page_title: History of Chile
section_title: Aylwin, Frei, and Lagos
hierarchical_section_title: History of Chile / Transition to democracy (1990–present) / Aylwin, Frei, and Lagos
caption_attribution_description: Čeština: Chilský Národní kongres vzdal poctu dvousetletému výročí chilského státu. Při této příležitosti apeloval prezident Sebastián Piňera na jednotu všech Chilanů. „Oslava dvousetletého výročí samostatného státu je bezesporu ohromná příležitost ke znovuupevnění našeho závazku k duchu národní jednoty...“, řekl během svého projevu. Ceremonii byli přítomni bývalí prezidenti Patricio Aylwin, Eduardo Frei, Ricardo Lagos a Michelle Bacheletová. English: The National Congress paid homage to the country's Bicentennial, at which time the President of the Republic, Sebastián Piñera, made a call for unity of all Chileans. "The commemoration of the bicentennial as an independent nation, is certainly a tremendous opportunity to reaffirm our commitment to the spirit of national unity has always been on the highlights of our history," he said during his speech at the Hall of Honor. Also at the ceremony were former Presidents Patricio Aylwin, Eduardo Frei, Ricardo Lagos and Michelle Bachelet. Their assistance was appreciated by the President Piñera, who noted that it "not only realizes the significance of the dates we are commemorating, but also demonstrates the strength of our democracy and civic maturity of our friendship." In his words, the Head of State thanked the work of Congress in the first six months of his government, which helped to generate new laws aimed at improving the quality of life for Chileans. He also stressed that "our country's main wealth is its abundant natural resources and its beautiful landscapes, or the height or size of our buildings or machines. It is in our people, our people, our heroes, those of yesterday, today and always." Español: El Congreso Nacional realizó un homenaje al Bicentenario del país, oportunidad en la que el Presidente de la República, Sebastián Piñera, efectuó un llamado a la unidad de todos los chilenos. “La conmemoración de nuestro Bicentenario como nación independiente, constituye sin duda una formidable oportunidad para reafirmar nuestro compromiso con el espíritu de unidad nacional que ha estado siempre presente en los momentos estelares de nuestra historia”, afirmó durante su discurso en el Salón de Honor. También estuvieron en esta ceremonia los ex mandatarios Patricio Aylwin, Eduardo Frei, Ricardo Lagos y Michelle Bachelet. Su asistencia fue valorada por el Presidente Piñera, quien destacó que ésta “da cuenta no solamente de la trascendencia de las fechas que estamos conmemorando, sino que también demuestra la solidez de nuestra democracia y la madurez de nuestra amistad cívica”. En sus palabras, el Jefe de Estado agradeció la labor del Congreso en los primeros seis meses de su Gobierno, la que ha permitido generar nuevas leyes que apuntan a mejorar la calidad de vida de los chilenos. También recalcó que “la principal riqueza de nuestro país no está en sus abundantes recursos naturales ni en sus hermosos paisajes, ni en la altura o tamaño de nuestros edificios o máquinas. Está en nuestra gente, en nuestro pueblo, en nuestros héroes, los de ayer, los de hoy y los de siempre”.
context_page_description: The territory of Chile has been populated since at least 3000 BC. By the 16th century, Spanish conquistadors began to subdue and colonize the region of present-day Chile, and the territory was a colony between 1540 and 1818, when it gained independence from Spain. The country's economic development was successively marked by the export of first agricultural produce, then saltpeter and later copper. The wealth of raw materials led to an economic upturn, but also led to dependency, and even wars with neighboring states. Chile was governed during most of its first 150 years of independence by different forms of restricted government, where the electorate was carefully vetted and controlled by an elite.
  Failure to address the economic and social increases and increasing political awareness of the less-affluent population, as well as indirect intervention and economic funding to the main political groups by the CIA, as part of the Cold War, led to a political polarization under Socialist President Salvador Allende.
context_section_description: Chileans elected a new president and the majority of members of a two-chamber congress on December 14, 1989. Christian Democrat Patricio Aylwin, the candidate of a coalition of 17 political parties called the Concertación, received an absolute majority of votes (55%). President Aylwin served from 1990 to 1994, in what was considered a transition period. In February 1991 Aylwin created the National Commission for Truth and Reconciliation, which released in February 1991 the Rettig Report on human rights violations committed during the military rule.
  This report counted 2,279 cases of "disappearances" which could be proved and registered. Of course, the very nature of "disappearances" made such investigations very difficult. The same problem arose, several years later, with the Valech Report, released in 2004 and which counted almost 30,000 victims of torture, among testimonies from 35,000 persons.
  In December 1993, Christian Democrat Eduardo Frei Ruiz-Tagle, the son of previous president Eduardo Frei Montalva, led the Concertación coalition to victory with an absolute majority of votes (58%). Frei Ruiz-Tagle was succeeded in 2000 by Socialist Ricardo Lagos, who won the presidency in an unprecedented runoff election against Joaquín Lavín of the rightist Alliance for Chile, by a very tight score of less than 200,000 votes (51,32%).
  In 1998, Pinochet traveled to London for back surgery. But under orders of Spanish judge Baltasar Garzón, he was arrested there, attracting worldwide attention, not only because of the history of Chile and South America, but also because this was one of the first arrests of a former president based on the universal jurisdiction principle. Pinochet tried to defend himself by referring to the State Immunity Act of 1978, an argument rejected by the British justice. However, UK Home Secretary Jack Straw took the responsibility to release him on medical grounds, and refused to extradite him to Spain. Thereafter, Pinochet returned to Chile in March 2000. Upon descending the plane on his wheelchair, he stood up and saluted the cheering crowd of supporters, including an army band playing his favorite military march tunes, which was awaiting him at the airport in Santiago. President Ricardo Lagos later commented that the retired general's televised arrival had damaged the image of Chile, while thousands demonstrated against him.
caption: Five presidents of Chile since Transition to democracy (1990–2018), celebrating the Bicentennial of Chile.
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