country's first female leader in a runoff election Sunday.
Bachelet won 53 percent of the vote beating out opposition candidate,
billionaire Sebastian Pinera. She spoke to supporters in Santiago on
Sunday after the election results were announced.
a.. Michelle Bachelet:
"My government will be a government of unity. I will be the President
for all Chileans."
Bachelet is a 54 year-old medical doctor who was imprisoned and
tortured under the dictatorship of Augusto Pinochet.
Her father was an air force general who was arrested and tortured for
opposing the 1973 US-backed coup that overthrew democratically-elected
president Salvador Allende. Her father died of a heart attack in prison.
A medical student at the time, Bachelet was also arrested, along with
her mother. They were blindfolded, beaten and denied food for five days
while their cellmates were raped. They were later forced into five
years in exile, first in Australia, then communist East Germany.
Current President Ricardo Lagos, who was constitutionally barred from
seeking re-election, made her his health minister six years ago, then in
2002 named her defense minister. She will be the fourth consecutive
president from the center-left coalition known as the Concertacion that
has run Chile since 1990.
An agnostic single mother of three, she was not an obvious choice for
leadership in Chile, a socially conservative Roman Catholic country.
Bachelet told a news conference on Monday that she would strive to root
out Chile's embedded social divide and pledged to name a cabinet with
an equal number of men and women. On foreign affairs, she said she would
try to improve relations with neighboring countries and said she
supported the proposed Free Trade Area of the Americas.
In her victory speech Sunday, she promised tolerance saying "Because I
was the victim of hatred, I have dedicated my life to reverse that
hatred and turn it into understanding, tolerance and -- why not say it --
into love."
a.. Ariel Dorfman, Chilean-American professor of Literature and Latin
American Studies at Duke University. He is the author of numerous
books, including "Other Septembers, Many Americas" and "Exorcising Terror,
The Incredible Unending Trial of General Augusto Pinochet." He was on
the staff of Chilean President Salvador Allende on the day of the 1973
coup.
b.. Emilio Banda, a former student union leader from Chile. In 1986,
he was arrested by Pinochet forces and imprisoned for six months where
he was tortured. He left Chile in 1993.
c.. Joyce Horman, her late husband, Charles Horman, was a US
journalist in Chile during the 1973 coup. He was detained in Santiago days
after Pinochet came to power. His body was found later, buried in a cement
wall. He was 31 years-old. For years, Joyce Horman fought to uncover
the full story of her husband's death. She sued Gen. Pinochet and other
Chilean officials. Former Secretary of State Henry Kissinger was listed
as a witness. Her story was the subject of the 1982 Academy-Award
winning movie "Missing." In 1999, she obtained classified State Department
documents that proved US officials played a role in her husband's death.
RUSH TRANSCRIPT
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AMY GOODMAN: In Chile, Socialist presidential candidate, Michelle
Bachelet, was elected to be the country's first female leader in a runoff
election Sunday. She won 53 percent of the vote, beating out opposition
candidate, billionaire Sebastian Pinera. She spoke to supporters in
Santiago on Sunday after the election results were announced.
MICHELLE BACHELET: My government will be a government of unity. I
will be the President of all Chileans.
AMY GOODMAN: Michelle Bachelet is a 54-year-old doctor who was
imprisoned and tortured under the dictatorship of Augusto Pinochet. Her father
was an air force general who was arrested and tortured for opposing the
1973 U.S.-backed coup that overthrew the democratically elected
President Salvador Allende. Her father died of a heart attack in prison. A
medical student at the time, Bachelet was also arrested, along with her
mother. They were blind-folded, beaten, denied food for five days, while
their cell mates were raped. They were later forced into five years in
exile, first in Australia, then into East Germany.
Current President Ricardo Lagos, who was constitutionally barred from
seeking reelection, made her his health minister six years ago, then in
2002 named her defense minister. She will be the fourth consecutive
president from the center-left coalition known as the Concertacion, that
has run Chile since 1990.
An agnostic single mother of three, she was not an obvious choice for
leadership in Chile, a socially conservative Roman Catholic country.
Bachelet told a news conference Monday she will strive to root out
Chile's embedded social divide and pledged to name a cabinet with an equal
number of men and women. On foreign affairs, she says she will try to
improve relations with neighboring countries and says she will support
the proposed Free Trade Area of the Americas.
In her victory speech Sunday, she promised tolerance, saying, quote,
“Because I was the victim of hatred, I’ve dedicated my life to reverse
that hatred and turn it into understanding, tolerance and -- why not say
it -- into love.”
We spoke with Ariel Dorfman, a Chilean-American professor of literature
and Latin American Studies at Duke University, just before the program.
