Chile's New President Cancels Official September 11 Coup Remembrance, Citizens Keep Vigil

September 11 marked the 53rd anniversary of the 1973 coup that toppled President Salvador Allende, but President José Antonio Kast chose to forgo the customary official ceremony at La Moneda, ending a practice maintained by democratic governments since the 1990s. Kast argued that Chile should not be “condemned by our history” and his administration has been cutting funding for human-rights and memory institutions. In response, citizens held private vigils: families visited former detention centers, candles were lit, and street artists performed songs by Víctor Jara.

Hundreds assembled outside the National Stadium, while others, like social worker Francisca Villegas, brought children to the Memory and Human Rights Museum to teach the next generation. Critics, including former President Gabriel Boric and university psychologist Isabel Piper, warn that the lack of official remembrance threatens democratic memory and could embolden repression. Young activists such as Catalina Cerda expressed concern that Kast’s denialist rhetoric signals a backslide in human-rights protections.