MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Chile, “a country of consensuses”.

Chile is a country of consensus which has left behind the polarization of thirty years ago that led to the bloody military coup of September 11, 1973, although there are still some totalitarian enclaves, legacy of the Pinochet regime, said Chilean president Ricardo Lagos.

"Looking back to the September 11 of thirty years ago, I would like to tell you that from a country of polarization we've become a country of great consensuses".

With less than a week for the thirtieth anniversary of the bloody military coup that deposed elected Socialist president Salvador Allende in September 1973, Mr. Lagos himself a Socialist and former junior aide of the former Allende administration pointed out to foreign correspondents how much Chile has changed politically.

Reflecting the renovation and moderation of the current Chilean Socialists Mr. Lagos emphasized that for the last twenty years, even before Chile recovered democracy in 1990, Socialists have been working next to Christian Democrats and Social Democrats, something unthinkable of in the bellicose atmosphere of thirty years ago.

Actually in 1973 Christian Democrats were fierce opponents of the Allende administration, but the coalition that has rules Chile since 1990 elected two Christian Democrats presidents, Patricio Aylwin and Eduardo Frei, and in 2000 Socialist and former "allendista", Ricardo Lagos.

However President Lagos also pointed out that Chile is far more conservative now than in 1973, has a rigid Constitution drafted and forcibly approved by the Pinochet regime in 1980 with many authoritarian chapters.

"Authoritarian enclaves remain intact. As I've repeatedly mentioned our current Constitution would fail any normal democratic test. Therefore I consider the transition in Chile will not be over until we have a Constitution voted by all Chileans with all the necessary and agreed democratic checks and balances", insisted Mr. Lagos.

In 1973 Mr. Lagos had been named Ambassador in the Soviet Union but was never able to take office.

Mr. Lagos praised former president Allende, still a controversial figure in Chilean history whose life and political experience have been amply exposed in the media in anticipation of the thirtieth anniversary of his death.

Regarding the other big problem and legacy that Chile and President Lagos face, human rights abuses, the Chilean president admitted it's an episode "that never ends".

Under the current Chilean Constitution, the military hold a strong tutorial influence over civilian rule; all former services and police commanders on retirement automatically become life Senators and a working majority with Conservatives in the Higher House has proved an unbeatable hurdle for any reform attempts.

The human rights abuses with the Pinochet dictatorship include a legacy of several thousand "disappeared" Chilean citizens that remain unaccounted for.