«For Peace, Democracy, and the Sovereignty of the People»: Traditional «Fiesta de los Abrazos» Kicks Off in Recoleta

Original article: “Por la paz, la democracia y la soberanía de los Pueblos”: En Recoleta se realiza la tradicional “Fiesta de los Abrazos”

FIesta de los Abrazos 2026 BEGINS IN RECOLETA WITH A STRONG CALL FOR PEACE AND UNITY

With a call to build a «National Movement for Peace» in the face of imperialist aggression, the traditional Fiesta de los Abrazos (FDLA) was inaugurated this morning at the «Leonel Sánchez» Popular Stadium in Recoleta.

The event, organized by the Delia del Carril Foundation and summoned by the Communist Party of Chile (PCCh), will extend over the weekend until Sunday, January 11, bringing together art, political debate, gastronomy, and popular music.

History and Origin: A Clandestine Embrace That Became Massively Popular

The Fiesta de los Abrazos originated in the shadows of the military dictatorship in 1988, under the name «Art, Science and Culture Festival for Democracy.» It served as a space for reunion and resistance for political exiles and persecuted individuals. In 1991, it adopted its current name, influenced by the need for collective affection and strength, and the legacy of the historical leader Gladys Marín.

From the early years, where gatherings faced interruptions from repression, it evolved into a massive annual celebration at O’Higgins Park, symbolizing unity, hope, and the reclaiming of public space.

2026 Edition in Recoleta: Memory and Participation

In a setting themed around «struggle for peace and against imperialist aggression,» the 2026 edition takes place at the Recoleta Stadium (Av. Recoleta 3005), with entry priced at $8,000 per day. The programming includes political-social forums, the traditional «Art and Literature Tent,» a gastronomic showcase, crafts, and daily high-tech artistic performances.

Among the inaugural speakers were Recoleta’s mayor, Fares Jadue, former minister and presidential candidate Jeannette Jara, and the party’s president, Lautaro Carmona.

Musical highlights include performances this Saturday from Carmen Prieto, Calle Mambo, and La Sonora del Pueblo, followed by Santo Barrio, Camiseta 22, and Banda Conmoción on Sunday.

[Watch video of the inaugural event and full speeches]

Lautaro Carmona’s Speech: An Urgent Call for Peace and Unity

During the inaugural event, PCCh president Lautaro Carmona delivered a heartfelt and extensive speech. He commemorated the clandestine origins of the festival and honored former leaders such as Luis Corvalán and Gladys Marín. Central to his address was a vigorous condemnation of the «American military aggression» against Venezuela, labeling the abduction of President Nicolás Maduro and Cilia Flores as an act that «has put global peace in serious jeopardy.» He called for a broad movement for peace, expressed solidarity with Cuba, and warned against threats to the sovereignty of peoples.

Regarding national politics, Carmona pointed out that, following the presidential election defeat, the PCCh will adopt a «critical and constructive opposition» to the next government. He reaffirmed the party’s commitment to social demands such as stable jobs, dignified housing, and justice, and urged for broad social and political unity «without excluding anyone,» respecting the autonomy of social movements. He concluded by honoring the martyrs of the anti-fascist struggle and emphasizing the need to defend democracy, social justice, and sovereignty.

Watch the complete speech:

INAUGURATION OF THE FIESTA DE LOS ABRAZOS JANUARY 10 and 11, 2026

Lautaro Carmona’s Address.

Reading

Dear compañeras and compañeros, friends and honored guests who enhance our celebration:

Receive each of you a committed embrace, with the determination to continue contributing to the struggle for a better future.

Best wishes to all in 2026, from this fiesta of embraces that has an important tradition built over almost four decades. It seems distant that January of ’87 when various cassette radios were set up simultaneously in the lagoon area of O’Higgins Park, some amplifying with megaphones, and the Internationale, the anthem of the world’s workers, began to play followed by a recording with greetings from compañero Corvalán, who was in hiding in Chile.

But at the first shouts: «AND WHAT WAS IT, AND WHAT WAS IT. HERE WE ARE AGAIN!» a repressive deployment fell without consideration for the elderly or the children organized by the pioneers who were forming a train.

