perception

over 100 arrested for "war crimes" from pinochet's time

today is the anniversary of the day when pinochet took over santiago by means of a military coup 36 years ago. almost 20 years after his rule ended, under a liberal female president, the world expects chile to hold those henchmen accountable now that it is well recovered.

what does the rest of the world think? pinochet was a bad bad man who killed many people and no one likes him and they're glad he's gone.

the issue, in chile though, is much more complicated. many people here in fact loved pinochet. and at first i thought these people must be rich. in fact no, some poor people loved him too. because while they didn't necessarily benefit monetarily, the country was considered more secure after the coup took hold. people were scared of the government and certainly less "flaite," less violent.

some have suggested this mass arrest is merely a game, that the judge who issued the warrants has no real intent of throwing these people in jail; it's just a show to make chile look favorable in today's political forum. one of the proponents of this theory points out that the judges are the same ones on the bench from 30 years ago...

not everyone loves pinochet...
i wondered why then, is every sept. 11 considered to be a potentially violent day? sept. 11 is mostly when pinochet opposers protest his legacy. in the past kids have been known to cut electricity in various areas of the city, protests have erupted quickly and turned to violence. in rare occasions, people have died. but it seems to get less violent every year.

an aside- my thought is, protest violence and dictatorship with more violence?

so if sept. 11 protesters clearly have no problem with violence then what exactly are they challenging? well, the reality is that this day has become about delinquents more than anything else. many of the kids who come out to wreak havoc have in fact been born after 1990 (the last year of pinochet's rule).

according to the chileans i've spoken to; sept. 11 is more of an excuse to be rebellious and dangerous than an organized fight against "the man."

at any rate, i doubt well see much. well be out in las condes for the weekend, far away from centro, the most energetic area for protests and things.

immigration

scott got stuck at the "border" two weekends ago. because he and i both miscalculated his 90 day stay (or entirely forgot to count it all together) he was kept from leaving the country from the santiago national airport. definitely scared when he called me at home, i spoke with the international police officer who was dealing with him. now, i've heard of immigration/visa blunders from others living as foreigners in chile. these people (not americans) didn't stress nearly as much as scott and i did in those minutes. coming from working near immigration issues in domestic violence, i know how high the stakes are...

so i'm apologizing, trying to assure the officer that it was not with mal intent that scott screwed up. trying to be as formal, polite, and apologetic as i could i talked while a very nice officer on the other end tried to reassure that things would be ok if he reported to an office for foreigners on monday. i thought initially, how can this be true? don't countries find a way to kick you out, especially if you mess up?

so when he returned we figured out exactly how long his stay had been. 91 days!!! that is, if you count the day he entered the country as one whole day, not half of a day leading to the next. so, we lost the 80 dollar LAN flight to Mendoza and were looking at paying a fine as well. fortunately, he was not fined. i couldn't believe how happy i was to find out they ONLY GIVE YOU A SLAP ON THE WRIST for doing this once. he will have to leave the country again, and within 10 days but he can reenter the same day.

scott probably should be writing this... but he described the fear he felt at that minute he was "caught" as kind of paralyzing. here he was, in a foreign country, speaking in a foreign language to a person who was now leading him into a separate room and he knew he was in "trouble" whatever that means. he had remarked something about how it gave him some perspective about what immigrants-illegal or otherwise- must feel like...

Distorted Beauty

This has been a topic that I've thought about for a while now. It seemed like every time I wanted to illustrate how pervasive advertising and media can be in relation to self-image, my words and statistics would just fall flat. If a picture is worth a thousand words....

clipped from www.huffingtonpost.com 1] Out Your Inner Hater: Claim your fears and negative perspectves about yourself by completing the sentence, "Right now, I feel like I really hate my____". By owning where you're at instead of hating yourself for hating yourself, and adding guilt onto shame, you can begin to see other, more positive avenues more clearly. 2] Question Your Motives: Ask yourself if this wallowing is making any progress towards your stated goals of confidence, inner strength, peace, and rational self-improvement? Hint: probably not. So why do you continue with it if it's not serving you to get where you want to go? Hmmmmm? 3] Use It...or Lose It!: Apply your natural stubbornness to either take action to change the things you can, or surrender the fight against that which is, and turn your mind towards more positive ways to move towards health, happiness and prosperity. And, as the old saying goes...have the wisdom to know the difference.