Remembering another tragedy

MANY people have forgotten that September 11 was already a tragic anniversary many years before 2001, in a place at the opposite end of the globe.

On that day, in 1973, I awoke in Santiago, Chile, where I was then living and working, to the sound of explosions. I looked out of my window to see lines of soldiers, guns in hand, advancing towards the government offices and presidential palace in the centre of the city.

This was the advanced guard of a military coup, headed by General Pinochet, which would remove a democratically elected government and usher in a brutal 17-year

military dictatorship.

All political parties were banned, the electoral registers burned, universities purged and books, including my own, burned.

At least 3,000 people were killed or disappeared, and some 200,000 Chileans forced into exile.

Some of these exiles came to Britain as refugees and settled in towns and cities from Aberdeen to Truro. Local voluntary groups organised to help them settle, find and furnish accommodation for them, provide English language classes, schools for their children and, later on, jobs.

The British government funded a generous scholarship programme for Chileans to study in UK universities and throughout the UK local authorities provided housing and education support.

Trade unions adopted hundreds of Chilean political prisoners and, on their release, welcomed them to Britain.

While many returned to Chile after 1990, when the dictatorship ended, others (especially those who arrived as children or were born here) stayed on and have contributed greatly to British society.

In Wales, the head of the awardwinning Ethnic Minorities and Youth Support Team (EYST), Rocio Cifuentes, is herself daughter of Chilean refugees. Founded in Swansea, EYST now helps refugees and asylum seekers in Swansea, Cardiff, Newport and Wrexham.

In 2019, people across the UK, including many in Wales, and all of us in Hay, Brecon and Talgarth Sanctuary for Refugees, continue to recognise the incalculable benefits that accrue to us as human beings, members of families, churches, schools, work places and professions, when we give help and friendship to those less fortunate than ourselves, especially those driven from their own homes and countries by war, political persecution, poverty and, increasingly, by climate change.

So, on September 11 let’s remember that and redouble our efforts. Mike Gatehouse Llangynidr