Then came ’88 at the Marianista Stadium in San Miguel, January ’89 at the Santa Laura stadium where Gladys emerged from hiding claiming her legality. ’90 in Forestal Park and ’91 in O’Higgins Park.

I take this opportunity to remember those who historically led our party, referencing compañero Luis Corvalán, Volodia Teitelboim, compañera Gladys Marín, and compañero Guillermo Teillier. Our utmost recognition; they are present in every battle the Party and the Youth fight.

The communists gathered to celebrate the Party’s anniversary, which referenced January 2, 1922, the date of the fourth congress of the POS that decided to assume the name of the Communist Party of Chile. Therefore, we joined the celebration of the New Year with the anniversary of January 2, to embrace our people and deliver our message of struggle, hope, solidarity, and deep ethical convictions. The boldness of holding the fiesta de los abrazos defied the dictatorship and its cruel and inhumane repression, carrying deep significance:

To fight for public spaces where the Communist Party reclaimed its birth, its struggle to end fascism, its identity, and its origin; and defied illegality, persecution, exile, torture, and death.

Thus, we called upon a public space, in a park.

Families and party members began to sing and embrace.

And we resisted…. It is part of the history of this fiesta de los abrazos.

It is essential, to build hope, to always remember the past; this is not a waste of time, but rather a means to build the future.

Compañeras and compañeros, friends:

Today, as it was before, we express our main concern for what is happening in the world, in our Humanity. This value is rooted in internationalism, characteristic of communists.

In our recent Central Committee plenary meeting, before year-end, after making a first political assessment of the parliamentary and presidential elections, we shared an opinion and deepened our analysis about world events, including the American military aggression against Venezuela and our entire region.

That same weekend, during our plenary, the Communist Party issued a public declaration condemning the aggression and expressing full solidarity with Venezuela and its government.

We stated in the tenth plenary «The current and future situation of our country is inseparable from the dynamic, tense, and deeply contradictory context that traverses the world. Neoliberal capitalism now faces a structural crisis that it can no longer manage through traditional mechanisms, increasingly resorting to militarism, open intervention, and imposing a single thought to restore conservatism, undermine international law, and apply unilateral sanctions and blockades as a means of overcoming its own weaknesses.»

On January 1 of this year, at our traditional Caldillo Nerudiano, we continued to alert about this situation, stating that the empire’s aggression towards Venezuela could not be separated from the terrible genocide in Gaza, which continues; the military aggressions against Iran; against Cuba; Mexico; Colombia; and Denmark; in short.

This blatant, hateful, and supremacist aggression, HAS DEFINITELY PUT WORLD PEACE IN DANGER. The U.S., along with its close NATO allies and the Israeli government, seeks to impose global hegemony based on force; violence; crime; over the United Nations; international law; dialogue; and the sovereignty and independence of nations.

And circumstances have intensified further in that direction.

The empire entered blood and fire into the territory and dependencies of the Venezuelan state and government to abduct Nicolás Maduro and his wife Cilia Flores, a historical fighter in that country. Now, shamelessly claiming that the matter is not drug trafficking, acknowledging that the Cartel of the Suns doesn’t exist, but is a psychological warfare invention, reminiscent of Plan Z before the coup in Chile, the focus is on the oil and natural riches of our sister nation. And it continues to threaten with new armed actions, questioning the Bolivarian institutionality, and it is unclear how the same leadership now headed by Delsi Rodriguez continues to function in the country.

Today the Venezuelan oil, tomorrow the copper and lithium of Chile, and then the riches of each country may be next. They are returning to the imperial Monroe Doctrine: America for Americans. The dignity of the peoples demands we deepen and widen unity to confront this criminal challenge.

More than one hundred people have already been killed, and no one dares to substantiate what the U.S. President claims, that the boats used to attack could have been linked to drug trafficking.

They have killed dozens of heroic Venezuelan military personnel and Cuban fighters who paid with their lives for their duty.

Let us solemnly evoke the heroism of those who lost their lives, including 32 Cubans who fell in an unequal fight. Honor and Glory to each one of them.

Civilians have also been killed, including an eighty-year-old woman, an elder.

If all this does not move us, we are truly granting the empire the legitimization of a holocaust strategy carried out across the globe.

We, from Chile, demand the return of Nicolás Maduro and Cilia Flores to Venezuela.

