Unearthing Chile's Secrets

Allende's corpse. September 11, 1973.

Almost 40 years after his death, the body of former Chilean President Salvador Allende was exhumed today under judicial order of a new forensic investigation.  What scant coverage of this event exists mostly misses the point. This is NOT primarily about determining whether he was killed or whether he committed suicide moments before he was sure to be killed.

The bigger question in play is whether the 1973 coup was some sort of act of abstract "political violence" or whether it was a criminal enterprise.  Another 725 cases are also being examined and a number of aging officials of the dictatorship are facing the prospects of spending their golden years in prison.

My co-author Peter Kornbluh and I try to make the point about what's really at stake in our piece in today's Los Angeles Times.

Read it here.