The Santa María School massacre was a

massacre A massacre is an event of killing people who are not engaged in hostilities or are defenseless. It is generally used to describe a targeted killing of civilians Glossary of French words and expressions in English#En masse, en masse by an armed ...

of striking workers, mostly saltpeter works (nitrate) miners, along with their wives and children, committed by the Chilean Army in

Iquique Iquique () is a port List of cities in Chile, city and Communes of Chile, commune in northern Chile, capital of both the Iquique Province and Tarapacá Region. It lies on the Pacific coast, west of the Pampa del Tamarugal, which is part of the At ...

Chile Chile, officially the Republic of Chile, is a country in western South America. It is the southernmost country in the world and the closest to Antarctica, stretching along a narrow strip of land between the Andes, Andes Mountains and the Paci ...

, on December 21, 1907. The number of victims is undetermined but is estimated to be over 2,000. The massacre occurred during the peak of the nitrate mining era, which coincided with the Parliamentary Period in Chilean political history (1891–1925). With the massacre and an ensuing reign of terror, not only was the strike broken, but the workers' movement was thrown into limbo for over a decade. For decades afterwards, there was official suppression of knowledge of the incident, but in 2007 the government conducted a highly publicized commemoration of its centenary, including an official national day of mourning and the reinterment of the victims' remains. The site of the massacre was the

Domingo Santa María Domingo Santa María González (; August 4, 1825 – July 18, 1889) was a Chilean political figure. He served as the president of Chile between 1881 and 1886. Early life He was born in Santiago, Chile, Santiago, the son of Luis José Santa Ma ...

School, where thousands of miners from different nitrate mines in Chile's far north had been camping for a week after converging on Iquique, the regional capital, to appeal for government intervention to improve their living and working conditions. Rafael Sotomayor Gaete, the minister of the interior, decided to crush the strike, by army assault if need be. On December 21, 1907, the commander of the troops at the scene, General Roberto Silva Renard, in accordance with this plan, informed the strikers' leaders that the strikers had one hour to disband or be fired upon. When the time was up and the leaders and the multitude stood firm, Renard gave his troops the order to fire. An initial volley that felled the negotiators was followed by a hail of rifle and machine gun fire aimed at the multitude of strikers and their accompanying wives and children.

Historical background

Chilean society faced a crisis from the late 19th century onwards: what was delicately referred to at the time as the "social question"—namely, "the problem of worsening living and working conditions in the country's mining centers and major cities" The nitrate miners' strike of December 1907 was the last of a series of strikes and other forms of unrest that began in 1902, chief among them being the strike in Valparaíso in 1903 and the meat riots in Santiago in 1905.Correa et al. (2001) In Chile, the workers' movement in general, and

syndicalism Syndicalism is a labour movement within society that, through industrial unionism, seeks to unionize workers according to industry and advance their demands through Strike action, strikes and other forms of direct action, with the eventual goa ...

in particular, got started among the nitrate miners. Geographically, the region Chileans today have come to refer to as the Norte Grande (Big North) lies within the

Atacama Desert The Atacama Desert () is a desert plateau located on the Pacific Ocean, Pacific coast of South America, in the north of Chile. Stretching over a strip of land west of the Andes Mountains, it covers an area of , which increases to if the barre ...

, the driest region on Earth. The Norte Grande and the Norte Chico immediately to the south belong to the Chilean ''pampa'', a vast plain located between the Pacific Ocean and the western foothills of the

Andes The Andes ( ), Andes Mountains or Andean Mountain Range (; ) are the List of longest mountain chains on Earth, longest continental mountain range in the world, forming a continuous highland along the western edge of South America. The range ...

mountains. The Norte Grande, which administratively consisted (before 1974) of the two provinces of Tarapacá and

Antofagasta Antofagasta () is a port city in northern Chile, about north of Santiago. It is the capital of Antofagasta Province and Antofagasta Region. According to the 2015 census, the city has a population of 402,669. Once claimed by Bolivia follo ...

, had been seized by Chile from Bolivia and Peru in the

War of the Pacific The War of the Pacific (), also known by War of the Pacific#Etymology, multiple other names, was a war between Chile and a Treaty of Defensive Alliance (Bolivia–Peru), Bolivian–Peruvian alliance from 1879 to 1884. Fought over Atacama Desert ...

