Kicking and Screaming
In June of 1974, the Chilean National Football team or “la Roja” gathered for a speech presented by their head of state, Augusto Pinochet, before being sent abroad to the World Cup. Only nine months earlier, Pinochet had assumed the position as president of Chile after a successful coup d’etat which resulted in the death of former Socialist President Salvador Allende and the so called “interior war” propagated by Pinochet’s regime against civilians. This speech came days before the team was set to travel abroad to play in the World Cup tournament against West Germany. At the conclusion of the speech, the team members stood in a line as Pinochet and five government officials shook their hands. One member, Leonardo Véliz remembers this experience and stated that, “having to shake hands with the head of a government that practiced state terrorism was very difficult.” Another teammate, Carlos Caszely recalled the same moment, sharing a similar opinion as Véliz. However, Caszely did not submit himself to shaking hands and in that moment refused to do so. “A cold shiver went down my spine” he recalls, “when he started coming closer I put my hand behind me and didn’t give it to him.” According to an interview with the player, Caszely states that his refusal to shake hands with Pinochet came after news of his mother’s abduction and torture by the Chilean police. In retrospect, he believes the initial abduction to be a sort of warning for him to keep his silence about the state of the country while abroad. Caszely’s decision to not acknowledge Pinochet is widely regarded as the first public display of dissidence against the regime since it’s beginning.