The Politics of Remembering the Chilean Coup with Marcela Ríos Tobar

Host Sanjay Ruparelia talks with Marcela Ríos Tobar, a visiting scholar at the Latin American Center at the University of Oxford, and the former Minister of Justice and Human Rights in Chile. Their discussion coincided with the 50th anniversary of the Chilean coup, an event that continues to haunt the country’s democratic institutions. In this episode, Dr. Ríos Tobar discusses the external forces that made the establishment of socialism before 1973 so difficult, as well as the lingering effects of the Pinochet dictatorship on Chilean politics. Fifty years later, despite its violent means, memory of the military coup remains polarized. While democratic gains have been made, a persistent, energized far right means there are two visions of Chile’s past– and its future.

Show Notes: 

Host: Sanjay Ruparelia, Jarislowsky Democracy Chair and Associate Professor of Politics and Public Administration at Toronto Metropolitan University.

Guest: Marcela Ríos Tobar, visiting scholar at the Latin American Center at the University of Oxford, former Minister of Justice and Human Rights in Chile.

Further Reading:

Feminist Agendas and Democracy in Latin America by Jane S. Jaquette (editor), Marcela Ríos Tobar (contributor)