(1879–1884), giving Chile an area rich in minerals, principally copper and saltpeter (sodium nitrate). Tensions provoked by the control of the mines had been one of the leading causes of the 1891 Chilean Civil War, when pro-Congress forces triumphed. The mining of nitrate had become the mainstay of the nation's economy at the end of the 19th century, Chile being the exclusive producer worldwide. According to the census of November 28, 1907, Tarapacá Province held 110,000 inhabitants.Zolezzi Velásquez, Mario. La Tercera (1999). "La matanza de la Escuela Santa María". In the provinces of Tarapacá and Antofagasta about 40,000 workers were active in the nitrate industry, of whom about 13,000 came from Bolivia and Peru. Life in the mining camps—a nitrate works was known locally as an ''oficina'', "office", a term whose use extended to the adjoining settlement—was grueling and physically dangerous. The enterprises exercised a severe control over the life and working conditions inside the mines, which rendered the workers extremely vulnerable to arbitrary actions perpetrated by the owners. Each ''oficina'' was a

company town A company town is a place where all or most of the stores and housing in the town are owned by the same company that is also the main employer. Company towns are often planned with a suite of amenities such as stores, houses of worship, schoo ...

in which the mine owner owned the workers' housing, owned the company store (known in Chile as a ''pulpería''), monopolized all commerce, and employed a private police force. Each mining camp ran its own money system, paying its workers in tokens, which could be spent only within the mining camp. Mine managers frequently put off paydays for up to three months. At the beginning of the 20th century, the above mentioned "social question" prompted unrest among the workers at the nitrate ''oficinas'' in the Tarapacá Province. They began to mobilize politically, repeatedly petitioning the national government in Santiago to get involved and bring about improvements in their dreadful living and working conditions. The Parliamentary Period governments, however, were reluctant to intervene in negotiations between employers and workers, and they tended to see large scale workers' movements (especially if accompanied by massive demonstrations) as incipient rebellions.

The 18 Pence Strike and the massacre

On December 10, 1907, a

general strike A general strike is a strike action in which participants cease all economic activity, such as working, to strengthen the bargaining position of a trade union or achieve a common social or political goal. They are organised by large coalitions ...

broke out in Tarapacá Province. This was the start of the 18 Pence Strike (''la huelga de los 18 peniques''), the name referring to the size of the wage being demanded by workers in one particular mining occupation, workers known as ''jornaleros''. A large contingent of strikers traveled to the provincial capital, the port city of

, carrying the flags of

Peru Peru, officially the Republic of Peru, is a country in western South America. It is bordered in the north by Ecuador and Colombia, in the east by Brazil, in the southeast by Bolivia, in the south by Chile, and in the south and west by the Pac ...

Bolivia Bolivia, officially the Plurinational State of Bolivia, is a landlocked country located in central South America. The country features diverse geography, including vast Amazonian plains, tropical lowlands, mountains, the Gran Chaco Province, w ...

, and

Argentina Argentina, officially the Argentine Republic, is a country in the southern half of South America. It covers an area of , making it the List of South American countries by area, second-largest country in South America after Brazil, the fourt ...

. As workers from other nitrate works swelled the ranks of this movement, nearly all commerce and industry in the north of the country was brought to a halt. The demands published by the strikers on December 16 in a memorial were as follows: On December 16, thousands of striking workers from other industries arrived at Iquique in support of the nitrate miners' demands upon the provincial authorities, with the aim of prodding the authorities to act. Previous entreaties to the government, in particular petitions presented by delegations in 1901, 1903, and 1904, had been fruitless. The national government in Santiago sent extra regiments by land and sea to reinforce the two regiments stationed in Iquique. President

Pedro Montt Pedro Elías Pablo Montt Montt (; 29 June 1849, Santiago, Chile – 16 August 1910, Bremen, Germany) was a Chilean political figure. He served as the president of Chile from 1906 to his death from a probable stroke in 1910. His government fur ...

