The resolution also calls for the declassification of all U.S. documents related to the coup and its aftermath.
Sen. Bernie Sanders, Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, and several other U.S. lawmakers introduced a resolution on Thursday that formally commemorates the 50th anniversary of the deadly 1973 military coup in Chile and apologizes for the role the United States played in the toppling of the Latin American nation’s democratically elected government.
The resolution also calls for the declassification of all remaining U.S. documents related to the coup and the events preceding and following it.
“Let me be clear: we must stand up for democracy here in the United States and beyond,” Sanders (I-Vt.) said in a statement. “And that means we must also acknowledge that the United States has not always defended democracy abroad, and in fact, has sometimes done the opposite.”
“As we mark the 50th anniversary of the horrific coup in Chile, we must make clear that we regret our involvement and commit to supporting Chilean democracy,” he added. “To build the lasting partnerships we need in this hemisphere, we will need to establish a basis of trust and respect. Part of that process includes full accountability for the coup and its aftermath.”
The new resolution comes after Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) joined a group of U.S. lawmakers on a Latin America trip that included a stop in Chile, where the New York Democrat stressed the importance of declassifying the coup-related documents to shed more light on the Nixon administration’s role in the violent ouster of Salvador Allende on September 11, 1973.
read more: https://truthout.org/articles/sanders-and-ocasio-cortez-introduce-resolution-apologizing-for-1973-chilean-coup/
You know I was going to say I don't know if this would do any good, but the more I think about it I think it's actually pretty crucial. Because we're seeing a lot of weird talk about the Chilean fascist regime lately. I don't know if you noticed this but it seems almost popular among certain right-wing extremist groups. Lord knows most people don't know much about the Chilean coup. It's a dark part of our history and maybe this would bring attention to it. Education is always best.
It should be tied to a full release of every government document related to the coup, and a one way ticket to Chile for Kissinger.
Most people know little about any of the multiple coups we facilitated. Just as most people have no idea we stole Hawaii from it's people forcefully annexing it. Turning is people into second class citizens in their own home. And that this wasn't the only place we did that. Not even counting the continental United States.
Most of US history is pretty dark. However as citizens. Were so brainwashed and or history whitewashed. Filled with false hero worship. That we can't really comprehend.
Every country has a dark past
To some extent perhaps. Not that it justifies anything. But most of them do not Gaslight whitewash or propagandize their citizens as much about it. Americans are particularly under educated about our history of things even as recent as the last 50 years.
I'd argue it would help a lot if there was a similar apology for the 1953 Iranian coup. Good luck getting that through congress though… If the vote failed it would probably do more harm than good.
It’s good they’re doing this, but really feels like that South Park parody of BP’s reactions to the oil spills with “we’re sorry” videos
It's a bit more than "we're sorry", the declassifying part is pretty important
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I think USA is primarily a good force on this planet, and the fact that resolutions like this are possible emphasizes that somewhat. If it passes, even better, although that's probably way too optimistic.
It's very hard to agree with your first sentence if the second is so hard to become a reality.
Secondarily we're a force for evil, so that tracks.
It's easy when you realize that the real world is not comicbook -style good and evil. It's a spectrum.
You don't read a lot of comic books either, do you?
To finance a military coup and regime in a foreign country, committing or helping to commit magnicide while denying it to your citizens and the world in the name of democracy, is evil. After 50 years, apologizing for it is not absolutely "good", I'd say it's the absolute least you can do about it, after the fact. Seriously, you can do so much better.
Perhaps I wasn't clear. It's a spectrum, and it's relative. We can talk about optimal situation and utopias (sure, I'd love it if none of them were evil at all), but in the real world the big actors are evil countries and more evil countries. Unfortunately we don't have a view into everything they've done, so we have to go by the little we know, and by the gut. My knowledge + gut says that USA is among the less evil countries. Yours seem to say differently.
Too bad this apology decades after the fact won't undo what happened and won't prevent the US from carrying out actions like this in the present and the future. It's better than nothing, but in the context of the actual global policies of the US, it's fluff. The US has always been good with PR, so I'm not surprised that you think this empty gesture is meaningful in any way.
Contrast the op with say, an apology by China for the tienamen square massacre. Oh wait…
Again, an apology without correcting behavior is meaningless. What's the point of this apology if the US is still invading and couping countries on the regular? I'd rather no apology and just stopping that.
China and tankies outright deny that it even happened, really. You can see it even here, in some lemmygrad comments. So apologizing for it would be a fine first step since it would acknowledge it.
Very important political work. We need to spend our time apologizing for things that happened over 50 years ago. Let's use all our political resources to continue doing that.
i totally agree fam, recent history has no impact on politics 🤡
50 years ago is not recent
ikr? like get over it, it's not like anything has effects on society that last for 50 years or longer 🤡
I don't think the 1973 chilean coup has any practical effect on modern society. and I don't think this virtue signalling apology does anything either.
Don't you think Chileans would disagree with you?
Lol it's not like this actually takes any real time. These resolutions take all of 30 min
yes cause this is what they should be working on right now to make our country better ,/s
Improving foreign relations does make our country better.
Not if they dont respect the meaning of what is talked about…russia,china,fool me once…
What does that have to do with Chile?
I agree, this is crucial. If you don't know your past you're bound to repeat it.
The US will repeat it time and time again. Anything exposing the US in a bad light in the documents will be redacted as 'security'
I love how, when Sanders' name appears in the headline, it becomes impossible to distinguish a trumper from a centrist.
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