“Viva Chile! Viva el pueblo! Vivan los trabajadores!”
("Long live Chile! Long live the people! Long live the workers!")
Paranoid Planet, Episode 7.5B, chapter 1)
That was an excerpt of the final public address of President Salvator Allende, delivered over the radio on September 11, 1973, from the Moneda in Santiago, Chile’s Presidential Palace, surrounded by tanks, troops, and bomber planes. Allende died of a bullet wound to the head shortly after delivering this speech and urging his associates to surrender. Many have claimed that he was murdered, though several witnesses at the scene and the pathologists who later inspected the body, said it was a suicide.
Here is the English translation of that speech.
President Allende under attack at the Moneda on September 11, 1973.
September 11, 1973
"My friends,
"Surely this will be the last opportunity for me to address you. The Air Force has bombed the antennas of Radio Magallanes.
"My words do not have bitterness but disappointment. May they be a moral punishment for those who have betrayed their oath: soldiers of Chile, titular commanders in chief, Admiral Merino, who has designated himself Commander of the Navy, and Mr. Mendoza, the despicable general who only yesterday pledged his fidelity and loyalty to the Government, and who also has appointed himself Chief of the Carabineros [paramilitary police].
"Given these facts, the only thing left for me is to say to workers: I am not going to resign! Placed in a historic transition, I will pay for loyalty to the people with my life. And I say to them that I am certain that the seeds which we have planted in the good conscience of thousands and thousands of Chileans will not be shriveled forever.
"They have force and will be able to dominate us, but social processes can be arrested by neither crime nor force. History is ours, and people make history.
"Workers of my country: I want to thank you for the loyalty that you always had, the confidence that you deposited in a man who was only an interpreter of great yearnings for justice, who gave his word that he would respect the Constitution and the law and did just that. At this definitive moment, the last moment when I can address you, I wish you to take advantage of the lesson: foreign capital, imperialism, together with the reaction, created the climate in which the Armed Forces broke their tradition, the tradition taught by General Schneider and reaffirmed by Commander Araya, victims of the same social sector who today are hoping, with foreign assistance, to re-conquer the power to continue defending their profits and their privileges.
"I address you, above all, the modest woman of our land, the campesina who believed in us, the mother who knew our concern for children. I address professionals of Chile, patriotic professionals who continued working against the sedition that was supported by professional associations, classist associations that also defended the advantages of capitalist society. I address the youth, those who sang and gave us their joy and their spirit of struggle. I address the man of Chile, the worker, the farmer, the intellectual, those who will be persecuted, because in our country fascism has been already present for many hours — in terrorist attacks, blowing up the bridges, cutting the railroad tracks, destroying the oil and gas pipelines, in the face of the silence of those who had the obligation to act. They were committed. History will judge them.
Chilean troops surround the smoking Moneda following bombings. 09/11/73
"Surely Radio Magallanes will be silenced, and the calm metal instrument of my voice will no longer reach you. It does not matter. You will continue hearing it. I will always be next to you. At least my memory will be that of a man of dignity who was loyal to his country.
"The people must defend themselves, but they must not sacrifice themselves. The people must not let themselves be destroyed or riddled with bullets, but they cannot be humiliated either.
"Workers of my country, I have faith in Chile and its destiny. Other men will overcome this dark and bitter moment when treason seeks to prevail. Go forward knowing that, sooner rather than later, the great avenues will open again and free men will walk through them to construct a better society.
Long live Chile! Long live the people! Long live the workers!
"These are my last words, and I am certain that my sacrifice will not be in vain, I am certain that, at the very least, it will be a moral lesson that will punish felony, cowardice, and treason."
General/President Augusto Pinochet salutes Chilean troops in Presidential Palace, Santiago, Chile.
Michel Gagné,
September 2023
And for those interested in Chilean gastronomy, chef Joan Lillo presents:
Dr. Pablo's Chacarero Chileno
(Chilean Steak and Bean Sandwich)
Pastel de Choclo
(Chilean Beef and Corn Casserole)
Barros Luco
(recently renamed De Aragon)
5201 St-Urbain, Montréal
Panaderia La Riviera
435 Rue Jean-Talon Ouest, Montréal
La Chilenita
130 Rue Roy E, Montréal
Documents related to this episode: *
1. Pablo Policzer: The Rise & Fall of Repression in Chile. University of Notre-Dame Press, 2009.
2. Brown University: Document #28: “Final Speech,” Salvador Allende (1973), "Chapter 10. Chile: Repression and Democracy," Modern Latin America, web supplement for 8th edition.
3. Jerry Davila: Dictatorship in South America. Wiley-Blackwell, 2013.
4. Laurence Birns, Ed.: The End of Chilean Democracy: An IDOC Dossier on the Coup and Its Aftermath. Continuum/Seabury Press, 1974.
5. Patricio Aylwin Azócar: La experiencia política de la Unidad Popular 1970-1973: La Democracia Cristiana durante el gobierno de Salvador Allende (Spanish Edition), DEBATE, 2023.
6. Roberto Bolaño: Una Mirada Critica / Roberto Bolaño: A Critcal Look. [Bolaño discusses his memories of September 11, 1973 (with English subtitles)]. (date unknown).
Monica Gonzales: La Conjura: Los mil y un días del golpe (Spanish Edition), Catalonia, 2012.
7. Patricia Verdugo: Los zarpazos del puma. La caravana de la muerte (Spanish Edition).Catalonia, 2016.
8. The Battle of Chile (Equipe Tercer Ano, 1975-79). Dir. by Patricio Guzmán.
9. Machuca (Menemsha Entertainment, 2004). Dir. by Andrés Wood.
10. No (Sony Pictures Classics, 2012). Dir. by Pablo Larraín.
11. Chicago Boys (La Ventana Producciones, 2015). Dir. by Carola Fuentes & Rafael Valdeavellano.
12. 1976 / Chile '76 (Cinestación, 2022). Dir. by Manuela Martelli.
13. Allende en su laberinto / Allende In His Labyrinth (Netflix, 2014) Dir. by Miguel Littin.
* All copyrighted video and audio clips are used for educational purposes only under "fair use" regulations.