appointed Renard to handle the situation. Silva Renard, under confidential orders from the minister of the interior, Rafael Sotomayor, was ordered to use all necessary means to force the miners to dissolve and return to work. More and more worker contingents joined the strike by the day. It has been estimated that by December 21 the strikers in Iquique numbered ten to twelve thousand. Soon after the journeys to Iquique began, this great conglomeration of workers met in Manuel Montt plaza and at the Santa María School, asking the government to mediate between them and the bosses of the foreign (English) nitrate firms to resolve their demands. For their part, the bosses refused to negotiate until the workers went back to work. The acting

intendant An intendant (; ; ) 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 the War of the Spanish Success ...

of Tarapacá Province, Julio Guzmán García, mediated negotiations with representatives of the ''pampinos'' (plains dwellers) until the arrival at the port December 19 of the titular intendant, Carlos Eastman Quiroga, and General Roberto Silva Renard, chief of the First Military Zone of the Chilean Army, accompanied by Colonel Sinforoso Ledesma. Their arrival was cheered by the workers because a nitrate miners' petition to the government nearly two years earlier, under the previous president, had received an encouraging response, although the demands had not been satisfied. But the interior ministry felt no solidarity with the demands of the strikers. The ministry relayed orders to the strikers to leave the plaza and the school and gather at the horse racing track, where they were to board trains and return to work. They refused, sensing that if they went back to work, their requests would be ignored. In the face of the growing tension between the groups, on December 20, 1907, the strikers' representatives held a meeting with Intendant Eastman. Simultaneously, a decree published in the press announced the declaration of a state of siege, which entailed the suspension of constitutional rights. While the meeting with Intendant Eastman was taking place in the Buenaventura nitrate works, a group of workers and their families tried to leave the spot, but troops opened fire on them by the railroad tracks and kept shooting. As a result, six workers died and the rest of the group was wounded. The funerals of the slain workers were held the next day, December 21, 1907. Immediately at their conclusion, all workers were ordered to leave the school premises and vicinity and relocate to the Club Hípico (Horse Club). The workers refused to go, fearing they might be bombarded by the guns of warships which were lined up alongside the road they would have to travel. At 2:30 in the afternoon, Renard told the leaders of the workers' committee that if the strikers did not start heading back to work within one hour, the troops would open fire on them. The workers' leaders refused to go, and only a small group of strikers left the plaza. At the hour indicated by Renard, he ordered the soldiers to shoot the workers' leaders, who were on the school's roof, and they fell dead with the first volley. The multitude, desperate and trying to escape, surged toward the soldiers, and were fired upon with rifles and machine guns. After a period of firing from the Manuel Montt plaza, the troops stormed school grounds with machine guns, firing into the school's playgrounds and classrooms, killing in a frenzy without regard to the women and children screaming for mercy. The survivors of the massacre were brought at saber point to the Club Hípico, whence they were sent back to work and subjected to a reign of terror.

Victims

The government ordered that death certificates not be issued for the fallen and had them buried in a mass grave in the city cemetery. The remains were not exhumed until 1940. They were reinterred in the courtyard of the Legal Medical Service of that city. The number of victims claimed by the action is disputed. On one hand, the official report of General Silva Renard speaks at first of 140 dead, later to rise to 195. This is the number offered by a witness to the massacre, Nicolás Palacios, a physician in the mines and a political dissident of national renown. However, this figure is considered unrealistic given the number of workers present. The highest estimate has been 3,600, although this is considered speculative.

Consequences

General Silva Renard reported to the government in Santiago as to what happened, minimizing his role and laying responsibility on the strikers. The National Congress's reaction was lukewarm. Improvements in the conditions of the workers came slowly. It would not be until 1920 that minimum labor standards started to be enacted, such as mandating payment in legal tender and setting the maximum length of the working day. Renard was seriously wounded in 1914 in an assassination attempt on the part of a Spanish anarchist, Antonio Ramón, whose brother, Manuel Vaca, had been one of the victims of the massacre. Renard would die a few years later as a result of these injuries.

100th anniversary observances

On the occasion of the centenary of the massacre a mausoleum was inaugurated in the local cemetery, where the remains of one victim and one survivor of the massacre were re-interred. Public exhibits were mounted. President Bachelet decreed a national day of mourning for December 21, 2007.

