A Chilean court has ended its investigation into the death of former President Salvador Allende confirming that the leader took his own life during the coup on 11th September 1973.

An appeals court in Santiago on Monday upheld a previous judge’s conclusion that the former Chilean leader shot himself at the presidential palace as Gen. Augusto Pinochet’s troops closed in.

Although the history textbooks of the country have long taught his death was suicide an official investigation was launched as a part of a huge investigation into more than 700 alleged human rights violations during Pinochet’s rule. Many Allende supporters doubted his suicide and blamed the military for his death.

Judge Mario Carroza order the exhumation of his remains last year.

“With the goal of establishing the facts of the case, and motivated by the various versions about this episode that exist, lines of investigation were set and decreed, and all were carried out and every detail was satisfactory,” Carroza wrote in his ruling, handed down last December.

The ruling officially labels Allende’s death as suicide and closes the case.

Today marks the 39th anniversary of the coup d’état in which Allende’s government was ousted by Gen. Augusto Pinochet and the military. Pinochet’s regime lasted 17 years, in which more than 3,000 people were killed and another 30,000 more imprisoned and tortured, according to human rights organizations.

Commemorations for those who were murdered have taken place across the country with the main ceremony happening outside the monument to President Allende located in front of the Palacio de La Moneda.

The largest event, took place this past Sunday, 9th September, in a march that ended in front of Santiago’s General Cemetery near a memorial dedicated to the disappeared and executed political prisoners.

The last few days however, have not come without an escalation in tension between police and protestors.

Sunday’s 3,500 person march ended in violence after a small group of masked protestors attacked a government building and looted local shops.

According to police the march was peaceful with most people carrying pictures of family members and loved ones who disappeared or were killed, until the group of roughly 100 demonstrators built barricades and lit fires.

Police responded with tear gas and water cannons to combat the masked protestors.

Lorena Pizarro, president of the AFDD, a group of families of the disappeared, blamed police, calling on the government to “put an end to police repression and impunity in Santiago,” according to the Santiago Times.

The violence continued for roughly three hours and ended in the arrest of eight people.

“It’s hard to believe that, once again, a peaceful march has been hijacked by encapuchados,” said Gonzalo Diaz del Rio, chief of security for the Santiago Metropolitan Region. “They have no regard for the rights of others and generate destruction to public and private property.”

Today saw various activities including marches, art exhibitions and musical performances to commemorate the coup that lead to the last military dictatorship, 35 years ago. The coup of 24th March 1976 was followed by more than seven years of state terror in which some 30,000 people are believed to have been killed or disappeared.

Nora Morales de Cortiñas, of human rights organisation Madres de Plaza de Mayo Línea Fundadora, spoke this morning about the completion of trials against oppressors throughout the country, noting that “we are trying to end impunity to not re-commit such heinous acts we did, no more civil-military dictatorship. Nowadays there are trials throughout the country and we are trying to end impunity”.

‘Truth and Justice’ is the motto of today’s march to the Plaza de Mayo, with acts beginning at 2.30pm and lasting until approximately 8pm. The marches depart from Plaza Congreso or 9 de Julio and will be led by numerous human rights and memory organisations.

Meanwhile, the Madres de Plaza de Mayo, who started their activities under the theme ‘People in Action’ on 16th March, will close their programme today at 6pm. This will be occurring by means of a rally to condemn the coup on the Mercado Central’s ‘playón’ under the slogan “For the blood of our children to obtain schools, hospitals, homes and jobs for all.”

Appearing as speakers at this event will be the head of the Madres de Plaza de Mayo, Hebe de Bonafini, and the Minister of Economy and candidate to head of Government of Buenos Aires, Amado Boudou. In the morning he attend the launch of the exhibition “Deep America” ​​in the Cultural Area Our Children (ECuNHi), which operates in the former Escuela de Suboficiales de Mecánica de la Armada (ESMA).

De Bonafini called 24th March “a day of great commitment that every time will have more links with politics.”

President Manuel Zelaya today failed to land in Honduras from where he had been exiled on 28th June. After circling the airport he decided to fly to El Salvador where he met the president of Argentina, Cristina Fernández de Kirchner, and the presidents of Paraguay and Ecuador.

From El Salvador President Kirchner sympathised with Zelaya’s supporters who she considers “the victims of repression”. Zelaya’s attempt to land in Honduras provoked a show of support that was hastily dispersed by the military who fired at them with rubber bullets and tear gas.

President Kirchner declared that: “We act in the name of all the presidents here today and in the name of millions around the world who decided that democracy is irreplaceable”. She said that “democracy is the guarantee for the validity of human rights, which during the last 20 years have been so violated.”

For the President, “we are here to claim what many have claimed before, in a world that has become unilateral. We demand multilateralism, that no individual can make decisions for everyone.”

A model ambassador, she expressed comradeship towards Hondurans and noted the importance of upholding human rights: “I feel we are respecting the mandate in regards to human rights.” She said “bring solidarity to those who have suffered repression” and that she “has come from a country who has had some of the bloodiest dictatorships in the region, and for that, my solidarity.”

Mr Zelaya warned the new administration of interim leader Roberto Micheletti that the international community had turned against them.

“Your actions will not go unnoticed because the international courts will have to try you for the genocide that you are carrying out in our country, in suppressing rights and repressing our people,” he said.

Mr Zelaya is a left-wing politician and supporter of Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez. His opponents, which includes the Supreme Court and a majority in Parliament, accuse him of seeking to prolong his rule.

He wanted to hold a popular vote on assembling a constitutional convention - a move that could have extended his time as president.

Thousands of leftist groups and social organisations gathered in Plaza de Mayo today, 24th March, for the main event of the national Day of Memory for Truth and Justice. The national holiday commemorates the 33rd anniversary of the 1976 military coup that led to a seven-year dictatorship.

The march entered the plaza led by Argentina’s flag as well as 3,000 photos of those disappeared, representing the 30,000 people that still remain disappeared. The flag and photos were carried by the head of the Mothers of Plaza de Mayo, Nora Cortiñas, along with Adolfo Perez Esquivel and other militants.

Before they followed the human rights organizations spearheading the march into Plaza de Mayo, leftist groups met at Plaza de los Dos Congresos, while Peronists gathered at 9 de Julio and Avenida de Mayo.

Representatives of the various human rights associations, including the Mothers of Plaza de Mayo, spoke on the stage mounted near the pyramid in the centre of the plaza.

Their first action was to call for “common jailing, perpetual and effective for those repressors”, and “amnesty for social activists” as well as “non-payment of illegitimate and fraudulent debts”.

In a paper read by the Mothers of Plaza de Mayo, they criticised the slowness of the judicial system: “The slow pace of justice generates impunity and impunity only creates more impunity.”

They pointed out that “there have only been 44 convictions [regarding those involved in] a systematic plan of extermination, while 526 are still awaiting trial for genocide, 192 are dead and 100 are still fugitives.” They questioned why the number of convictions remains so low since it has been four years since the laws protecting those involved were abolished.

Prior to the march, the current issue concerning growing insecurity in the country and calls for the implementation of the death penalty was addressed. Member of the Mothers of Plaza de Mayo, Taty Almeida said, “We reject those who call for the death penalty…we ask for legal justice: neither the mothers nor the grandmothers have ever asked for the death penalty.”