Link https://youtu.be/jlaz-rHCjTc
When Chile Voted Against
Pinochet
Transcript
Mike Lanchin:
Hello and welcome to the Witness podcast with me Mike
Lanchin. Today we go back to October of 1988 when for the first time ever
Chileans got to vote on the 15-year military rule of General Augusto Pinochet.
It was a clear yes or no referendum to determine whether the 72-year-old
Dictator should stay in power.
I’ve been hearing from one of the people at the forefront of
the No campaign.
Eugenio Garcia:
It was an unprecedented campaign, the likes of which had never
existed in Chile. But there was also a certain tension, the feeling that something
was going to happen. There were great expectations and the sort of nervous energy
in the country.
[Music]
Song is Chile, la alegría ya viene,
the official song of the No campaign.
Mike Lanchin:
For the very first time General Pinochet’s military rule was
on the line.
[Archive broadcast from 1988]
To his supporters President Pinochet is a Latin American Charles
de Gaulle, the strong man who came in to put his country back on its feet. And
now the Dictator who had no compunction once about stamping out political opposition
in the cruellest way is campaigning for the support of his people.
Eugenio Garcia:
Our biggest worry was whether the results would be
recognised; not whether we would win because we were confidant of that. But really
because everything was under the control of the military.
Mike Lanchin:
Chilean advertising executive Eugenio Garcia was just 20
years old when Augusto Pinochet and the Chilean military took power in a
violent coup in September of 1973. With the support of the American CIA they
had deposed the Marxist Salvador Allende whose short rule had divided the
country.
Eugenio and his family had been keen Allende supporters.
Eugenio Garcia:
I remember on the day of the coup in 1973 seeing the bombers
flying over the skies of Santiago, over my home. That was a very strong image
for me, it spelt the end of a tradition like the break in the culture of our
country.
Mike Lanchin:
The military drove Allende’s socialist supporters out of all
public bodies, the Universities, the schools and small businesses. Eugenio’s
father and elder brother lost their jobs, another brother went into hiding and
another into exile.
But other suspected sympathisers fared worse, much worse. Tens
of thousands of people were rounded up, many of them were tortured or disappeared.
But by the early 1980s with opposition protests spreading the military
authorities were yearning for some sort of legitimacy. They wrote a new constitution
and included the stipulation that a referendum should be called to reaffirm Pinochet’s
position as head of state. It was scheduled for October the 5th
1988.
Eugenio Garcia:
When the referendum was announced I really was very doubtful.
There had been a vote before to approve Pinochet’s new constitution but it was
a fraud, so we feared this could be another trap to allow him to remain in
power.
Mike Lanchin:
Pinochet himself and most of the ruling Junta were convinced
that there was no way they could lose this vote. In fact, they were so
confidant that they even agreed to give the opposition access to the airwaves;
15 minutes each day. Eugenio Garcia was the creative director of the anti-Pinochet
campaign.
Eugenio Garcia:
In the no campaign there was lots of uncertainty about what
approach to take. At first it was thought that the way was to criticise
Pinochet for all his crimes. In other words, a hard-hitting campaign showing
all the torture, disappearances and assassinations. Calling on people to vote
on the basis of denouncements. I was young and strong headed and thought I knew
better.
Mike Lanchin:
Eugenio Garcia argued that a negative campaign would frighten
away undecided voters. He said that instead they needed a campaign focusing on
optimism and hope using images of people hugging each other, dancing, laughing
at the military as well as denouncing their crimes.
But that didn’t go down well with many in the No campaign,
especially those who had personally suffered at the hands of the security
forces.
Eugenio Garcia:
In one meeting where we presented our campaign ideas there
was a lot of surprise, because it wasn’t what had been expected. They thought
it was frivolous.
Mike Lanchin:
But Eugenio eventually won over the doubters, and in early
September 1988 the No campaign was officially launched.
[Music]
Mike Lanchin:
Chile, la alegría ya viene, Chile happiness is on its way,
was the campaigns main jingle and its logo was a rainbow, emblazoned on flags,
t-shirts, and across TV screens.
Eugenio Garcia:
The metaphor we chose was that the country had been living
under a dark cloud for the past 15 years, without light, oppressed. And that
thanks to everyone’s votes the Heavens would open and a Rainbow would appear as
it does after a storm. It was very emotional when we first saw our work on air.
We even had some clips where we made fun of Pinochet, which was totally unheard
of. We had a feeling of vertigo, of doing something that wasn’t allowed.
Mike Lanchin:
But as voting day approached fear and apprehension set in. Some
of those involved in the No campaign were being followed by unmarked cars. Others
were receiving anonymous threats. Eugenio got up early on polling day and drove
to the University in Santiago where he voted.
Eugenio Garcia:
It was so strange because everything was silent. People were
walking to and from voting and all you could hear were there footsteps. After that
I went to see my kids at my ex-wife’s house., we had lunch and I stayed with
them because we were all a bit nervous. My son was just a little boy and we
were sort of frightened that something could happen.
Mike Lanchin:
And something was about to happen, but not as Eugenio had
feared.
[Archive report from 1988]
Inside the calm and order of the government’s election centre
they were still insisting that the Yes vote was ahead in the count by 7 or 8
percent. But these results were highly selective. But outside the No
headquarters the police the strong arm of the Dictatorship seemed to be lining
up to take action. No one knew how the government would react to the certainty
of defeat.
Mike Lanchin:
But as the night wore on it became increasingly clear to the
Generals that they had no option but to recognise the results. And so around midnight
a military spokesman confirmed the No’s victory by a clear margin of 56% to 44%.
Eugenio Garcia:
I cried, I cried on my own, the kids were asleep in bed so I
alone, it was emotional.
[Archive report from 1988]
For 15 years President Pinochet’s opponents have sung he’s going
to fall. Last night they changed the words, “he has fallen”.
Eugenio Garcia:
Later when I saw my friends from the campaign I remember
saying “bloody hell we won we did it!” it was such, such a great feeling that
we’ve done something that was so huge.
Mike Lanchin:
But having put so much of himself into the winning campaign
Eugenio felt exhausted. He says that he felt that nothing he could do in the
future would compare with that feeling of success.
Eugenio Garcia:
So, I got into my car and just drove north to a desert from
one day to the next. I spent a couple of days there and then came back and
announced to my partner I was leaving the advertising firm. That I no longer
felt the motivation to continue, and that is what I did.
Mike Lanchin:
Eugenio Garcia is now head of the state television
broadcaster in Santiago. General Pinochet stayed on for another year as head of
state before free elections that were won by the Christian Democrat and anti-Pinochet
politician Patricio Aylwin. Pinochet then became a lifetime Senator; thus
protecting him from criminal prosecution. He died in December 2006.
Eugenio Garcia was speaking to me from Chile for Witness,
thanks for listening.
Chile, la alegría ya viene
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