Pela razão ou a força: trajetórias dos exilados brasileiros no Chile (1964-1973)

Abstract

The main purpose of this thesis is to analyze the history and memories of the exile of Brazilians in Chile, between 1964 and 1973, and how the so-called “Chilean way to socialism” impacted the strategies of Brazilian groups exiled in that country as well as their decision to return to Brazil or stay in Chile. Based on bibliographic and archive research, in addition to oral sources obtained with Brazilians exiled in Chile and also Chileans who lived with Brazilians in exile in that country, this work shows that the exiles’ profile was mostly formed by militants from the middle class. However, among the interviewees, there was a worker from São Paulo who arrived in Chile with the 70 banished people, in January 1971. It was also possible to analyze the insertion of these exiles in the Chilean political dynamics, their militancy within the left political parties, mainly in the Chilean Communist Party (PCCh), the Chilean Socialist Party (PS) and the Revolutionary Left Movement (MIR), as well as their active participation in the Socialist government project of the Popular Unity. Furthermore, Brazilian exiles have also integrated themselves into national and international academic and research institutions, such as the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (CEPAL), the Latin American Faculty of Social Sciences (FLACSO) and the Center for Socioeconomic Studies (CESO), among others. Regarding Brazilian security agencies, the monitoring that the Brazilian military government has maintained on exiles in Chile is analyzed, through the Foreign Information Center (CIEX), an organization that worked under the auspices of the Itamaraty and the National Service of Information (SNI). The Brazilian exiles in Chile experienced the coup d'état in Chile, on September 11, 1973, which overthrew the constitutionalist government of Salvador Allende and truncated the experience of the Chilean way to socialism, a circumstance that led the exiles in Chile to seek asylum in UN embassies and refuges and, subsequently, to leave for a second exile in Europe, Africa and Latin America.