| Description: | This unusual arpillera depicts a circus scene in which two clowns perform a juggling act on a stage labelled OEA, referring to the Organización de los Estados Americanos or Organisation of American States (OAS). Around the circus ring an audience of blank, featureless faces labeled Chile observes. The arpillerista has used this imagery as a political satire reflecting how some Chileans felt about the OAS’ inaction towards Pinochet’s dictatorship.
In June 1976, the OAS general assembly was held in Santiago, Chile. Although the OAS claimed to focus on ‘the consolidation of the democratic system’ (Protocol of Buenos Aires, OAS), it had been less than 3 years since the violent coup d’état which installed Augusto Pinochet as dictator. Despite a boycott from Mexico and the OAS’s acknowledgements of the UNCHR reports of human rights abuses in 1973 (Inter-American Commission on Human Rights), the organisation’s choice of host country legitimatised and platformed Pinochet internationally. While the assembly did appeal to the ‘Government of Chile’ to preserve and ensure ‘full respect for human rights’ (OAS), the appeal was criticised by certain delegates for its lack of condemnation (New York Times).
At the time many Latin Americans thought the OAS was, at worst, an arm of US colonial interests in the region. At best, they found it ineffective as it had no legal power over its member states. In this case it had applied enough diplomatic pressure that the Pinochet regime allowed the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights to continue monitoring the country, but this couldn’t and wouldn’t force any meaningful change. (HM0425) |
