Courtesy of Al Jazeera English

As the USDemocrazy team desperately attempted to provide you with relevant news for the less eventful 9/12, we turn our eyes south to Chile.

Chile mourned a different tragedy on 9/11— the beginning of brutal reign of General Augusto Pinochet in 1973.

More than 3,000 Chileans were killed in the violence that followed the military coup…similar to the numbers of people lost in the US on 9/11.

A march to mark the sad day took place this year. It began peacefully until it reached the presidential palace where there was a violence confrontation with Chilean police.

Pinochet was backed by the US in his coup, even though he overthrew a democratically elected leader Salvador Allende (a relative of the internationally acclaimed author Isabel Allende),

The death of Allende, who took his own life during the uprising marked the beginning of a brutal era in Chile.

Reports suggest 80,000 people were interned and 30,000 tortured under Pinochet’s regime which ended in 1990.

Today Chile is a thriving democracy but the scars of that dark day in 1973 are still apparent.

Like America, Chile has its own 9/11 burden to bear.