La Vignetterie.

Hoy día es once de septiembre.

A few dozen women stand at the entrance to a palatial building. They hold a large sign, reading simply

Hoy día es once de septiembre.

So goes the narration. The camera pauses a moment on the faces of the women standing. They stand perfectly upright, unthreatening but not passive. The narration resumes.

Como usted sabe y puede ver, hoy día es once de septiembre.

As this is read, the Carabineros, Chile’s gendarmerie, seize the pieces of paper making up the sign.

It is indeed 11 September of 1988. In Chile, it is the seventh day of one of the strangest political processes ever.

plebiscito-presidente de la republica

augusto pinochet ugarte

si no

This is the beginning of the fifteen minutos legales at the disposition of the opposition to Pinochet during a television campaign running from 5 September till 1 October.

Chile es una república democrática.

In 1980, after a dubious referendum, the junta issued a mildly respectable-seeming constitution.

Los hombres nacen libres e iguales en dignidad y derechos.

Men are born free and equal in dignity and rights.

The façade was incomplete.

Artículo 8º.- Todo acto de persona o grupo destinado a propagar doctrinas que atenten contra la familia, propugnen la violencia o una concepción de la sociedad, del Estado o del orden jurídico, de carácter totalitario o fundada en la lucha de clases, es ilícito y contrario al ordenamiento institucional de la República.

Article 8. Every act of a person or a group intended to propagate doctrines that attack the family, or encourage violence, or a conception of society, the state, or the the legal system, of a totalitarian character or founded on class struggle is illicit, and contrary to the institutional order of the Republic.

But it provided for a legislature and a judiciary, elections, and various other features of democratic life that were to be completely absent, at least until 1988. For the constitution’s transitional provisions froze the status quo until then.

decimocuarta. Durante el período indicado en la disposición anterior, continuara como Presidente de la República el actual Presidente, General de Ejército don Augusto Pinochet Ugarte, quien durara en el cargo hasta el término de dicho período.

fourteenth. During the period indicated in the previous provision, the present President, General of the Army don Augusto Pinoichet Ugarte, shall continue as president of the Republic, and continue in this office until the end of the said period.

That is to say, Pinochet would remain president until 1988. Moreover

decimoctava.- Durante el período a que se refiere la disposición decimotercera transitoria, la Junta de Gobierno ejercerá, por la unanimidad de sus miembros, las siguientes atribuciones exclusivas:

A.- Ejercer el Poder Constituyente sujeto siempre a aprobación plebiscitaria, la que se llevara a efecto conforme a las reglas que señale la ley;

B.- Ejercer el Poder Legislativo;

C.- Dictar las leyes interpretativas de la Constitución que fueren necesarias; …

eighteenth. During the period referred to in the thirteenth transitional provision, the Governing Junta shall exclusively exercise, on the unainimous [decision] of its members, the following prerogatives:

A.- To exercise constituent power, subjct always to approval by plebiscite, the latter organised in conformity with the rules prescribed by law;

B.- To exercise the legislative power;

C.- To make such laws interpreting the Constitution as may be necessary; …

vigesimaséptima.- Corresponderá a los Comandantes en Jefe de las Fuerzas Armadas y al General Director de Carabineros, titulares, proponer al país, por la unanimidad de ellos, sujeto a la ratificación de la ciudadanía, la persona que ocupara el cargo de Presidente de la República en el período presidencial siguiente al referido en la disposición decimotercera transitoria…

twenty-seventh. It shall be the responsibility of the incumbent Commanders in Chief of the Armed Forces and General Director of the Carabineros unainomously propose to the country, subject to ratification by the people, the person who shall occupy the office of President of the Republic, in the period following that referred to in the thirteenth transitional provision…

Están haciendo ingreso en el edificio Diego Portales la esposa del jefe del estado!

By 1988, some members of the junta were not so keen on the obvious designation of Pinochet as president. Pinochet himself had said he would retire in 1989. The General Director of the Carabineros, Rodolfo Stange Oelckers, said ‘la persona que ocupe el cargo de Presidente de la Republica no puede ser comandante en jefe de nada’ (the person who occupies the post of President of the Republic cannot be commander in chief of anything). The commander of the air force, General Fernando Matthei Aubel, said ‘el ideal sería un cambio de persona, pero no un cambio de sístema’ (the ideal would be a change of person, but not of system). The commander of the navy, Admiral José Toribio Merino Castro, ‘el candidato debe ser una persona joven, vigorosa…y civil’ (the candidate must be a young, vigorous civilian). Given forty-eight hours to deliberate, in two hours, a ceremony was held to announce the decision. It is rather jolly viewing.

Se dará comienzo dentro de algunos instantes a la ceremonia en la cual los comandates en jefe de las fuerzas armadas y el General Director de Carabineros anunciarán al país el nombre del candidato que deberá ser ratificado por la ciudadanía en el próximo plebiscito. En estos instantes están haciendo ingreso en el edificio Diego Portales las esposas de los integrantes de la junta de gobierno.

The ceremony in which the commanders in chief of the armed forces and the General Director of the Carabineros will announce to the nation the name of the candidate to be ratified by the citizenry in the next plebiscite should begin in a few moments. At the moment, the wives of the members of the governing junta are entering the Diego Portales building. (Applause.)

Much to the detriment of concise journalism, one of the integrantes of the junta was the General Director de Carabineros; the Carabineros did not seem to count as a fuerza armada, and so the General Director had to be named separately. (Alternatively, the formulation ‘fuerzas armadas y de orden’ was used.)

The ceremony supposedly required two journalists to cover, one of whom is María del Pilar Bernstein Rotger. The other is ‘Arturo’, but I’m not sure which one.

