—
ratenco — ratenco — ratenco ...
 Mr. Le Carré, high time to
introduce you to Señor Eduardo Galeano,
who writes non-fiction, but thrilling as
well. …
Señor Galeano, please excuse the
interruption! There was Africa online,
and during this first night on the train
a certain drowsiness seems to take hold
… You said, our African train would
roll on Latin American tracks? …
„... And I had forwarded a
quiz-question: What would change if
‚Latin America‘ would be
replaced by ‚Africa‘?“
Correct, immediately afterwards
we got this call from Zimbabwe …
„Well, your train experienced the
opposite. The African schedule was
replaced by a Latin American one. And
what is changing?
Geography in the first place! Look
through the windows. Just disappearing
from view are the highest giants of the
Andes, the snow-covered Tupungato, and
behind it the highest summit of Western
hemisphere, the Aconcagua, 6.958 metres
above sea-level.
And now, attention, we enter one of the
longest tunnels of the Andes-region, the
Cumbre-Tunnel.“
—
ratenco — ratenco — ratenco ...
„Listen for the bell! We are about
to cross from one country to another, and
this is made audible by the clanging of
the bell which the train passes in the
middle of the tunnel.“
—
ratenco — ratenco — ratenco ...
„NOW!!“
—
ratenco — ratenco — ratenco ...
„We are in the heart of the
mountain, passing under a statue of
Christ which marks on the summit the
borderline between Argentina and Chile.
And an inscription reads …“
 Sooner shall
these mountains crumble
into dust than the people of Argentina
and Chile break the peace which they have
sworn to maintain at the feet of Christ
the Redeemer.
„Unfortunately, this Christ is made
from bronze only — which contains to
more than sixty per cent copper. Perhaps,
if it would not stand at such a remote
place, this Christ would have been stolen
long ago.
Since first publication of my book, some
governments have tried to shut ‚THE
OPEN VEINS OF LATIN AMERICA‘. They
nationalized copper-, tin-, silver-,
gold-mines — even oil-fields ...
4  However,
every time when a state declares itself
owner of the most important products of a
country the question has to be forwarded:
who owns the state?
How could Chile be helped by an oath with
a neighbour — once a country far
away would support the enemy within its
own territory?”
Señor Galeano — con
permiso! With your permission: we would
like to introduce some documents, in
multi-media solidarity, so to speak? ...
Graçias!
It is the 11th of September. Planes
change suddenly their course, rushing for
the city-centre. Shortly afterwards:
explosions, bursting facades, dying and
fleeing people, clouds of dust. The
disaster is broadcasted LIVE …
New York, 2001?
No!
On 11th September 1973, at 10:32 local
time, a government-radio station, driven
into underground by putschists,
broadcasts live from within the Moneda
the last speech of Chile’s president
Salvador Allende .
CONTROL! AUDIO PLEASE!
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 the 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
reconquer 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 the
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.
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.
At 10:45 local time the fight
began around the Moneda, the presidential
palace, fighter-jets dropped bombs from
around 12:00 local time onwards. Around
14:00 local time, Salvador Allende
Gossens, democratically elected president
of the Republic of Chile, died.
CONTROL! START MOVIE!
 MISSING
Director: Constantin Costa-Gavras
Script: Donald Stewart, Constantin
Costa-Gavras
Camera: Ricardo Aronovich Musik:
Françoise Bonnot
Actors: Jack Lemmon, Sissy Spacek,
Melanie Mayron, John Shea
Production: U.S.A., 1981
Duration: 122 min
Costa-Gavras' tense political drama opens
in an unspecified South American country
(though clearly intended to be Chile) in
the throes of a military coup.
American activist Charles Horman (John
Shea), who has been a thorn in the side
of the country's military ever since his
arrival, suddenly disappears. In trying
to find out what has happened, his wife
Beth (Sissy Spacek) is stonewalled, not
only by the ruling junta but by the
American consulate. His father, staunchly
patriotic Ed Horman (Jack Lemmon), joins
Beth in her search. Ed and his
daughter-in-law have never seen eye to
eye politically, and he refuses to
entertain the notion that his son's
disappearance might be part of a larger
conspiracy or cover-up. But as the days
grow into weeks, Ed comes to the
shattering conclusion that he and his
family have been betrayed by the American
government, on behalf of the
"friendly" South American
dictator who holds his people in a grip
of iron. Adapted by Costa-Gavras and
Donald E. Stewart from a book by Thomas
Hauser, Missing was inspired by the true
story of the late Charles Horman. In
spite of (or perhaps because of)
condemnation from certain high-ranking
officials in the Reagan administration,
the film went on to win an Academy Award
for Best Adapted Screenplay, as well as
nominations for Best Picture, Best Actor,
and Best Actress.
|
