The President of Cuba, Miguel Díaz-Canel, took part this Monday in a concert in the Basilica of the Monastery of San Francisco de Asís, which took place on the occasion of the 50th anniversary of the military coup in Chile that killed Salvador Allende.
The troubadour Silvio Rodríguez took part in the program; the Caribbean Nation’s National Choir, led by teacher Digna Guerra; the flautist Niurka González together with the pianist Malva Rodríguez and the Havana Chamber Orchestra, as the Presidency of the Republic reported on the social network XBefore Twitter.
Chilean Ambassador to Cuba Patricia Esquenazi thanked the Caribbean nation, its people, the historic leader Fidel Castro and President Miguel Díaz-Canel for being Cuba “the country that opened its arms to those who arrived sadly, when the blow happened.” Thank you for joining us.
The concert was also attended by Foreign Minister Bruno Rodríguez, Culture Minister Alpidio Alonso, part of the Chilean community living in Cuba, representatives of the diplomatic corps accredited to the Greater Antilles and notable Cuban intellectuals.
50 years ago, one of the darkest and bloodiest pages in the history of democracy and the labor movement in Latin America occurred: on the morning of September 11, 1973, the Moneda Building (headquarters of the executive branch) was bombed and attacked.
President Allende responded to the call for surrender Radio Magallanes with words that forever made him one of the greats of the region: “… I will not resign… I will pay with my life… I am sure that the seeds we deliver will be delivered to the worthy conscience of thousands of people Chileans cannot be destroyed.”
At about 1:00 p.m. that day, and with all avenues of resistance exhausted, Allende’s death occurred after most of his escort and other combatants had fallen in battle or been captured because they had run out of ammunition.
The military repression after the coup was terrible: tens of thousands of people were sequestered in prisons or in football stadiums converted into concentration camps, thousands were tortured and murdered, and many others, supporters of left-wing parties or trade unions, were forced to flee. Choosing the path of exile.