Cabe recordar tambien que la proclamación del candidato al plebiscito es la culminación de una serie de pasos concretos que ha dado el gobierno para cumplir—

Pilar Bernstein!—

Si, adelante, Arturo.

En estos momentos hace su ingreso hasta el edificio Diego Portales la esposa del jefe del estado, la señora Lucia Hiriart de Pinochet!

It’s also important to remember that the proclamation of a candidate to (be ratified) by plebiscite is the culmination of a series of concrete steps that the government has taken to achieve—

Pilar Bernstein!—

Yes, go ahead, Arturo.

At this point, the wife of the chief of state, Mrs Lucía Hiriart de Pinochet, is entering the building!

Eventually, after about half an hour, some officer speaking on behalf of the junta gets round to declaring the candidate. (Everyone, I am sure, was glued to their televisions.) Brigadier General Enrique Montero Marx read out the whole decree, and eventually reached the operative provision.

3.- analisis, intercambio general de ideas y designacion.- Efectuado un análisis de la actual situación política del país y considerando las opiniones de cada uno de los asistentes en orden inversa a su precedencia, el señor General Director de Carabineros, el señor Comandante en Jefe de la Fuerza Aérea y el señor Comandante en Jefe de la Armada, señalaron la conveniencia personal e Institucional y su expresa conformidad, para designar al señor Comandante en Jefe del Ejército, Capitán General don Augusto Pinochet Ugarte, como la persona que, previa ratificación ciudadana…

Analysis and general exchange of ideas, and designation. After an analysis of the present political situation, and considering the opinions of each of the attendees in reverse order of precedence, the General Director of the Carabineros, the Commander-in-Chief of the Air Force, and the Commander-in-Chief of the Navy, declared their personal and institutional conviction, and their express agreement, to designate the Commander-in-Chief of the Army, Captain-General don Augusto Pinochet Ugarte, as the person who, pending ratification by the citizenry…

…whereupon everyone clapped for a considerable period.

Este hombre es chileno.

On the ‘yes’ side were the usual reactionary suspects: Avanzada Nacional and Renovación Nacional. But amongst them also figured the ‘Partido Socialdemócrata’and ‘Democracía Radical’. On the ‘no’ side were the Christian Democrats and pretty much everyone to their left, except for a few who urged abstention or a spoiled vote (only some of whom were useful idiots).

For complicated reasons, both campaigns were entitled to fifteen ‘minutos legales’ on television every day. The ‘no’ campaign is sufficiently notable for its excellent production values and intelligent messaging that it has spawned a somewhat inaccurate film (No, 2012). Central to the campaign was an extremely catchy song. On the other hand, the ‘yes’ campaign was, to put it mildly, mediocre. You can watch the campaigns side-by-side here. It’s understandable that the ‘yes’ campaign was so incompetently run; it seemed improbable that the political class would mostly unite, and there was always the option of rigging the plebiscite at the last minute (or so it was thought). But it is really quite difficult to understand some elements of the campaign. For example, what on earth were they thinking with this song? Or this, which the musically untalented have approximately no hope of singing to themselves? Part of the problem is that they then continually tried new songs, but three insipid songs are not much better than one.

Nor does it help that the underlying messaging is incoherent. ‘Because we deserve total democracy with full participation’ is not a convincing message from Captain General don Augusto Ugarte Pinochet, no matter how clearly enunciated. The ‘no’ campaign, meanwhile, rather impressively managed to criticise the junta without sounding like it wanted to go back to 1973. A simple clip of a beating by Carabineros of a protester, representative of thousands like it, made that point clear.

Por demasiados años los chilenos han sufrido el dolor de la desunión en un país artificialmente dividido. For too many years, Chileans have suffered pain of a country artificially divided.

Este hombre desea la paz. This man wants peace.

Este hombre desea la paz. This man wants peace.

Este hombre es chileno. This man is Chilean.

Este hombre es chileno. This man is Chilean.

Este hombre lucha por lo que cree. This man fights for what he believes.

Este hombre lucha por lo que cree. This man fights for what he believes.

Estos hombres tienen derecho a vivir en paz y tienen derecho a trabajar por lo que cree. These men have the right to live in peace, and the right to work for what they believe.

La patria sera grande cuando ningún chileno tenga miedo de otro chileno. Chile será grande cuando todos tengan un lugar en la patría,para que esto no vuelva a occurir. En la guerra, todos tienen miedo. La paz se logra en democracia. The fatherland will achieve greatness when no Chilean fears any other Chilean. Chile will be great when everyone has a place in that fatherland, so that this never happens again. In war, everyone is afraid.

Buscamos la reconciliación porque todos somos Chilenos. We seek reconciliation, because we are all Chilean.

Frankenparties.

It hopefully isn’t too much of a spoiler to say that Pinochet lost. In this period, however, some truly astonishing creations came to the surface. One is the Partido Socialista Chileno, which quite transparently proposed to spoil their ballots to divide the left during the 1988 referendum. Even more astonishingly, after constitutional reforms were agreed by the army and political class, they advocated what was really only an ultra-right position against the constitutional reforms, but from the left. And then there’s the Unión de Centro Centro, later creatively renamed the Unión del Centro Centro Progresista.

Plebiscito 88 online.

I don’t have anything clever to say about the plebiscite (at least for now), although there are some fun diplomatic cables I might excerpt later. That said, I at least find this period morbidly and farcically fascinating. The YouTube channel Chile 88 has uploaded the entire electoral campaign. Catholic television (which, as I understand it, was the most independent of the government) ran a special programme all day and most of the night (between newsflashes a film was showing, although has been cut from there).

À propos.

Étiquettes.

Chile, Pinochet, authoritarianism, plebiscito 88, rule of law.

Mises à jour.