Chile Set to Exhume President Allende's Body

Last Friday, Chilean judge Mario Carroza ordered the exhumation of the late President Allende's body decades after his death during the bloody 1973 coup that resulted in General Augusto Pinochet’s military dictatorship from 1973 to 1990. The disinterment, which is scheduled to take place some time late next month, will be done in an attempt to put to rest any questions surrounding the death of the president.

Autopsies performed hours after the death of President Allende stated that the president died from a self-inflicted gun shot would through the chin with a AK- 47 assault rifle. But questions still trouble many human rights groups and political officials. They wonder if his death was really due to suicide or if he met his untimely end by General Pinochet's military forces. The autopsy will continue the investigation announced in January by a Chilean prosecutor into the death of Allende's death and more that 725 additional human rights complaints against General Pinochet’s military dictatorship.

Allende's family has long accepted the theory that their relative committed suicide and never disputed it. Although, recently the family made a formal request to have the body exhumed for autopsy. Allende's daughter Isabel Allende, who is also a Socialist member of Parliament, told CNN-Chile, “It’s not that the family has changed their minds, or that we have doubts that we didn’t have before, but we support a criminal investigation that has never happened. We think it is extremely important for the country and the world that we legally establish the causes and circumstances of his death, which occurred under extreme violence.” At the time of his death the family was never allowed to see the body, a closed casket funeral was 75 miles out of Santiago; his current resting place.

It will be very interesting to see the results that experts at the Legal Medical Service report in regards to the official's death. This exhumation will bring clarity to one of Chile's major historical events. It seems to be another step in Chile's effort to open politics to the public, giving their citizens access to more information.

Pilgrimage Despite Conflicts in the Middle East

The occurrences that I am going to relay today took place back in February. I know that it may seem to be "old news" but we were asked to provide information on how and if the revolts in the Middle East were affecting our chosen country and I find this story relevant to that topic.

I'm sure that most are aware of the 25 Chilean miners that were trapped underground for 69 days and rescued back in October. After being rescued the miners have been invited on many trips including going to Disneyworld in Florida and being the guests of honor of the Manchester United soccer team in Britain.

At the end of February, the group left for a week long visit to Israel accompanied by partners or family members. Arrangements for the group to tour Israel as guests of the Israeli government had been made prior to the upheaval in the Middle East and the current mayhem did not deter the miners. Many of them viewed the trip overseas as a pilgrimage, an opportunity to thank God for their miraculous rescue.

Jimmy Sánchez, the youngest of the Chilean miners trapped last year, and his wife at the Church of the Holy Sepulcher in Jerusalem





The group toured the holy sites of the Old City in Jeruselam, Israel’s national Holocaust memorial Yad Vashem, the Dead Sea, Nazareth, the Sea of Galilee,and the Church of the Nativity in the West Bank city of Bethlehem.

The trip was planned as a way to improve public relations and promote religious tourism to the area. Taking recent events into account I feel that a spike in religious tourism seems highly unlikely. I am even surprised that the miners did not choose to post pone their excursion overseas. For these Chileans the revolt and chaos in the Middle East was not of concern. I think it would be interesting to see if other citizens of Chile are still traveling abroad despite the current conditions.