Newly re-elected President Michelle Bachelet has reaffirmed her election promise to introduce free tertiary education in Chile 鈥 one of the demands of the country鈥檚 powerful student movement.
In elections in December, the New Majority coalition of centre-left parties won a majority in both the Chilean Congress and Senate. Bachelet, the New Majority candidate, was elected president.
On March 11, Bachelet began her second term as president, having served as president from 2006-2010. She replaced right-wing president Sebastian Pinera.
Chile
In recent years, a powerful student movement has erupted in Chile against right-wing neoliberal attacks on education, and fighting for a fundamentally different, pro-people education system. The mass movement has developed in the face of often brutal state repression.
The Chilean Supreme Court issued a request on January 15 that the Australian government extradite a former agent of dictator Augusto Pinochet鈥檚 notorious secret police back to Chile to face charges of kidnapping and forced disappearances.
The move comes after the revelation made public last September by SBS journalist Florencia Melgar that former National Intelligence Directorate (DINA) agent Adriana Rivas had been in Australia since 2010, despite bail conditions imposed following Rivas鈥檚 2006 arrest prohibiting her from leaving Chile.
Peter Boyle interviewed Florencia Melgar, a former SBS journalist about into Australia's involvement in the 1973 military coup against the progressive government of Salvador Allende in Chile.
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The International Criminal Court (ICC) was established in 2002 at The Hague in the Netherlands to prosecute individuals alleged to have committed war crimes, crimes against humanity and the crime of genocide.
From the ICC鈥檚 inception, the US objected to the possibility that its nationals could be subject to the court鈥檚 jurisdiction.
Members of the Chilean community and other Latin American supporters rallied outside NSW parliament on October 23 to protest against Liberal Upper House whip Peter Phelps, who has praised Chilean dictator Augusto Pinochet as a "hero."
Protesters are demanding an apology from Phelps and disciplinary action against him from Premier Barry O'Farrell.
Phelps made a speech to parliament on September 11, the 40th anniversary of the military coup that overthrew elected socialist president Salvador Allende in 1973. Phelps described Pinochet as a "morally courageous man鈥.
How could a former agent of Chilean dictator Augusto Pinochet鈥檚 notorious secret police, who is facing charges of kidnapping and forced disappearances and whose bail conditions prohibited them from leaving Chile, now be living in Australia?
This is the question many have asked after the recent broadcast on SBS Radio of an interview with former National Intelligence Directorate (DINA) agent Adriana Rivas.
In the interview, Rivas says she began working at DINA in 1974.
A new investigation has shed light on Australia鈥檚 role in the overthrow of Chilean leftist president Salvador Allende and exposed the continued veil of secrecy surrounding the precise activities of Australian intelligence agents, 40 years on.
Allende was elected president in 1970, but was deposed on September 11, 1973 by a US-backed military coup that put General Augusto Pinochet in power. Pinochet remained in power for 17 years, presiding over a regime of terror that left thousands dead or disappeared.
NSW parliament narrowly voted down a September 17 motion to discipline Liberal MLC Peter Phelps over comments he made in parliament defending General Augusto Pinochet鈥檚 violent military coup against Chile鈥檚 president Salvador Allende in 1973.
Members of the Chilean community have vowed to continue the campaign to hold Phelps to account for his outrageous comments.
On September 11, 40 years to the day of the coup, Phelps praised Pinochet as 鈥渁 reluctant hero, a morally courageous man鈥 and said he supported a military coup that deposed a democratically elected government.
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The most important anniversary of the year was the 40th anniversary of September 11, 1973 鈥 the crushing of the democratic government of Chile by General Augusto Pinochet and Henry Kissinger, then US secretary of state.
The National Security Archive in Washington has posted new documents that reveal much about Kissinger's role in an atrocity that cost thousands of lives.
In declassified tapes, Kissinger is heard planning with President Richard Nixon the overthrow of left-wing President Salvador Allende. They sound like Mafiosi thugs.
Members of Sydney's Chilean community and supporters protested outside New South Wales Parliament on September 16 to demand Premier Barry O'Farrel sack Liberal MP Peter Phelps.
Venezuelans rallied to condemn fascism on September 11, marking the 40th anniversary of the United States-backed coup d鈥檈tat in Chile that ousted left-wing president Salvador Allende.
The rally began at Plaza Salvador Allende at the Central University of Venezuela (UCV) and marched through the city centre to Llaguno Bridge. On the bridge is a memorial to those killed during the 2002 US-backed coup that temporarily removed former Venezuelan president Hugo Chavez from office. Chavez was restored by an uprising by loyal soldiers and the poor.
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