Nearly 30 years before the 2001 terror strikes in the United States, Sept. 11 was also remembered for another historic event that resulted in the brutal murders and disappearances of thousands of people.
The other 9/11 occurred in 1973, when Chile's government was deposed by a military coup led by Augusto Pinochet and supported by the United States. It was the start of a 17-year dictatorship that saw at least 3,065 people killed or disappeared, hundreds tortured, and a child-trafficking system that snatched newborns from poor mothers and adopted them out in the United States and other countries.
On the same day as Americans remember the 22nd anniversary of the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks on the United States, over 200,000 Chilean-Americans and millions more Chileans mark the 50th anniversary of what is commonly referred to as "the other 9/11."
What role did the United States play in the coup?
In the grip of Cold War communist worries, the United States administration had been attempting to mold Chilean politics since the early 1960s, culminating in "a massive covert effort to 'bring down'" Allende's government, as President Richard Nixon and his cabinet phrased it in "The Pinochet File."
The book, written by National Security Archive senior analyst Peter Kornbluh and published in 2013, extensively outlines 30 years of declassified records that reveal the US's role in deposing Allende and assisting Pinochet.
Former Secretary of State Colin Powell said in 2003 of the US role in the coup, "It is not a part of American history that we are proud of."During a visit to Chile last month, Democratic Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez urged the US to reveal the remaining classified records regarding the US part in the coup, according to The Associated Press.
In the run-up to the 50th anniversary of the coup, Chile's communist President Gabriel Boric initiated a countrywide hunt for those who have never been located.In addition to the deaths and torture, human rights organisations think that up to 20,000 kids were abducted from largely low-income Chilean mothers and adopted out to unknowing parents in the United States and other Western nations as part of Pinochet's regime's goal of making Chile an economic success.