He is the author of numerous books, including Other Septembers, Many
Americas and Exorcising Terror: The Incredible Unending Trial of General
Augusto Pinochet. He was on the staff of Chilean President Salvador
Allende on the day of the 1973 coup. Dorfman gave us his initial reaction
to the election.
ARIEL DORFMAN: Chile has had many victories for democracy in the last
16, 17, 18 years, and we managed to get rid of Pinochet and elect three
democratic presidents. This is the fourth one.
When I heard that Michelle Bachelet was the new president of Chile, I
felt somehow the same enthusiasm, the same thrill that I felt when we
defeated Pinochet in the plebiscite and the sort of hopes that opened
up, the expectation that opened up when we elected the first democratic
president, Patricio Aylwin, in 1990. So it’s been an extraordinary
experience.
It’s not only that she is the first woman president of Chile and the
first woman who was not, you know, getting into power because she was
married to somebody, but on her own merit, but because I think she
really embodies a whole new tendency not only in Chile, but in all of Latin
America, which is one for more solidarity, great responsibility, of
course, fiscal responsibility at the same time. But the context,
international context in which she is becoming president and the fact that she
has all these factors that should be against her, you know, that she has
divorced twice – or not divorced, she’s separated twice, has got three
children that she brought up by herself. She is a pediatrician. You
know, once again we have a doctor who is in charge of Chile's destiny, as
in the case of Salvador Allende, and again, you have somebody who has
worked among the poor, who has seen what they can do, what their needs
are, and who, in some sense, changes the whole cultural aspect. And
these cultural aspects are very, very important.
I don't think, you know, that she’s going to be a rabid left winger
or that she’s going to suggest that Chile is on the road to socialism,
as it was many, many years ago with Salvador Allende. But I think that
it signals a really bellwether change in Chile and in the rest of Latin
America. It’s part of a whole tendency towards a continent that wants
to take its destiny in its own hands. And I'm just thrilled for this.
I'm not a very close friend of hers, though I know her quite well.
I'm a good friend of her mother's. But she's a decent, hardworking, very
charismatic, very down to earth person. If you had to ask me one
question about what she is, she is down to earth. She is part of the earth,
in that sense, you know, and Chile continues to startle us and give us
new things. Every six or seven years we do something which seems very
surprising to the world. And I'm very glad that we're still able to
surprise, because that’s part of the great astonishment of, I would say of,
the way in which people move forward and try to take over their own
fate.
AMY GOODMAN: Ariel Dorfman, Chilean-American writer, speaking from Duke
University where he teaches. He was an adviser to Salvador Allende, the
democratically elected president of Chile, who died in the palace in
Santiago on September 11, 1973, when the Pinochet forces rose to power.
This is Democracy Now!
We're joined in our Firehouse studio by two guests. Emilio Banda is a
former student union leader from Chile. In 1986, he was arrested by
Pinochet forces and imprisoned for six months, where he was tortured. He
left Chile in 1993. We're also joined by Joyce Horman. Her late son,
Charles Horman, was -- her late husband was a U.S. journalist in Chile
during the 1973 coup. He was detained in Santiago days after Pinochet came
to power, and his body was found later, buried in a cement wall. He was
31 years old. For years, Joyce Horman has fought to uncover the full
story of her husband’s death. She sued General Pinochet and other Chilean
officials. Former Secretary of State Henry Kissinger was listed as a
witness. Her story was the subject of the Academy Award-winning movie,
Missing by Costa-Gavras. In 1999, she obtained classified State
Department documents that proved U.S. officials played a role in her husband’s
death. We will begin with Emilio Banda; your response to the election of
Michelle Bachelet?
EMILIO BANDA: Well, we are happy, you know, celebrating. It’s an
historical situation in Chile. We believe many thing will continue, like
President Lagos regime or period, and we know that many thing, especially
the reconciliation process and, you know, some human right cases will be
definitely, you know, get at the final, and we will enjoy that, you
know, renaissance of justice and Michelle's role in the government.
AMY GOODMAN: You were arrested in 1986?
EMILIO BANDA: Myself, as many other union student leader, because the
university or college students were really involved in the
democratization of the university itself and in the recuperation of the democracy
for our country. Actually, the student -- the union leader of Chile in
1986, 1987, most of all of them were put in jail for six months, four
months, or some of them for larger periods. And I was one of them.
AMY GOODMAN: And how long were you held?
EMILIO BANDA: I was like six months, but the process in the military
tribunals, because the military take the student to the court, keep me,
you know, in process for years and years. In 1996, I was stopped in the
airport trying to leave Chile, because I still having this process from
1986, you know, ten year after they put me in jail, because I didn't
finish that process.
AMY GOODMAN: You were tortured in prison?
EMILIO BANDA: Not in prison, actually, because the prison was the place
where everybody get to rest a little bit after the torture. They took
you before the guards of the prison system, take you on to prison, and
they torture after you get detained or in the car or in a secret place.
