João Filipe Marques

Vivir tres vidas diferentes: Trayectorias e identidades de exiliados chilenos en Portugal

ABSTRACTThe Chilean Military coup in 1973 and the following military dictatorship (1973-1990) demolished dreams and projects of social change. As a result, major consequences af-fected the country and its citizens. These had a repercussion not only on Chilean terri-tory but also overseas due to the massive Chilean migration seeking asylum and refugee status around the world. This article seeks to analyze the experiences reported by Chil-ean migrants residing in Portugal, who have a very specific feature differentiating them from the rest of the economic immigrants: they are all ‘former political refugees’. We will show through the life stories of these Chilean migrants and the significance they attribute to the experience of exile, how they have constructed and reconstructed their identity, their culture and their referents. Keywords : Chile, exile, diaspora, forced migration, migration, Portugal. Recibido: 24.07.13. Aceptado: 05.11.13.Exile is strangely compelling to think about but terrible to experience. It is the unhealable rift forced between a human being and a native place, between the self and its true home: its es-sential sadness can never be surmounted.E