BUENOS AIRES + PARIS - Last Sunday, the main Chilean newspaper, El Mercurio, published a profileof Hermann Göring, without any reference to his role in Nazi atrocities.
The Jewish Community of Chile immediately condemned the publication on Twitter.
The Wiesenthal Center Latin American office joined ther outrage, declaring, “We reject the El Mercurio feature on the figure ofGöring. How much longer will we have to wait for Chile to seriously legislate to prevent hate speech?"
“Our Centre repeatedly draws attention to the active presence of hatemongers in Chilean political discourse. This is not the firstsuch occasion in the case of El Mercurio... Chile's systematic refusal to legislate against incitement is serving extremism and sadly endangering the country's long democratic history,” statedDr. Shimon Samuels, SWC Director for International Relations.
Dr. Ariel Gelblung, Director for Latin America, concluded: “Three weeks before the general elections in Chile, in a climate ofextremely high polarity between political extremes, publishing a Göring eulogy does not contribute to moderate the discourse, quite the contrary. Unfortunately, the only focal point of theopposing extremes is in the anti-Semitic legislative agenda promoted by the Palestinian Federation of Chile, and the votes that said community would add to the candidates. A deep concern."
For further information, please contact Dr. Shimon Samuels at +336 09770158 or Dr. Ariel Gelblung at+54 9 11 49695365, join the Center on Facebook, or follow @simonwiesenthal for news updates sent directly to your Twitter feed.
The Simon Wiesenthal Center is one of the largest international Jewish human rights organizationswith over 400,000 member families in the United States. It is an NGO at international agencies including the United Nations, UNESCO, the OSCE, the OAS, the Council of Europe and the LatinAmerican Parliament (Parlatino).