A limited edition of wines in homage to the dictator Augusto Pinochet (1915-2006) and 50 years after the coup d’état of September 11, 1973, has provoked outrage in sectors of Chilean society and Human Rights organizations.
The bottles are printed with the Angel of Liberty, a symbol of the military dictatorship, and the shields of the Army, Navy, Air Force and Carabineros. It is a commission carried out by admirers of the infamous soldier, according to reports from various media in that country.
The “initiative” has provoked indignation and rejection among the nation’s citizens and political leaders. Deputy Tomás Hirsch asked the Defense Commission of the Chamber of Deputies to make public the measures that will be adopted in light of what happened.
For her part, Deputy Lorena Fríes he claimed that this “is a lack of respect, a lack of consideration with what we have experienced many years ago, but also with what the victims and their families experience every time these types of acts are carried out,” he sentenced.
This is not the first time that a wine with allegories of Pinochet has been made. In 1996, businessman Eduardo Arévalo registered the brands “Don Augusto” and “Capitán General” and even won a legal dispute against Augusto Pinochet Hiriart, son of the dictator, when the businessman tried to patent the Augusto Pinochet brand to export wines to the United States. .
Today it is still possible to find bottles of “Capitán General” among some Chilean collectors.
The coming September 11 will commemorate 50 years of the coup against President Salvador Allende. From that moment on, Augusto Pinochet established a military dictatorship that lasted until 1990. He restricted civil and political rights, established a state of siege and curfew, made some political parties illegal and others recessed, censored to the media and ordered the arrest of opposition political leaders. During much of his regime, arbitrary arrests, torture and exile were practiced, situations that have been recognized as systematic violations of Human Rights.
After handing over power, he remained Commander-in-Chief of the Army until 1998 and continued in political life as Senator for life until July 2002.
