The President of the Republic, Gabriel Boric, attended the ceremony to commemorate the assassination of former union leader Tucapel Jiménez. Act carried out by the National Association of Fiscal Employees (ANEF) in the offices of the General Cemetery of Santiago.
The President began his speech by indicating that “it is a tremendous honor to be present here. When the invitation arrived, the first reaction of the institutions or the gear was not to attend, but rather to send a formal greeting. And I discussed it with my team and they I said ‘we have to go to these things'”.
In consideration of the above, the head of state assured that “it is very important that from the institutional framework we express our respect for the historical memory of Chilean trade unionism that has given so much to Chile.”
“Today that we commemorate the brutal murder of Tucapel Jiménez and also the beginning of the union year, it is also inevitable to make that link. Memory, as Alicia and so many great fighters for human rights always remind us, is not only or mainly the past. The validity of the struggles that those who preceded us gave, today in the present”, emphasized the President.
“And today as President, through the memory of Tucapel Jiménez, I want to greet his family, his loved ones, all those who at the time fought against the dictatorship in our country and also today’s trade union movement, whom respecting their autonomy, as it corresponds, we wish them the greatest success, because the success of unionism, of the organization of workers, is also the success of the Government,” he added.
On the other hand, the President stated that “several things are mixed on this anniversary, the tradition of Chilean trade unionism that is so, so rich and from which we still have so much to learn, the fight for human rights, the value of democracy, the unity of the workers to be able to advance in greater justice and also the agenda that we have today in the present, which is the best way to keep alive the heritage and legacy of great figures such as Tucapel Jiménez, María Rozas, Clotario Blest and so many other union leaders who even gave their lives for their country”.
