Several hundred Chileans took part in
protests in their national capital, Santiago de Chile, during the
days leading up to U.S. Pres. Barack Obama’s visit.
Members of the National Teachers
Association, student groups, human rights groups, the Communist
Party, and other social, political and cultural organizations took
part in street protests against Obama’s visit. The leaders of the
groups signed a letter to Obama demanding that he apologize for the
role of the United States in the 1973 military coup against socialist
president Salvador Allende, which led to the brutal, U.S.-backed
dictatorship of Augusto Pinochet.
Protesters from social and
environmental organizations spoke out against the recent nuclear
energy agreement between Chile and the U.S. Many protesters also
condemned U.S. aggression against other Latin American countries and
Libya, as well as the imprisonment of the Cuban 5.
“The imperialism he represents is
against all democratic change on our continent and against every
progressive government,” said Chilean lawyer and protester
Eduardo Contreras.
