The death and death of Salvador Allende
The body of the former Chilean president has been exhumed in Santiago; the country's justice system wants to clarify whether he was assassinated or committed suicide.
247, with information from Agência Brasil – Chile is beginning to address the most traumatic wound in its history. The remains of former president Salvador Allende, killed in the bloody military coup of 1973, were exhumed this Monday by a team of experts from the country. The ceremony to remove the coffin of the former president from the family mausoleum in the General Cemetery of Santiago began at 7:30 am and lasted until 8:40 am.
Allende's body had already been exhumed in 1990 to receive the honors of a head of state. Now, however, the initiative comes from the Chilean Justice system, which has opened an inquiry to investigate the circumstances of the former president's death – the last democratically elected head of state in the country before the 1973 military coup. The request to open the inquiry was made by Beatriz Pedrals, of the Fiscal Justice Department, and the investigations will be led by the representative of the Chilean Public Prosecutor's Office, Minister Mario Carroza.
Allende died on September 11, 1973, when General Augusto Pinochet's forces stormed the government headquarters, the La Moneda Palace, where the then-president was located. During the military coup, the information released about Allende's death was that he committed suicide by shooting himself, but this version continues to generate controversy to this day.
For the Allende family, the former president committed suicide. “President Allende decided to die as a matter of political consistency,” said Senator Isabel Allende, the former president's daughter. “[We support this exhumation] in the hope that the results [of the examinations] will end all doubts.”
One of the associations representing victims of the dictatorship, such as the Allende family, requested the exhumation. The case of the former president is among 726 lawsuits involving victims of human rights violations during the military dictatorship in Chile – from 1973 to 1990. The dictatorship of former president Augusto Pinochet is considered by historians to be one of the most violent in Latin America.
Investigations
The first stage of the investigation into Salvador Allende's death will take five to six days. Only after this phase will the experts determine the date for the release of the investigation results. After the exhumation, carried out this Monday at the family mausoleum in the General Cemetery of Santiago, anthropological analyses and blood tests will be performed.
The team of experts comprises 11 professionals from various fields, including doctors, anthropologists, and biologists, among others, under the direction of the Public Prosecutor's Office and the Forensic Medical Service. The Allende family will be present during the operation.