Chile’s uplifting coup that reminds me of the Kursk
The comparisons I keep hearing are the moon landings and Apollo 13. Not since these historic moments of exploration and potential disaster have millions around the world watched the fate of a small group of men unfolding on television.
And watching the miners emerge from their capsule last night was certainly amazing. But the comparison I can’t get away from is the Kursk : the Russian submarine that went down in the Barents Sea after an explosion in August 2000.
All 118 on board perished and the world knew little about their fate, or the fact some of the men definitely survived the initial explosion, until long after they were dead. Perhaps had the Chilean miners been buried in a land still run by the dictator Pinochet things might have turned out differently for them too.
President Pinera’s political career would of course have been buried with the miners had this ended badly. Instead, apart from sending his personal ratings soaring into the stratosphere as he hugged the heroes, the whole rescue has chimed with Chile’s rebirth as an emerging nation of the twenty first century. Just as Mario Sepulveda jumped for joy and led the chorus of “Chile, Chile, Chile” you couldn’t help but marvel at the amazing turnaround of a nation known before for its dark secrets and disappearances. When Pinera comes to Britain next week he comes with the goodwill of the world surrounding him. What would have been a story about preventable tragedy, commercial exploitation and establishment complicity has turned into one of big hearts in a new nation pulling together for the kind of happy ending that comes once in a generation. It is another Chilean coup – but a PR coup this time.
How different it was for the sailors on the Kursk. Although Britain and Norway offered to help mount a rescue Russia seemed resigned to the crew’s death from the start. The Russian President by comparison stayed in his holiday home for days. News of the disaster was carefully controlled and the government suggested the sailors were mostly killed in the initial explosion. It was only after rescuers entered the vessel and found a note pinned to a body that we discovered at least twenty three had survived. For how long we will never know.
P.S. Do you think the fact the miners triumphed in post-Pinochet Chile on Margaret Thatchers birthday is proof God has a sense of humour?!
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That is exactly what I was thinking Krish..just supposing that it had been politically unwise in the eyes of the Chile goverment not to rescue those miners, what a death?! It doesn’t bear thinking about.
How many other people involved in disasters from war/political situations and natural disasters have been abandoned when they are alive.I think this must be everybodys worst nightmare.
The best we can take out of this is the rescue of all 33 miners and the 6 rescuers and the genuine relief and love felt for all concerned and use that best to promote better understanding between nations. Chile, Bolivia, Brazil, England and America featured diplomatically throughout.Concern for our fellow human beings is the ‘turn around’ motive.
We can be cynical, but we can also be cynical about being cynical.
Of course, the conspiracy theorists maintain that those 33 Chilean miners never actually went to the moon, but it was all recorded on a sound-stage outside Hollywood……
A good wall-to-wall cover story for the days when you’re releasing bad news about budget cuts perhaps ?
But seriously, your colleague Jon Snow’s evident delight yesterday at their release was in sharp contrast to the handle-turning formality on most other news channels. His humanity shone through.
The real question is the mental trauma those men must have endured in the first 17 days, when they had every reason to believe that they may never escape. It’s unimaginable. To survive that was the greatest achievement.
We cannot imagine what the Russian submariners went through, but it must have been a most terrible torment.
Thatcher should be immediately transported to Chile, encapsulated and sent down the mine as a mark of respect for all she did to support Pinochet.
And what a media event that would be…imagine the celebrations in the old mining towns across Britain…..
I doubt Sebastian Pinera’s career would have been buried had the rescue gone wrong. He has a lot more going for him than just a dependency on the success of this rescue. He is an interesting man, speaks excellent English, and did an interview with Charlie Rose on Bloomberg TV, lasting half an hour, in September. I found him fascinating to listen to.
Watch it here:-
http://www.charlierose.com/view/interview/11216
The government of Chile should have taken more time to invest in the infrastructure and safety at the mine in the first place and then events like this would be less likely to happen.I am surprised that no news network covered that aspect of this story much if at all.
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