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Original article: Patricio Aylwin Azócar: Sus sombras a 10 años de su muerte

By Fernando Astudillo Becerra

As we mark a decade since the passing of Patricio Aylwin Azócar, Chilean history grapples with the complex task of revealing the true character of a political figure who, for many, symbolizes the peaceful transition to democracy, while for others, embodies a series of ethical and political compromises that shaped the nation’s destiny.

From the standpoint of leftist Christians or Christian leftists, his legacy is not merely the «return to democracy» but rather a consolidation of an ethical and political renunciation of the fundamental principles of transformative Christian humanism.

Rather than dismantling the economic structures imposed by the dictatorship, Aylwin validated and deepened them under the premise of «growth with equity,» thus maintaining the neoliberal model.

From a Christian ethics perspective, criticisms are directed towards his maintenance of a system that commodifies basic rights (health, education, and pensions), prioritizing market stability over human dignity, a fundamental tenet of Christian social thought.

The most painful criticism from a human rights and faith perspective is that while certain sectors within the Church, inspired by the spirit and mission of the Vicaría de la Solidaridad, fought for truth and comprehensive justice, Aylwin proposed a formula that in practice led to impunity. He sacrificed justice.

The Christian left argues that justice cannot be subject to political negotiation «as far as possible.» For a leftist Christian, reconciliation without full justice is akin to a peace of the graveyards, which does not rest on the recognition of social sin but rather on concealing the perpetrators to avoid disturbing the military power.

Aylwin consciously hindered the criminal prosecution of those responsible for crimes against humanity. This may be the most controversial legacy of his presidency (1990-1994).

Although the Rettig Report was a necessary milestone for the official acknowledgment of human rights violations, Aylwin’s administration operated under the premise that the stability of the transition required not to pressure the military power that Augusto José Ramón still held from the Army Command.

It was promoted that knowing the truth was consolation enough for the victims. He mistakenly assumed that truth could serve as a substitute for justice.

The Amnesty Law of 1978 remained in force, and the State displayed no political will to remove the authoritarian enclaves that obstructed the prosecution of the guilty, in a sort of negotiated immunity.

This approach fostered a wound that remains open in Chilean society. By dissociating truth from justice, Aylwin established a precedent where political impunity masqueraded as a false republican prudence, allowing key figures of the repression to die in the comfort of their homes or behind state-funded institutional defenses.

Aylwin’s government implemented the so-called «policy of agreements,» conducted far from the people and their leaders. The criticism is that he seemed fearful of the people’s strength that helped defeat Augusto José Ramón and preferred to demobilize social organizations, unions, and grassroots movements. He feared true democracy, synonymous with effective participation.

Aylwin was not a victim of the authoritarian enclaves (such as the appointed senators or the binomial system), but an administrator who felt comfortable within that design. He is criticized for not utilizing the immense popular legitimacy that brought him to power to force immediate structural changes, preferring to manage a «protected democracy» that kept Augusto José Ramón as Commander-in-Chief, casting a long shadow over state decisions.

A leftist Christian ought to be a protagonist of their history, yet Aylwin instead fostered a passive citizenship, where social change was left to technocrats, distancing from the community and ecclesial base that resisted the dictatorship during much of the 70s and 80s.

One of the darkest and less remembered facets in official discourses is his role as the architect of the strategic alliance between the Christian Democracy (DC) and the right-wing political and economic factions, then united in the Confederation of Democracy (CODE), to destabilize and ultimately bring down the constitutional government of President Salvador Allende.

He was not a passive observer. As president of the DC, he led the hardest line of the falange, which abandoned the transformative vocation of Christian progressivism to align with the most reactionary sectors.

This stance was sealed in the failure of the call for dialogue and understanding proposed by Cardinal Raúl Silva Henríquez in August 1973. While the Cardinal sought a political solution to avoid civil war, Aylwin imposed conditions that rendered the agreement nearly impossible, closing one of the last institutional doors before the bombing of La Moneda.

His conviction that the government of the Unidad Popular should be denied «salt and water» paved the way for the civil and military intervention that he, along with Eduardo Frei Montalva, initially justified before international public opinion.

Ten years after his death, Patricio Aylwin’s figure cannot escape the most rigorous historical judgment. While his ability to lead a transitional process without an immediate return to armed violence is undeniable, it is equally undeniable that this peace was built upon deliberate omissions of justice and equality.

His responsibility in the end of democracy in 1973, the shadows over his rise to power within the DC, and his pragmatism regarding the crimes of the dictatorship configure a profile where the «lights» of institutional stability intermingle with the «shadows» of substantive justice and democracy that are sacrificed in pursuit of an alleged order.

Aylwin was not only the President of the transition; he was the architect of a model of limited democracy, where truth became a concession and justice a pending task that Chile has yet to complete. Political pragmatism and the stability of the capitalist system ultimately weighed more than the radicality of the Gospel and the demand for justice for the oppressed.

Fernando Astudillo Becerra

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