The massacre of Puerto Montt (also known as the slaughter of Pampa Irigoin) occurred on March 9, 1969, in Llanquihue,

Chile Chile, officially the Republic of Chile, is a country in the western part of South America. It is the southernmost country in the world, and the closest to Antarctica, occupying a long and narrow strip of land between the Andes to the east a ...

. It took place under the Christian Democrat government of

Eduardo Frei Montalva Eduardo Nicanor Frei Montalva (; 16 January 1911 – 22 January 1982) was a Chilean political leader. In his long political career, he was Minister of Public Works, president of his Christian Democratic Party, senator, President of the ...

. During the massacre, ten inhabitants of the province died at the hands of Chilean police officers (including a nine-month-old baby who died from inhaling

tear gas Tear gas, also known as a lachrymator agent or lachrymator (), sometimes colloquially known as "mace" after the early commercial aerosol, is a chemical weapon that stimulates the nerves of the lacrimal gland in the eye to produce tears. In ...

) and another seventy people (between

carabineros The was an armed carabiniers force of Spain under both the monarchy and the Second Spanish Republic, Second Republic. The formal mission of this paramilitary gendarmerie was to patrol the coasts and borders of the country, operating against ...

and occupants) were wounded to varying degrees. The political responsibilities for what happened have long been the subject of controversy in Chile, with much of the blame being placed on then

Minister of the Interior An interior minister (sometimes called a minister of internal affairs or minister of home affairs) is a cabinet official position that is responsible for internal affairs, such as public security, civil registration and identification, emergency ...

Edmundo Pérez Zujovic Edmundo Pérez Zujovic (May 11, 1912 - June 8, 1971) was a Chilean businessman and politician, militant of the Christian Democratic Party (Chile), Christian Democratic Party (PDC). He served as Minister of State during the government of president ...

, who would be assassinated in revenge two years later by a far-left urban guerrilla organization.

The events

In March 1969, 90 poor families

squatted Squatting is the action of occupying an abandoned or unoccupied area of land or a building, usually residential, that the squatter does not own, rent or otherwise have lawful permission to use. The United Nations estimated in 2003 that there ...

land at Pampa Irigoin, near to Puerto Montt. Supported by socialist Luis Espinoza, local authority and recently elected congressman, they intended to obtain a legal expropriation for non-use of the land (possible in Chilean legislation of that time) and be able to build their future homes there. In the context of incipient

land reform Land reform is a form of agrarian reform involving the changing of laws, regulations, or customs regarding land ownership. Land reform may consist of a government-initiated or government-backed property redistribution, generally of agricultural ...

and the proliferation of campamentos (shantytowns) throughout the country due to the lack of housing to sustain the growing rates of rural-urban migration, these actions were not uncommon in the Chile of the time. The seizing of land took place in a calm and peaceful manner, and there was no immediate action on the part of the Carabineros. The negotiations proceeded normally for four days, with no sign from the government that an

eviction Eviction is the removal of a tenant from rental property by the landlord. In some jurisdictions it may also involve the removal of persons from premises that were foreclosed by a mortgagee (often, the prior owners who defaulted on a mortgag ...

would take place. However, on the fifth day of occupation, and once the police contingent had received reinforcements from other prefectures, the police initiated the eviction. The eviction was carried out at dawn, hoping to find the occupants sleeping, thus resulting in no resistance. However, the improvised alarm systems (cans tied with wire at low heights) that the occupants had installed, allowed for them to react, armed with sticks and stones. The police responded by using

carbine A carbine ( or ) is a long gun that has a barrel shortened from its original length. Most modern carbines are rifles that are compact versions of a longer rifle or are rifles chambered for less powerful cartridges. The smaller size and lighte ...

s and tear gas, causing the death of 10 villagers and leaving about 50 residents injured; 23 Carabineros were injured. The police operation involved 200 police officers led by

Colonel Colonel (abbreviated as Col., Col or COL) is a senior military officer rank used in many countries. It is also used in some police forces and paramilitary organizations. In the 17th, 18th and 19th centuries, a colonel was typically in charge o ...

Alberto Apablaza and Major Rolando Rodríguez who, in turn, carried out orders from Interior Minister Edmundo Pérez Zujovic and the acting district

intendente An intendant (; pt, intendente ; es, intendente ) was, and sometimes still is, a public official, especially in France, Spain, Portugal, and Latin America. The intendancy system was a centralizing administrative system developed in France. In ...

Jorge Pérez Sánchez. The motivation for this event have been discussed in great detail; and range from a legitimate housing problem all the way to political interests.

Reactions and cultural expressions

The

Communist Party A communist party is a political party that seeks to realize the socio-economic goals of communism. The term ''communist party'' was popularized by the title of ''The Manifesto of the Communist Party'' (1848) by Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels. ...

, the

Socialist Party Socialist Party is the name of many different political parties around the world. All of these parties claim to uphold some form of socialism, though they may have very different interpretations of what "socialism" means. Statistically, most of t ...

and the other parties of the Popular Unity made the Minister of the Interior responsible for the incident. On June 8, 1971, under the government of the socialist president

Salvador Allende Salvador Guillermo Allende Gossens (, , ; 26 June 1908 – 11 September 1973) was a Chilean physician and socialist politician who served as the 28th president of Chile from 3 November 1970 until his death on 11 September 1973. He was the fir ...

, a cell of the Organized Vanguard of the People (VOP) assassinated Edmundo Pérez Zujovic, justifying his actions as revenge for the massacre in Puerto Montt. The investigators located the armed commando and killed three of them: the brothers Ronald and Arturo Rivera Caderón and Heriberto Salazar Bello.

Conceptual artist Conceptual art, also referred to as conceptualism, is art in which the concept(s) or idea(s) involved in the work take precedence over traditional Aesthetics, aesthetic, technical, and material concerns. Some works of conceptual art, sometimes ca ...

Luis Camnitzer exhibited on June 20, 1969, an installation titled ''Massacre of Puerto Montt.'' The exhibition was reportedly a failure: as Camnitzer pointed out in a 2013 interview, "the left attacked me because there was no blood and the right because there were words. I did a similar work in Caracas, very popular, but in Chile they passed through the room, saw nothing and left." This work was later acquired by the Reina Sofía National Art Center Museum, where it's currently on display. The singer-songwriter

Victor Jara The name Victor or Viktor may refer to: * Victor (name), including a list of people with the given name, mononym, or surname Arts and entertainment Film * ''Victor'' (1951 film), a French drama film * ''Victor'' (1993 film), a French shor ...

composed a song about the events, called ''Preguntas por Puerto Montt.'' In 2010, Paulo Vargas Almonacid shot the documentary ''Ni todas la lluvia del sur,'' about the events.

References

{{coord missing, Chile 1969 disasters in Chile Socialism in Chile Massacres in Chile Conflicts in 1969 Puerto Montt Squatting Political violence in Chile Carabineros de Chile Law enforcement controversies in Chile Massacres in 1969 Presidency of Eduardo Frei Montalva