Cultural influence

The facts of the massacre were suppressed by the government for many years. With the passage of time, its tragic details inspired singers and poets, while its social effects were investigated from the middle of the 20th century on. Chief among these artistic and academic works are: ;Books * 1915 – Francisco Pezoa, ''Canto a la Pampa'' * 1952 – Volodia Teitelboim, ''Hijo del salitre'', novel. * 2002 – Hernán Rivera Letelier, '' Santa María de las flores negras''. ;Music * 1970 – Luis Advis, '' Cantata de Santa María de Iquique''. (performed by Héctor Duvauchelle and

Quilapayún Quilapayún () are a folk music group from Chile and among the longest lasting and most influential ambassadors of the ''Nueva canción, Nueva Canción Chilena'' movement and genre. Formed during the mid-1960s, the group became inseparable with t ...

) * 2009 – Luis Advis, '' Cantata Rock de Santa María de Iquique''. (performed by Colectivo Cantata Rock) * 2011 – Diablo Swing Orchestra, ''Justice for Saint Mary'' ;Theater * 2004 – La Patogallina troupe, ''1907''. * 2007 – Teatro del Oráculo troupe, ''Santa María de Iquique: La Venganza de Ramón Ramón''. ;Film * 1975 –

Humberto Solás Humberto Solás (4 December 1941 – 17 September 2008) was a Cuban film director, credited with directing the film '' Lucía'' (1968), which explored the lives of Cuban women during different periods in Cuban history. His cinematic style b ...

, '' Cantata de Chile''

Notes

References

Citations

Sources

*Anonymous. No date
Pioneros del Salitre
(Nitrate Pioneers) *Anonymous. No date
''El trabajo obrero en las salitreras (II)''
Photos taken at Chilean nitrate works *Artaza Barrios, Pablo, et al. 1998. ''A 90 años de los sucesos de la Escuela Santa María de Iquique''. Santiago: LOM Ediciones. *Bravo Elizondo, Pedro. 1993. Santa María de Iquique 1907. Documentos para su historia. Santiago: Ediciones del Litoral. *Barr-Melej, Patrick. 2001. ''Reforming Chile: cultural politics, nationalism, and the rise of the middle class''. Chapel Hill : University of North Carolina Press. *Correa, Sofia et al. 2001. La hora de los desafíos. In ''Historia del siglo XX chileno: balance paradojal''. Santiago: Editorial Sudamericana. *Fuentes, Jordi et al. 1989. Diccionario Histórico de Chile. Santiago: Editorial Zig-Zag S.A. *Grez Toso, Sergio, compiler. 1995. La «Cuestión Social» en Chile. Ideas y Debates precursores. (1804–1902). Santiago de Chile : Dirección de Bibliotecas, Archivo y Museos, Centro de Investigaciones Diego Barros Arana. Series: Fuentes para la historia de la república ; v. 7. *Pizarro, Crisóstomo. 1986. La huelga obrera en Chile: 1890–1970. Santiago: Editorial Sur

External links

*Memoria Chilena. 2007-12-19
A cien años de la masacre de Santa María de Iquique
* Central Unitaria de Trabajadores de Chile (CUT) et al. 2007-12-19
100 años de Santa María de Iquique
*Grez Toso, Sergio
La guerra preventiva: Escuela Santa María de Iquique
*Biblioteca del Congreso Nacional de Chil
Libro en línea "La masacre de la Escuela Santa María de Iquique"
*Experiencias Colectivas Columna Negra
"Escuela Santa María de Iquique: Apuntes para la destrucción del mito y la construcción de la memoria no-espectacular"
{{DEFAULTSORT:Santa Maria School Massacre Massacres in Chile School massacres in South America 1907 in Chile Conflicts in 1907 Massacres in 1907 Deaths by firearm in Chile History of labour relations in Chile Iquique Political repression in Chile Massacres of protesters in South America Protests in Chile Saltpeter works in Chile December 1907 1907 labor disputes and strikes 20th-century mass murder in South America School shootings in Chile 1900s mass shootings 20th-century mass shootings in South America Attacks on buildings and structures in the 1900s 20th-century attacks on schools