We will fight for justice, for peace, for full respect for sovereignty and national independence; for integration and the end of this criminal escalation against the peoples of the world, without exception, including the American people, who are also victims of this planetary aggression.

In these hours, the U.S. Head of State continues to threaten Mexico; Colombia; Nicaragua; Cuba; and all countries and peoples of the world, that according to his imperial and genocidal vision of the planet, threaten his narrow interests.

Compañeras and compañeros:

We want to be emphatic. We are faced with a new global situation. This is not alarmism; it is reality. At the recent UN Security Council meeting, the empire’s delegate reiterated that they would continue to sabotage the United Nations, international law, and peace.

The world is in danger, and the declaration of war comes from the United States government; from Israel and NATO.

They are moving their military forces towards Patagonia; towards the Atlantic and Pacific; towards Antarctica.

From this humble yet dignified space, we call upon all people; organizations; institutions; parties; religions; to all workers, artists, and intellectuals, men and women, youth, and students to promote a National Movement for Peace and to put an end to this genocidal war escalation.

This is the urgency of the moment that we must fully assume.

Today, at our fiesta de los abrazos, there are important guests present, representatives from political forces and movements from brother countries. To whom we extend our sincere affection.

In these difficult hours, where loyalties and convictions are tested, we want to convey the message of the Chilean communists to the Cuban people:

From our reality, from our territory, with humility but firm conviction, we express: Our highest expression of solidarity. We will uphold the Cuban Revolution in all its authenticity and roots in its people. We raise our demand for the criminal blockade to end, the ominous actions and the punishments against the glorious and sacrificial Cuban people.

This year, on August 13, when the centenary of the birth of a giant, a revolutionary, a humanist who never ceased to strive for the future of humanity, who always put complete human fulfillment at the center, will be commemorated.

A brother from Chile, Salvador Allende, of the Communist Party. We will work broadly and with a sense of transcendence so that Fidel’s legacy continues to open paths in Cuba and throughout the world.

Friends:

In these days, as has become habitual, an attempt has been made to distort our position.

Therefore, in the critical regional and global context, we reiterate what has been indicated by the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Chile, and what I have said in the recent Caldillo Nerudiano and in some media spaces:

Our main concern, the central focus, is the major issues and demands of the citizenry. Much more than recent political options, even electoral ones. In this respect, we will make concrete proposals.

Based on the unwavering respect for their full and total autonomy, we will not be indifferent to what social movements and various union and guild spaces express. Our opinions do not seek to replace the space of social movements. We have always valued unique and unitary organization, which requires absolute respect for their independence.

We come from an electoral political defeat. We have conducted a preliminary evaluation and agreed to bring the debate back to the Party to draw all necessary lessons.

We said that the causes are multifactorial, thus simplifying is a mistake.

We have expressed our recognition and appreciation for compañera Jeannette Jara, the presidential candidate of Unity for Chile. With her and a significant effort from the Party and the Youth, we achieved an overwhelming victory in the sector primary.

Then we won the first round. For the first time, a communist candidate represents such a broad coalition, from the DC to the PC. We will be attentive to a detailed evaluation in each party collective.

We had a good parliamentary result, contributing to the unique list, which unfortunately was not realized, we brought only 22 candidacies and achieved a 50% electivity. We salute all who were candidates and the elected. We aimed to elect at least three more deputies; let’s see what prevented that. The new senatorial bench includes KC, the first national majority. Maintaining the bench of deputies, we achieved electivity, especially in districts 5, 6, 7, 8, and 9. Our presence is now concentrated in the regions of Coquimbo, Valparaíso, and Metropolitan.

There are two months left until our government ends, and the communists are preparing to evaluate our contribution as a Party, within the framework of comprehensive executive management. This includes the management of those who occupied government positions. But that evaluation is not today.

There is no doubt that facing the next government, we will be in opposition. A critical opposition against policies that affect conquered rights and a constructive opposition when it comes to policies that benefit the majority, especially the workers.

If necessary, we will make proposals and be in all spaces where concrete sectorial, national, and international matters are debated and discussed.

Our party has always fought, since its inception, for democracy and socialism. And that has not changed; on the contrary, it has enriched.

Our concern is the people of Chile, those who live poorly, and cry out to live better.

We will support everything that helps address the major issues of the country.

