INTERNATIONAL FOUNDATION FOR THE FORCED DISAPPEARED
MissingFriends,org
October 5, 2010
London visit: Run to End Impunity in Chile & Latin America
Three runners ran the London Run to the Beat Half Marathon to remember the forced disappeared of Chile & Latin America on September 26, 2010.
Frances Chavez - Luis Soto Guzman - Missing Friends - Run to the Beat London
Luis Soto-Guzman and Frances Chavez of Santa Fe New Mexico United States and Martina
Soto-Kohler of Geneva, Switzerland traveled to the historic Greenwich course.
Determined to end to the impunity surrounding the crimes against humanity of the Pinochet dictatorship, this run/walk campaign supports victims with financial assistance for the legal fees associated with human rights cases in Chile and International courts.
The London based organization of “Agrupación de ex-prisioneros politicos en Chile” (Former Chilean political prisoners) hosted the runners during their stay in London. Their generous support made our visit very successful.
Dr. Martina Soto-Kohler, Argentinean by birth, traveled to London from Switzerland the day before the race to participate in the solidarity event with the forced disappeared in Chile. The memory of her Argentinean friends disappeared during the dictatorship in her native country inspired Dr. Soto-Kohler to run the half marathon even though she was not prepared to do so. During the gathering with the former Chilean political prisoners residing in London, she read poems from her book “Trayectorias de un errante” dedicated to her disappeared friends.
Dr. Margarita Luna, a psychologist and political activist from Tijuana Mexico accompanied us to raise awareness of the delayed symptoms from traumas from human rights crimes such as torture, illegal detention, forced disappearance, political executions and forced exile.
We met with the South American team of the International Secretariat of Amnesty International in London where we have to opportunity to explain our commitment to justice and truth for all victims of human rights abuses in Chile and Latin America. We explained that our approach is to use litigation to hold accountable individuals and corporations that committed crimes against humanity in Chile. We further conveyed that we plan to see that all victims of the dictatorship have the due process for the crimes committed against them.
We will continue to work with Chilean community in London to achieve our common goals for truth, justice and reparations. Our solidarity event in London has been a success. For more information see our website: www.missingfriends.org
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