Camila Vallejo Warns About the Right Wing Downplaying the Coup in Chile: “It’s a Risk to Democracy”
The far-right in Chile are making open statements of support for the brutal 1973 coup and Pinochet’s dictatorship. Chilean newspaper El Siglo reports on Government spokesperson Camila Vallejo response.
Camila Vallejo’s voice carries weight amid a tense political climate. In an interview with El Diario de Cooperativa, the government spokesperson directly criticised recent statements by opposition candidates Evelyn Matthei (Chile Vamos) and Johannes Kaiser (Partido Libertario), accusing them of trivialising—even justifying—the coup and Augusto Pinochet’s dictatorship.
“The far right has not only downplayed the human rights violations and the coup d’état that took place in our country—they have justified them or called them inevitable,” Vallejo said. She added bluntly: “It’s a risk to democracy that, in the 21st century, there are people threatening to repeat torture, extermination, forced disappearances, or the rape of women by shoving rats into their vaginas—and I apologise for speaking so plainly, but that’s the reality—when they claim these acts were inevitable or could happen again.”
A Context of Dangerous Statements
Vallejo’s remarks did not come out of nowhere. In April, Evelyn Matthei stated in an interview that the democratic breakdown of 1973 “was necessary. Otherwise, we’d have gone straight down Cuba’s path. There was no alternative.” At the time, the comment went almost unnoticed, but now it takes on new significance amid growing tensions over historical memory.
Meanwhile, Johannes Kaiser went even further in a YouTube programme aired in early July: “I would support a new coup d’état, whatever the consequences.” His remarks prompted complaints from MPs to Chile’s National Television Council (CNTV) and a debate over the limits of free speech and the media’s role in amplifying hate speech.
Without naming them directly, Vallejo framed these ideas as a latent danger: “I’m not pointing fingers at any candidate—I’m talking about the ideas being defended lately, which concern the human rights of our compatriots and the reality of our country, where people endured the pain of democratic rupture in their bodies and life stories.”
Normalising the Unacceptable
The minister stressed that such rhetoric must not be normalised. “In the 21st century, we cannot trivialise these kinds of statements,” she insisted. For Vallejo, the downplaying—or worse, the glorification—of human rights violations poses a direct threat to democratic coexistence and to generations raised on testimonies of torture, murder, and forced disappearances.
Her warning aligns with international concerns about the far right’s rise. At the recent “Democracy Always” summit, leaders like Lula da Silva and Gustavo Petro cautioned against “Nazi-fascist behaviour” and disinformation campaigns orchestrated by far-right factions. Yet in Chile, the debate over memory and democracy remains an open wound.
A Sign of the Electoral Climate?
Vallejo’s analysis can also be read as a diagnosis of the upcoming electoral landscape. Polls place Jeannette Jara in the lead, followed by José Antonio Kast and Evelyn Matthei. Meanwhile, Kaiser is courting a far-right electorate with increasingly aggressive and provocative rhetoric.
In this context, some sectors appear to be reopening old wounds to rally a radicalised base. But the question lingers: to what extent are these ideas a political calculation, and how much do they reflect genuine contempt for democratic values?
Vallejo’s Warning
Vallejo closed with a message that transcends the current moment: “We cannot allow those who defend torture and forced disappearances to have a platform in democratic debate as if their views were just another opinion. This isn’t just history—it’s a risk to the present and future of our democracy.”
As extremist rhetoric gains ground in Chile and globally, the spokesperson’s warning is significant. The challenge now is whether Chilean society will set clear boundaries—or whether, once again, it will let the normalisation of horror erode the democratic pact forged after 17 years of dictatorship.
- This article was originally published in El Siglo on 23 July 2025, and was translated to English by Dr Francisco Dominguez.
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