Commemorating Chile’s Bicentennial and the Coup’s 40th Anniversary During the Piñera Administration

Abstract

While celebrating the 200th anniversary of Chile’s independence and celebrating or mourning the 40th anniversary of the coup, President Piñera had to confront the past by pursuing several paradoxical policies: denying pardons, closing luxury prisons, continuing with the promotions of military officers involved in human rights abuses, and apologizing for crimes that he never supported. The major accomplishments of the administration were the streamlining of the procedural process; the reduction of the functions of the military courts; and proposing changes in the financing of the Armed Forces. Meanwhile, the 200th anniversary of the country’s independence and the 40th anniversary of the coup provided the space for belated apologies on the part of members of the courts and some right- and left-wing politicians.