We will be very attentive to defend and safeguard the interests of Chile.

Our almost 114-year history bears witness to our commitment to democratic struggles. Our party has never promoted coups against institutions and governments elected by civic sovereignty.

On the contrary, our history backs us, and we have even laid down our lives so that elections could be restored at all levels in Chile. We are among those who fought for elections to be held. Not like those who, in that plebiscite, voted for the YES, so that Pinochet would maintain his dictatorial power.

We fought in various ways when in Chile, the United States and sectors in our country backed and pushed the terrorist coup, which led to misery, hunger for millions, exile for political persecution, torture, executions, and disappearances.

To those who see these as things of the past, we say that they continue to be missing.

This year marks 50 years since the disappearance of two clandestine PC leaderships, one led by compañero Victor Díaz in May and another led by compañero Fernando Ortiz in December, along with the decapitation of the clandestine leadership of the Youth, which included the beloved Carlos Contreras Maluje.

They constitute a human group that, through their commitment to the anti-fascist struggle, ascended to the condition of heroes and heroines of the people. Honor and Glory. We continue their example, Until Victory.

Today, we call for the widest social and political unity to continue fighting for justice, peace, and equality.

To end the scourges that afflict the Chilean people: To fight for stable jobs and fair wages; for dignified housing; to put an end to organized crime, corruption, and drug trafficking; issues we have fought for before and always, and will continue to into the future.

We firmly believe that people, regardless of their social, political, religious, or ethical condition, have every right to mobilize. Social mobilization in our country is also a current of opinion, contributing to democracy. The violent events have been the coups d’état, or, as happened at various moments in Chile’s history, plagued with massacres, in deserts, in the countryside, in cities, in populations, in schools, and in universities, in territories. We need only to remember the massacre at the Santa Maria school in Iquique before the birth of our Party.

Our immense challenge is that in Chile democracy, social justice, peace, sovereignty, and popular participation continue to advance. Do not stop.

Therefore, we propose social and political unity without excluding anyone.

For this reason, we believe that unity must be built from the ground up; from the territories; from all spaces.

Now more than ever, we must share; dialogue, with those who do not think like us; with those who, rightly, live poorly, plagued by anxieties and survival issues. We are talking about millions and millions of Chileans.

We must gather the fullest expression of political diversity; no one needs to renounce their identity; it only takes the will to push a process that has a minimum shared common ground.

Ultimately, the definition of alliances stems from identifying the contradiction of the period that we must resolve in the perspective of deepening democracy.

Dear compañeras and compañeros:

With your permission, allow me to direct a few lines to the militants of the Party and our beloved Jota Jota. Addressing from the newest member to the one who has given their entire life, who with honesty and generous selflessness strives to be better, to contribute more to the struggles of the people.

We are conscious that our strength lies in fraternal, frank, honest, and respectful debate, that is, an intense exchange of ideas, but once synthesized, we all have the humility to implement the policies collectively approved.

We must grow both qualitatively and quantitatively, which is why we call for a campaign to increase the number of members and ongoing training sessions for the development of cadres at all levels.

We are motivated by the legacy left to us by each and every one of those who fell fighting and giving their lives for the noble ideals of communism.

Now more than ever, we embrace the legacy of Recabarren, Teresa Flores, Gladys, Neruda, Gabriela, Violeta; of Victor, Ramona Parra; Lautaro, Fresia, Caupolicán, and Galvarino; of our anonymous martyrs throughout the history of the Party, who bequeathed us the emancipatory projects born with the masses, in their realities; in their territories; in their intimate spaces of existence.

This is the first Fiesta de los Abrazos in which we will not have the participation of Patricio Zuñiga Jorquera, our friend, the great Tomy Rey. He will always be present in every celebration we convene.

FOR PEACE, FRIENDSHIP, AND SOLIDARITY AMONG PEOPLES.

FOR POLITICAL SOLUTIONS TO RESOLVE DIFFERENCES AND CONFLICTS BETWEEN COUNTRIES.

FOR URGENT AND JUST SOCIAL RIGHTS FOR OUR PEOPLE.

WITH ALL THE WEIGHT OF HISTORY. FOR CHILE AND ITS FUTURE.

WE WILL OVERCOME A THOUSAND TIMES!.