Kenneth Wollack's Introduction of Genaro Arriagada 15th Annual W. Averell Harriman Democracy Award
September 30, 2002
Many of you in this room have known Genaro Arriagada as a diplomat, government minister, author, scholar, political party leader, publisher and journalist. He has certainly been all of these things, but to me and to NDI Genaro will always be known first and foremost as the individual most responsible for the victory of the democratic forces in Chile's 1988 presidential plebiscite.
It was the successful "No" campaign that united 16 political parties and effectively ended military rule in Chile. It was Genaro who managed that campaign. And its unity of purpose and effectiveness was a testament to his genius. The coalition which he directed banded together to capture the hearts and minds of the Chilean people. They rekindled a democratic spirit that the Pinochet regime thought was buried and forgotten years before. They withstood censorship, harassment and arrests.
Diverse ideologies were put aside for their common democratic goal. They pooled their resources and their considerable talents. Most notably, they played by the dictator's rules - and won. On plebiscite day, the voters chose their message of hope. And those who cherished freedom and democracy throughout the world joined in their celebration. One of those celebrants was Oswaldo Payá, who has described Chile's 1988 free election campaign as one of the inspirations for the Varela Project.
It is only fitting therefore that Genaro would be with us to introduce the documentary about Oswaldo Payá and the Project produced by NDI for tonight's event. The documentary was filmed under unusual circumstances inside Cuba.
There are other important connections as well. Genaro was the 1988 recipient of this very Award. And if you watch very carefully, you will catch his cameo appearance in this documentary - a very young Genaro Arriagada, with slightly more hair, being dragged through the streets of Santiago by Pinochet's military enforcers. You will also hear, in Payá's own words, how a dissident, confronting loneliness and fear, can - remarkably - continue to wage a democratic campaign. These were almost the same words I remember hearing from Genaro some 15 years ago when NDI worked with him and the plebiscite campaign.
We very much wished that Genaro and Oswaldo could have been together tonight. They would have had much to talk about. But someday, in the not too distant future, NDI will help arrange that meeting.
Ladies and Gentlemen, I present you one of NDI's democratic heroes, Genaro Arriagada.
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