AMY GOODMAN: But you chose not to leave Chile after you were released.
EMILIO BANDA: Right. Actually, it was a compromise of everybody in
1986, because we thought that will be the year of ending of Pinochet. You
have to remember Pinochet suffered an attempt of murder in 1987, and
since 1985 the people of Chile was absolutely tired of him and using every
single way to get rid of him. And the students at that time were really
well organized, mobilizing people to the street, you know, going to
take in the campus like a base and don't leave the campus for days, and
trying to get a national, you know, strike, fighting the dictatorship.
And after we took the campus for like six or seven days, I remember, in
May 1986, and every single leader of the union was in prison, and I was
in the clandestine, and some people from the Asamblea of la Civilidad,
you know, the civil organization that direct the fight against
Pinochet, today the Concertacion, asked me to go and present myself on the
tribunal. I present myself on the tribunal, and they say we have nothing
against you, and then the military take me in the door of the tribunal.
AMY GOODMAN: Emilio Banda, we have to break. When we come back, we will
also speak with Joyce Horman about the election of Michelle Bachelet,
the first woman president of Chile, also a torture survivor.
[break]
AMY GOODMAN: Michelle Bachelet is the new president of Chile. Our guest
Emilio Banda, student union leader in Chile, 1986, arrested by the
Pinochet forces, imprisoned for six months. Also, Joyce Horman, her husband
Charles Horman was a U.S. journalist in Chile, also died right at that
time of the Pinochet forces, his body later found buried in a cement
wall. And for years, Joyce Horman pursued what happened to her husband,
sued General Pinochet, as well as other Chilean officials, and former
Secretary of State Henry Kissinger. Your thoughts today on the victory of
Bachelet?
JOYCE HORMAN: Well, of course, we were all watching very closely on
Sunday. And I have to say, it felt so good to have Michelle Bachelet
elected. It felt almost as good as hearing that Pinochet had been arrested
in London in 1998. It was really an extraordinary release of so much
good work, you know. She is such an emblem really of resilience and of
taking action, where -- when you’ve suffered that kind of loss that she
and her family have suffered. It isn't the first thing that you think
about. The pain is the first thing you think about. But the fact that so
many people in Chile have been so resilient and to this terrible regime
that was Pinochet and to the torture and the terror that existed
because of his regime. This resilience is really represented by President
Bachelet, and I believe that it’s an extraordinary threshold not only in
Chile, but in the world, that such resilience has been elected to the
presidency. It’s wonderful.
AMY GOODMAN: Your lawsuit focused on the connection between the U.S.
and its support of the Pinochet forces that were responsible for the
torture of the now president of Chile, Bachelet, as well as the death of
your husband. Where does that lawsuit stand now?
JOYCE HORMAN: You know, at first we had a suit in the United States,
and it was a civil suit against Kissinger and other members of the U.S.
State Department for information regarding my husband's death. And a lot
of the documents were classified. They were redacted. We didn't find
out very much information after several years of discovery. When Pinochet
was returned to Chile and his immunity, senatorial immunity, was taken
away, we filed a suit, along with many other Chileans and many other
victims of Pinochet's regime, against Pinochet and members of his staff
and so forth. This one is a criminal case, and it’s against him for the
death of my husband, the wrongful death of my husband. It is still in
court in Chile, as are many other suits regarding the demise of so many
people. Hopefully this will be progressing over the next few years,
especially with President Bachelet.
AMY GOODMAN: And, Emilio Banda, your feelings about the President of
Chile being a torture survivor like yourself?
EMILIO BANDA: Well, that means things are, you know, getting right in
my country. Actually, her experience is pretty – it’s great to see and
hear a person who really takes the leadership of being a political
prisoner herself and suffering the exile, coming back and take the
leadership. She was defense minister first.
AMY GOODMAN: Under Lagos.
EMILIO BANDA: Under Lagos, and her dialogue with the army in Chile was
the first thing that put an accent on her charisma, actually, because
the military traditional, you know, that machismo probably of the
Chilean society expresses strongly in the military, and putting a woman to
talk to them and to, you know, put things clear on the table about human
rights and that kind of stuff definitely makes her a different person
--
AMY GOODMAN: And she was the first woman defense minister, as well.
EMILIO BANDA: Absolutely. Yeah, great.
AMY GOODMAN: Daughter of her father, of course, who was a Chilean
general who supported Salvador Allende.
EMILIO BANDA: Right.
AMY GOODMAN: Well, I want to thank you both very much for being with
us. Emilio Banda, for joining us, arrested in Chile in 1986, a union
leader, stayed there after. And Joyce Horman, the widow of Charles Horman,
who was killed when Pinochet rose to power, as we speak on this day
after it was announced that Michelle Bachelet had won the Chilean election
for president, the first woman elected president of Chile.
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