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Chilean President Michelle Bachelet attended an official ceremony Friday marking the anniversary of the 1973 coup.
“Forty two years after the tragedy, we know we can only rebuild our nation if the country remembers its own history,” Bachelet said during a memorial service for victims of the military regime that arose following the 1973 coup.
“We've all learned that the entire country is lost when the homeland is divorced from democracy,” she added.
Often known as Chile's 9/11, on Sept. 11, 1973, the progressive government of Salvador Allende was overthrown by a U.S.-backed military coup. The coup was led by Gen. Augusto Pinochet, who later consolidated power and ruled Chile with an iron fist until 1990.
According to official data, 903 people were reported as disappeared and 1,759 were executed during the Pinochet regime. Today, only 75 out of 1,073 former Pinochet-era agents are serving prison sentences for human rights violations.
The Chilean Supreme Court opened an investigation earlier in July into two former Pinochet collaborators for tax offenses linked to alleged diversion of funds from companies for financing political campaigns.
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