For the First Time Since 1990, Chile’s Government Held No Ceremony for the Coup Anniversary
CHILE · POLITICS
Key Facts
- —The date 11 September 2026 marked 53 years since the 1973 overthrow of Salvador Allende.
- —The absence No official commemoration was held. It is the first such gap since democracy returned in 1990.
- —The president José Antonio Kast took office on 11 March 2026, so this was his first anniversary in the job.
- —The remark He was in the Los Ríos region and said Chileans should not remain condemned by their history.
- —The catch The government did not go silent. It argued the duty now is to look at the next fifty years.
- —The alternative Commemorations ran without the state, at the General Cemetery and in a march to the Plaza de la Constitución.
José Antonio Kast has been president since March. His first 11 September in office was the first since the return to democracy without a government act.
Chile passed the coup anniversary on Friday without a government ceremony. It is the first time that has happened since the country returned to democracy in 1990.
Fifty-three years earlier, the armed forces bombed the presidential palace and Salvador Allende died inside it. Every government since 1990 has marked the date in some official form.
This year’s government did not. President José Antonio Kast took office on 11 March, and this was his first coup anniversary in the job.
What the Government Said Instead
Kast was not in Santiago. El Clarín reported that he was in the Los Ríos region in the south.
There he made a remark about the date. Chileans, he said, should not remain condemned by their history and should look to the future.
A junior minister, Máximo Pavez, put the position more plainly. The government’s duty, he said, is to look at the next fifty years.
Interior Minister Claudio Alvarado framed it as prevention. The aim, he said, is to stop political differences leading to the extremes of the past.
So the absence was a position rather than an oversight. Three members of the government defended it in public on the coup anniversary itself.
What Happened Anyway
The commemorations went ahead without the state. Human rights organisations, memorial sites and political parties organised them.
There were events at Santiago’s General Cemetery, where many of the dead and disappeared are commemorated. Memorial sites across the country held their own.
A march ran from Morandé and the Alameda to the Plaza de la Constitución. Members of Allende’s family took part, along with political figures.
Reporting on the day carried no Carabineros figure for detentions or incidents. That is unusual for 11 September in Chile and should not be read as meaning there were none.
Why the Anniversary Is Contested
The 1973 coup installed Augusto Pinochet for seventeen years. State agents killed or disappeared more than three thousand people during that period, according to Chile’s own truth commissions.
The coup anniversary became an official fixture after 1990 precisely because the facts were contested. The act was a statement that the state accepted a version of its own history.
Kast’s political tradition has never accepted that version in full. His father’s and his party’s history with the dictatorship has been a recurring issue in his campaigns.
That is why the absence of a ceremony reads as a statement in Chile, and why it was covered as one. A government that says nothing on 11 September has still said something.
The Wider Context
Infobae reported that Kast faced his first anniversary amid criticism of his human rights policy. The specific complaint concerns cuts to the programme that searches for the disappeared.
That programme was created to locate remains of people killed under the dictatorship. Families have pursued it for five decades and many cases remain open.
A government can reasonably argue that ceremonies are not the measure of a human rights policy. It is harder to argue that while reducing the budget of the search.
For foreign readers the useful frame is not left against right. Chile spent thirty-five years building a state ritual around the coup anniversary, and this year the state skipped it.
Whether that becomes permanent is the open question. Kast has three more anniversaries in his term.
More: Chile news in English, every day from The Rio Times.
Frequently Asked Questions
What happened on 11 September 1973?
Chile’s armed forces overthrew President Salvador Allende, bombing the La Moneda palace. Allende died inside. Augusto Pinochet then governed for seventeen years.
Who is José Antonio Kast?
Chile’s president since 11 March 2026, following his victory in the December 2025 runoff. He leads the country’s main conservative political tradition.
Had the anniversary always been marked officially?
Since the return to democracy in 1990, yes, in some official form each year. 2026 is the first year without a government commemoration.
Did anything happen at all?
Yes. Human rights organisations, memorial sites and political parties held their own events, including a march to the Plaza de la Constitución.
Sources: El Clarín Chile, El Desconcierto, France 24 Español, Infobae.
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