Once again, we stayed comfortably tucked up in bed for most of the morning. Today was Labour Day in Chile and every radio station was broadcasting speeches from Union Leaders and politicians. Labor Day is also known as International Workers’ Day and May Day is a public holiday in many countries worldwide. It usually occurs around May 1, but several countries observe it on other dates. Labor Day / May Day is a public holiday. It is a day off for the general population, and schools and most businesses are closed.
In the course of my conversation with Gerrard last night I discovered that there was a mad Scottish cyclist staying at the Hotel Caribe so I went there to visit Jackie. He was still in bed at noon recovering from three days of frenetic sexual activity with an American dancing girl who had just left for Buenos Aires. Jackie came back to the Hotel Nuevo to meet the others and we all went out to see what Labour Day activities were going on in town.
There was a band playing in the Plaza de Armas which we watched as we munched hot dogs and slurped ice cream. The rest of the town was very quiet with no sign of the rumoured marches or demonstrations by left-wingers and students.
Our walkabout took us back to the Bellavista area and the Parque Forestal. Jackie and I returned to the main plaza for a beer and watched the nutters and the religious nuts who raved and sang around the outdoor tables.
At 16:30 hrs. we went to the cinema to see “Platoon” and “In the Shadow of Kilimanjaro”. The latter was a 1986 low budget version of Alfred Hitchcock’s “The Birds” with baboons instead of winged menace. The government and a mine owner (John Rhys-Davies) ignore a ranger's (Timothy Bottoms) warning about 90,000 starving baboons in Kenya.
We wandered down the pedestrian precinct passing clowns performing in the plaza and ended up in a small café close to our hotel. Here we had the Cubierto (set meal) while the geezer on the next table stood up for the Chilean National Anthem and told us what a good chap Pinochet was as he gave the presidential Labor Day speech on the black and white television. The other diners seemed less impressed.
Augusto José Ramón Pinochet Ugarte (25 November 1915 – 10 December 2006) was a Chilean general who ruled Chile from 1973 to 1990, first as the leader of the Military Junta of Chile from 1973 to 1981, being declared President of the Republic by the junta in 1974 and becoming the de facto dictator of Chile, and from 1981 to 1990 as de jure President after a new Constitution, which confirmed him in the office, was approved by a referendum in 1980.
Augusto Pinochet rose through the ranks of the Chilean Army to become General Chief of Staff in early 1972 before being appointed its Commander-in-Chief on 23 August 1973 by President Salvador Allende. On 11th September 1973, Pinochet seized power in Chile in a coup d'état, with the support of the U.S., that toppled Allende's democratically elected left-wing Unidad Popular government and ended civilian rule.
In December 1974, the ruling military junta appointed Pinochet Supreme Head of the nation by joint decree, although without the support of one of the coup's instigators, Air Force General Gustavo Leigh. After his rise to power, Pinochet persecuted leftists, socialists, and political critics, resulting in the executions of 1,200 to 3,200 people, the internment of as many as 80,000 people, and the torture of tens of thousands. According to the Chilean government, the number of executions and forced disappearances was 3,095. Operation Condor, a U.S.-supported terror operation focusing on South America, was founded at the behest of the Pinochet regime in late November 1975, his 60th birthday.
We went on to a seedy bar with the Texan hippy Robert and drank beer in the company of alcoholics and prostitutes until midnight. Back in our room I found another drinking party going on. We sat on the floor and drank wine until it ran out at 02:00 hrs. before getting into bed.
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