2023-07-09 15:30:02
Pablo Zepeda Camilliere, is a GAP. For those things of fate he saves with life. They mistakenly transfer him to the Chile Stadium. He spots Víctor Jara. In Tacna there is disorder. Orders and counter orders come and go.
On the morning of the 11th, Zepeda is part of President Allende’s escort. They transfer him from the residence of Tomás Moro to La Moneda. He there he stays with Allende. At dawn on Thursday the 13th, Zepeda witnesses the delegation that appears. It is headed by Augusto Pinochet. He is accompanied by the commander of the Tacna regiment, Joaquín Ramírez Pineda. He listens as Pinochet asks Ramírez who these prisoners are.
-These are Allende’s bodyguards, my general, they are the GAP and other advisers.
-These assholes are all shot.
It is the order of the dictator.
What Zepeda sees and hears that day coincides with what Colonel (R) Fernando Reveco Valenzuela once told me. He told judge Juan Guzmán in May 1999:
-Pinochet was in the Tacna regiment observing how they tortured the GAP.
In front of Allende’s corpse
Sunrise on Thursday, September 13. Commander Ramírez Pineda calls Second Lieutenant Jorge Herrera López to his office.
-The detainees from La Moneda will be transferred today to the Peldehue Military Camp…you take command, second lieutenant.
In that place, Tacna is in charge of part of the property for military training.
In the previous hours, Second Lieutenant Herrera has earned the prestige of a warrior. He attacks the La Moneda Palace from the Morandé-Alameda corner. He commands his section with 30 men. The attack occurs immediately after the bombardment. Then, when those who were inside have already surrendered, he enters the government headquarters through the door of Morandé 80. The door is open. He enters the Independence Hall. He sees Allende’s body half destroyed, sitting in an armchair. He has the rifle that Fidel Castro gave him in his hands.
On Morandé 80, with La Moneda burning, minutes before, the GAP, advisers to the President and Investigative Police officials assigned to the government headquarters were coming down to surrender. An hour before, Allende orders them to leave the Palace. They all refuse. They stand by him when the President sees that the battle is lost.
In his last order, Allende insists that everyone leave the scene of the fray. From the second floor, he will go down to the last one, he tells them. But he cheats on them.
The line to go down begins to build. There is disorder. Strain. Smoke invades the corridors. Patricio Guijón, Allende’s doctor, is one of the last in line.
The column begins the descent. It is the final surrender. Miria Contreras, La Payita, leads it. She is the President’s private secretary. She is raising a white apron tied to a stick.
1688922725
#bodies #Allendes #men #died #dug