On 11 September 1973, General Pinochet seized power in a vicious coup that led to the death of democratically elected President Salvadore Allende and resulted in the death and torture of many thousands of people.
This is one of the 'other' 9/11s - a set of events with a great deal to teach us and remind us of, but one which is all-too-easily lost in the sands of history.
The scars of the US backed coup, sponsored by large corporations and shadowy right-wing networks inside and outside the country, have lasted well into the era of renewed democracy in the populous Latin American nation.
Tejas Verdes, once an idyllic seaside resort for the rich, beautiful and fortunate, became a torture and death camp under Pinochet's dictatorship. The torture was carried out in the old music room.
The critically acclaimed play Tejas Verdes remembers, with poetic beauty, overwhelming love and humanity, the story of a woman who was tortured and disappeared.
It is also the story of those who encountered her and were part of what happened to her.
Praised by Guardian critic Michael Billington ("Eloquently translated … impossible to forget"), Scottish broadcaster and journalist Jim Naughtie ("Warm, rich, even poetic") and actor Robbie Coltrane ("It really is the right time"), Tejas Verdes is showing throughout August as part of Just Festival.
* Full details and booking for Tejas Verdas here: http://tinyurl.com/m6tanc2
* Chile 40 years on: http://chile40yearson.org/
* For more information on Just Festival, visit http://www.justjust.org and http://justfestivalnews.blogspot.com
* Ekklesia is a sponsor of Just Festival. Our news, reporting and comment is aggregated at: www.ekklesia.co.uk/justfestival
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© Anna Schwoub is a writer and academic from Northumbria specialising in the link between culture, religion and social change.
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