A Revolution on the Horizon: Chile’s Pivotal 1970 Presidential Election

Francisco González Cruz

We Trujillo must boldly dream of the possible Trujillo, starting from the strengths of our origins and addressing the enormous challenges of current realities. That is the main message that the celebration of the two peak dates of our regional history brings us, according to Dr. Mario Briceño Perozo: October 9, 1557 and October 9, 1810. The third date is missing, which will be when the Trujillo residents make a decision as important as those: begin the transformation of Trujillo.

In today’s world there are two fundamental challenges: global ones that address multilateral issues; and the premises that serve the places. On a global scale things do not look so easy, as the Future Summit made clear, but there were recorded the experiences of specific communities that decided to change and today show their successes in better living standards.

There are three keys to successful places: One is your identity and awareness of your strengths and weaknesses, your memory of the successes and failures that your history has recorded, with which you learn to draw new dreams with awareness of the roots. The second is the collective courage that generates the energy to boldly dream of the possible future, counting of course on the learning and even the cooperation of the experiences lived by others. The third is the ability to discern the present and its possibilities, to build collective consensus that allows aligning efforts towards common objectives.

Commemorative dates are important if they represent a stop along the way to remember what we were, but also to consider what we are and what we can become, otherwise they become a pasture of nostalgia.

October 9, 1557 marked the founding effort that deployed energy to make the original city one of the most important in the new lands. This city and its surroundings – almost coinciding with the territory of the Cuica nation – lived in its early days, with the regrettable treatment of the existing ethnic groups, a fertile creative energy that attracted excellent families and intellectuals of the highest renown, until the privateer Frenchman Francisco Grammont de la Mote at the end of 1678 – attracted by its prosperity – assaults and destroys it.

The second in 1810 means the beginning of its autonomy and of at least ten fundamental decisions for the future of Trujillo. First: the Trujillo Municipal District is separated from the Province of Maracaibo; second: the Province of Trujillo is created; third: it is established that the people assume control and it is exercised by a Government Board; fourth: the City Council appoints electors who would be in charge of supervising the election of the members of the Superior Government Board; fifth, the Superior Board of the Province of Trujillo (in charge of the regency) is elected and sworn in; sixth: the Vicar of Trujillo and the secular clergy, the administrators, various officials and the people in general swear to obey the Board; seventh: new administrators of justice and various provincial officials are appointed; eighth: all Militia Officers are ratified; ninth: it is agreed to notify the Juntas of Mérida, Santa Fe de Bogotá, Pamplona, ​​el Socorro, Quito and La Paz, as well as Caracas and Maracaibo, of these acts; and tenth: there is a call for peace, to preserve religion and the legitimate interests of the King.

An important observation is the hierarchy that in those emblematic years reached the notion of project as something that characterized these places, because they understood the task of destiny. They grasped reality and dreamed with a sense of totality and plenitude, elements that characterize every ambitious project. On each of those dates, the people of Trujillo testified to their commitment not only with words, but with the appearance of an avant-garde that knew how to understand their role as creators of history. In short, those men made our home a place where dreams found a home.

How do we rescue the notion that everything begins with the future, in places that must improve their outlook? A good step will be to reconquer the symbolism that associated the future with Trujillo. Rescue the ability to dream. Weave new stories.

The October 9th that we are missing cannot be other than the collective cry that manages to gather the positive energies accumulated over those years to – affirming the noble character of Trujillanidad – launch ourselves into the conquest of the possible Trujillo that we deserve. The key to October 9 that we must force is in those values ​​that we must preserve, so that the necessary and bold innovations are well rooted in the fertile soil that was formed from that noble and remote Cuica nation, consolidated in the fertile mestizaje that It spread from the Colony and still continues.

Surely the first thing would be to reinforce the conversations that emerge to rethink Trujillo from the initiatives underway, such as civil society organizations, business associations and certain cutting-edge companies, political and government sectors, universities, professional associations, journalists and media, the Catholic Church and other religious faiths, and all those sectors that want to join. It is about putting on the agenda of our conversations the need for an agreement to relaunch a new October 9. A historic relaunch of Trujillo.

There are issues that are evident, that arise and are reinforced by conversations:

1. The first is a consensus on the strategic route to follow. We need this road map because we must be clear about the direction that unites us as a community. A consensus can be reached because there is agreement on various points, for example, on the values ​​of Trujillanidad, and also the most important demons or threats that we must face. We have to create an alliance for the comprehensive development of the Trujillo state.
2. An obvious theme is to strengthen our Trujillo identity and harmonize it with new times, in a wise challenge of tradition and avant-garde, as in most successful places in the world. We have to incorporate the Trujillo state into the information society, without losing our values, and that requires impeccable energy and connectivity services, as well as prepared people. An important issue is to reinforce the capital functions of the city of Trujillo.
3. We know that the economic route lies on the sides of agri-food production, the transformation of its mineral resources, its innovative transformation and tourism woven around our scenic, climatic and religious resources, along with the innovations that emerge from human creativity.
4. There is the conviction that we must move forward to improve Trujillo education at the highest level. Not only the school system, the entire Trujillo society must be an educating community.
5. The Trujillo State must assume the 2030 Agenda and the Sustainable Development Goals as the guiding guide for all its actions, efficiently inserting ourselves into the various multilateral development cooperation mechanisms.

The powerful vision, clear strategies, the ability to work in teams, tenacious and honest work, the cooperative relationships that we can build and the development of serious projects will lead us to a Trujillo of peace and well-being. Based on the best that we have been and the best that we are, united, we will build the best Trujillo, the Trujillo Possible.