posted on the web on April 13 2003

Country Data

Full Name: Republic of Chile Capital: Santiago Population: 15,498,930 (2002 est.) Location: South America Total area: 756,950 sq km Language: Spanish Ethnic groups: white/white-Amerindian 95%, Amerindian 3% Religions: Roman Catholic 89%, Protestant 11% Currency: Chilean Peso IGO memberships: UN, WHO, WTO Internet site: Ministry of Foreign Affairs Source: CIA World Factbook

Latin America knows what it feels like to have the U.S. government enter your national house. We share this painful experience with Iraq. But in the Iraqi case there is another variable, a natural resource that we do not possess. Additionally, the methods they have used are more sophisticated and diverse.

Based on the premise that no one is so wrong that there is no grain of truth in their stance, one must accept certain facts as such: Hussein is a dictator who has gravely harmed his people, and converted to the Muslim faith to augment his power. He has permanently violated fundamental rights and international law, and he maintains a conception of the world that is incompatible with the dominant opinions of our time. On the other side, we encounter a president of a republic, George W. Bush, equally as interested in garnering more power, who treats his citizens like infants, and is uninterested in public opinion of government acts. If the end towards which his actions are aimed is peace, fine. It is also evident that there is a second aim that is not publicly recognized, which is oil. In sum, in the name of the Christian faith, in the name of justice and liberty, Bush is capable of executing violent acts (there is not doubt that what he is doing is illegal, immoral, and illegitimate) but couched in different terminology. The third actor is the United Nations, accompanied by international law and diplomacy, which has demonstrated how ineffective an institution becomes when it cannot lift up the voice of the otherwise voiceless members. The whole world sees how the institutions of the international order, constructed as the fruit of what we were taught from a dark period of humanity, were unable to prevent the United States from entering a war. And now they will merely go in to help the hungry and wounded that are left in its wake.

In this context: Who loses? What do they lose? Who are the winners? And what do they win? Finally, if the recognized goal of the Bush invasion of Iraq is to liberate the Iraqi people from Hussein and these same people have demonstrated a total resistance to the allied invasion, what is the justification that can be offered to continue with the war?

The losers are always the same - the poor, those same poor, only now with different names and of a different nationality, those who are powerless, those who have never had their dignity as human beings respected, those who are hungry and cold and those who are not aware that there are important decisions to be made at this crucial moment. Now they are touched anew, these people live in Iraq, citizens and foreigners alike (of whom we are aware 50% are children). The future of this country is in debt. The death of these people, in military jargon, is "collateral damage." Can you detect an ounce of humanity in these words? I ask myself what is left to say once one conceives of death as the next step. Nothing. Something more... a human catastrophe for those who remain alive, a reality that will affect neighboring countries and also those countries likes ours that cannot stock up on oil.

From the south of this beloved continent, we are observing the tragedy. The rage against the North American government has been reborn, like a historical wound that never healed. We are sad, we know our vote does not count in the Security Council at the United Nations. We recognize our smallness, due to our lack of means, specifically our lack of coercive power. We can see that the law is an instrument used for good and also is also now used to justify acts such as those that we are now living. As the poor of the world, we ask for respect. The poor of the world ask for justice. The poor of the world ask for liberty. The poor of the world, well, we are tired of living in misery. The world hungers and thirsts for justice, and now, more than ever, for peace. It is an urgent request. Today there is war, today people are dying, today there is fear. And tomorrow, with that which remains of the world, with the leftovers, we, the young will have to live. We are responsible for all that is happening. There is no one who is without blame; there is no one who can't do something to preserve the peace. This is the cost of living in society, to permit these things to happen. I suppose that you do not want to shoulder the blame, at least, I don't.

We want the truth. We want to know the truth about the CIA intervention during the Allende government. We want to know what damage was done to Panama. We want to know what type of interventions is occurring in Colombia. We want to know what happened with the dead Jesuits in Guatemala. We want to see valor from the U.S. government, just as we are seeing in this war, as they take responsibility for their actions, recognize their errors. We believe that this is the route on which the U.S. must take its first step toward reconciliation with the world to achieve the just international order that they want so much and to achieve harmony between countries. But while the interests of the powerful outweigh the majority, and while these interests are stronger than law, than the value of peace, than life, than justice, than dignity, peace will not be possible. However, in this occasion, perhaps the effects of the war will enter the Northern house. This is not anyone's wish, but he that throws a rock should not wait for someone to bring him roses in return.

We put our institutions in crisis, our thoughts, and our knowledge; there is nothing to lose if we have already lost peace and respect. That with which we are left is a big mission: to reconstitute our countries, and reconstruct ourselves - now with other interests and fundamentals, and this time they should be true. This mission pertains to everyone; people can support it with their abilities. But we take into account that peace is not obtained with arms, at least not a lasting peace. There are other ways, although they are more difficult to use, which guarantee us a result anchored in the deep belief that a better world is possible.

I salute you, affectively, brothers of the continent, putting my hopes in your hands, because you find yourselves closer to the centers of power and the future governors of the country. The challenge of being historical actors is calling you.

Constanza Figueroa is a 4th year law student at Jesuit University Alberto Hurtado, Santiago de Chile, Chile.