Concluding a one-week visit to Chile on Friday, Amnesty International’s Secretary General Irene Khan issued an assessment of the human rights situation in the country and a set of recommendations addressed to the Chilean government.

"Despite some positive steps taken by successive democratic governments in the last 18 years, Chile’s record on human rights leaves much room for improvement," said Ms. Khan.

"We call on President Bachelet to use the remaining 17 months of her time in office to create a decisive and lasting legacy of human rights reform."

Last night I was watching TV Nacional de Chile and the ending of the series Grandes Chilenos, that featured the artista Violeta Parra. It was incredibly moving and also sad. Sad because she came in last place in terms of being considered an important Chilena and how that related to her entire life and ultimately to her death by her own hands. Most of her "professional success" was found outside of her homeland and she struggled to sustain her soul as a mujer artista, as a Chilena facing the injustices of the trabajador. She was a voice reflecting the realities of struggle, both personal and political and the space where they intersect.

Part of the personal struggle I deal with on 9-11 is the straddling of grief and confronting the egocentrism that is United States culture. In general people in the United States have short term memory. Selectively people remember and claim dates and tragedies as if they belonged to no one else before them. 9-11 is one of those dates.

Five years ago today I was on my way to my job in the financial district of Manhattan, blocks away from the World Trade Center. A man came into the subway at one point yelling something about planes hitting the Twin Towers. As one of a trainful of jaded New Yorkers, I ignored him. As long as the subways were still running , nothing was really wrong.

Minutes later as my train approached Canal Street and the conductor announced that the train would go no further, something became apparently wrong. While underground it was unclear the extent of what was happening above. I called my mother, who worked in one of the World Trade Center towers and no one answered. I soon was trapped for hours in a dark smoke filled subway car as the Twin Towers collapsed above me, as my mother watched bodies falling from those buildings and she ran for safety. For hours she thought I was dead. For hours I thought she was dead. Between us we lost collegues but not each other. We both walked from downtown Manhattan back home to Queens.

But 9-11-01 wasn't my first 9-11 and it wasn't the world's either. 10 years ago I didn't stayed holed up in a Providencia, Santiago de Chile apartment I shared with gringo college students. I went to the Universidad de Chile to remember what happened on 9-11-73, when democratically elected Socialist president Salvador Allende was overthrown by Augusto Pinochet backed by the good ole U.S. of A.

My children, half Chilean, half Puerto Rican (which by default means United States citizens) carry these multiple tragedies in their blood line. My partner woke up this morning to watch not the numerous memorials on U.S. network television but to watch the commemoration of another fireball that was the Moneda palace. On 9-11, in different years, different buildings were on fire in different countries. Both led to secret prisons, summary arrests, murder and disapearances. Both remain linked forever by the same politics.

Rafa beat Chile's Fernando Gonzalez, but the defeat left Chile in not such a bad spot: taking home the silver medal for men's singles. Watching Gonzalez get his medal -- the first one for Chile in these Olympics -- is quite moving.

Congrats to Rafa and Fernando!

Via / YouTube

Chilean stripper Monserrat Morilles wanted to draw attention to what she called the "conservatism" of Chilean society in a special way -- by showing subway riders how she earns her keep. Apparently authorities weren't amused, as evidenced by the above video, which shows Ms. Morilles (a.k.a. "La Diosa del Metro") being taken away in a paddywagon.

Regardless, it looks like Montse got her point across!

Via / Reuters

Tonight she is one of the featured artists at the LAMC/Cycloop Acoustic Showcase (204 Varick Street).

Check her out......Afortunada

Outside of the Palacio de Gobierno, the place where Allende committed suicide after the military coup of 1973, hundreds of sympathizers , politicians and human rights groups commemorated the birthday of one of the biggest symbols of socialism in Latin America and the world.

"He is more relevant than ever, in the new, old and future generations," said senator and daughter of the ex-leader, Isabel Allende.

"In every corner of the world we need to fight for greater equality, for the unsatisfied needs, the inequality, discrimination...there the legacy of president Allende will always be present," she said.

Via / El Universal

The National Organization of teachers has called for a strike which was set to begin yesterday and extend into Thursday, and its spokesperson said that 90% of the schools in the Santiago metropolitan area would stop classes, while the Chilean Minister of Education debunked the claim, saying that 1800 schools in the capital were having classes.

Meanwhile, several schools and universities have been taken over by student protesters, and according to Mexico's La Jornada, at least two -- the University of Santiago and the University of Valdivia -- have been "vacated" by the carabineros.

The new Chilean education law at the center of this public backlash is said to perpetuate the breach between rich and poor with regard to education, and is costing president Michelle Bachelet some major popularity points. For some background on the LGE, check out Chilean college student-blogger Ernesto Manriquez's analysis of the legislation and what it will change.

Via / La Jornada

Image via Arriving at the horizon on Flickr

Via / BBC

With just one person tried, judge Juan Eduardo Fuentes Belmar closed the investigation phase of the case of the crime against Victor Jara, which took place in September of 1973.

However, it's probable that the appeals court will force the magistrate to reopen the investigation, as the plaintiff will appeal the closing [of the case].

The widow, Joan Jara, said yesterday that she was "shocked" by Fuentes' decision, while the plaintiff's attorney, Nelson Caucoto said that there are still other officials who participated in the torture and murder of the mythic singer, as well as the murderer himself, who still have not been identified.

Via / La Nación

In Chile, there is a large population of Palestinians, that has been growing in recent months. Chile has the largest Palestinian community outside of the Arab world, making up about 5% of the overall population. This is the fourth largest Palestinian pressence in the world after those in Israel, Lebanon and Jordan.

Isabel Allende answers this question be connecting generations through stories and history.

As I mentioned earlier this week, I first read this book the summer before I moved to Chile, in 1996. And the book still makes me cry today.

Purchase Isabel Allende's Paula here.

Just a beautiful book.

Buy it here

What has followed has been the ground shaking beneath the feet of residents of Chaiten and nearby Futuleufu and Chana. Gas, food, and drinking water have been hard to come by for those who didn't or couldn't evacuate. Those that did leave their homes did so by boat to Puerto Montt, a city north of the area or by going east to Argentina. This area is fairly isolated and not easy to get to or from by car.