Thousands mourn Communist leader (Marin / Chile)

[struggle4progress]

From correspondents in Santiago
07mar05

THE Chilean Government has ordered two days of national mourning after the death of Gladys Marin, a veteran communist party leader who was at the forefront of opposition to the Augusto Pinochet dictatorship. <snip>

Ms Marin headed the communist youth organisation when General Pinochet seized power in a 1973 military coup.

Hounded by his secret police, she fled Chile in 1976 after her husband, Jorge Munoz, and members of his cell were arrested.

Mr Munoz remains on a list of 1198 detainees of the dictatorship, who disappeared without a trace. <snip>

http://www.heraldsun.news.com.au/common/story_page/0,5478,12465562%5E1702,00.html


Pinochet Foe and Chilean Communist Leader Marin Dies at 63 By VOA News
06 March 2005

http://www.voanews.com/english/images/ap_Gladys_Marin_during_a_march_of_relatives_of_dissidents_
Gladys Marin, is shown during a march of relatives of dissidents who dissapeared after being arrested under Gen. Augusto Pinochet's dictatorship

<snip> Ms. Marin fled Chile after the 1973 coup that put General Pinochet in power but returned several years later to organize protests and underground resistance.

In the late 1990s, she was among the first to sue the general for human rights abuses stemming from his 17-year-rule. <snip>

http://www.voanews.com/english/2005-03-06-voa24.cfm


Chilean Communist Party leader dead at 63
Sunday, March 6, 2005 Posted: 1505 GMT (2305 HKT)

<snip> Marin was an implacable foe of Pinochet's 1973-90 dictatorship. She was one of the leaders of the first massive protests against Pinochet in the 1980s, often facing the police tear gas and water cannons in the streets. <snip>

She was elected to congress for three consecutive terms before the 1973 coup in which Pinochet toppled Marxist President Salvador Allende.

Marin went into hiding to escape the repression of leftists launched by the military, but on orders from the party she sought asylum at the Dutch embassy and then traveled into exile in Amsterdam.

While in the embassy, she saw her husband, engineer Jorge Munoz, for the last time, as he walked slowly in front of the diplomatic building. Months later, Munoz was arrested by Pinochet's security service and never seen again. The couple had two children. <snip>

http://edition.cnn.com/2005/WORLD/americas/03/06/marin.obit.ap/

[arcos]

1. oh, I didn't know she had died...

I'm very sorry, she was a very fine and brave lady. :(

[Judi Lynn]

2. She had real courage. Took on Pinochet herself.

From the CNN link:

Marin was an implacable foe of Pinochet's 1973-90 dictatorship. She was one of the leaders of the first massive protests against Pinochet in the 1980s, often facing the police tear gas and water cannons in the streets.

In 1998, she filed the first suit against Pinochet for human rights violations during his regime, thus starting the former dictator's legal troubles, which include two indictments and house arrests.
(snip/...)

Hope her hard work will not have been in vain. Latin America is starting to come out of the darkness it was plunged into with the realm of right-wing bloody puppet dictators and death squads operating its length and breadth. Hope we're going to see it all come together THE RIGHT WAY because of the work and suffering of people like this woman.