THE 9/11 TRAGEDY NO-ONE REMEMBERS
THE memorials this year will be poignant. Almost 3,000 people died when the Twin Towers of the World Trade Centre crumbled in the New York terror atrocity.
And with 2021 marking its 20th anniversary, coupled with the disastrous consequences of America’s withdrawal from Afghanistan, the date will be a moment of deep reflection.
But 9/11 has resonated much longer for the families of victims of a regime responsible for an even greater number of deaths.
In 1973, September 11 was the date of a military coup in Chile which saw the murder of democratically elected President Salvador Allende, and which established a military junta responsible for the oppression of thousands.
One of those to have suffered under the military dictatorship led by General Augusto Pinochet was Jose Cifuentes, now a 72-year-old grandfather living in Swansea.
Mr Cifuentes and his partner Maria Cristina were student activists in the country at the time, working to help poor people improve their lives.
For his troubles, he found himself imprisoned and tortured, and then spent years on the run, before finding sanctuary in Swansea in 1977. And he is calling for people to also remember the thousands who lost their lives as a result of the coup, supported by multinational companies and the US Government.
He said: “Every decent human being across the world, myself included, would rightly and unreservedly condemn any attack against humanity such as on 9/11 in New York.
“The loss of any human life, wherever it takes place, is a huge blow to parents, children, husbands, wives, brothers and sisters, to friends and the community.
“Long before the 9/11 in 2001 in the USA, there was another equally horrifying 9/11 in my home country.
“There is a huge amount of media about 9/11 in America but no-one ever seems to remember the events in Chile.
“There were 3,197 lives cruelly lost, including young, old, women and men. Forty-eight years later, still more than 2,000 Chilean political prisoners remain ‘disappeared’ in the sea and unmarked secret places throughout Chile.
“That Chilean terrorist attack started on another 9/11 in 1973, which lasted 11 years.”
After being arrested as a young man, Mr Cifuentes was forced to run up and down an empty swimming pool, the sides of which were covered in blood, before having a gun placed in his mouth. He was used as a “punchbag” by officers, beaten with truncheons, and had electric shocks to his head.
Three years ago, he detailed his experiences in a book: Revolutionary Dreams From Chile To Wales. And he is determined this 9/11 that people remember all those who died.