Arturo Araya Peeters was born in January 30, 1926. He was the son of the sister of my mother, my aunt Laura, and an Army officer. His parents had met on the Island of Chiloe and married even before my grandparents moved to Santiago. My aunt and uncle lived in the port of Valparaiso.

The pictures my mother had of him showed that Arturo was a beautiful boy. Since I was 16 years younger, I don’t remember how old I was when I first met him, but what I do remember is seeing him as a gorgeous Navy cadet in his magnificent uniform.

He went to school at the Eduardo de la Barra High School in Valparaiso and then entered the Arturo Prat Naval School in 1942, the year I was born. He graduated as a Midshipman in 1947.

Between 1948 and 1950, he served in the 2nd naval zone, on Quiriquina Island, as an instructor at the School for Grumetes (Ships’ boys). He was already married to a cousin, the daughter of another sister of my mother, and they had their first two of four sons. I visited them with my parents during a summer and I learned to take care of my nephews. I also babysat them several times when my cousins moved to Valparaiso. They lived near Arturo’s mother.

In 1957, Arturo was appointed as a cadet instructor at the Naval School, and in 1958 he was promoted to Lieutenant Commander, being shipped to La Esmeralda, the Tall Sail Training ship operated by the Chilean Navy. Between 1960 and 1961 he studied at the Naval War Academy and graduated as a General Staff Officer. He then was assigned to the group of officers who performed administrative, logistical, and planning tasks under the direction of a higher-ranking officer. The members of this group were responsible for providing technical advice to senior managers, distributing orders issued by them and supervising their implementation.

Then in 1961, in charge of a Chilean crew, Arturo reported on board of an American Submarine, the SS Spot, at the Philadelphia Navy Yard. They were there for training, and on 12 January 1962, the submarine Spot was loaned to Chile under the Military Assistance Loan Program. The submarine was renamed Simpson (SS-21), in honor of Chilean Admiral Robert Winthrop Simpson (1799–1877). The submarine arrived in Chile on 23 April 1962. My parents and I enjoyed visiting Arturo at the submarine and having a splendid dinner. His sons went to visit him while in Philadelphia and had a great time. Arturo provoked many reactions in Chile when he brought back a brand new 1961 Mustang convertible from the States.

In 1965, Arturo was promoted to Commander of the Frigate, and between 1968 and 1970 he took over as head of the Public Relations Department of the Navy. In 1970, he was appointed Deputy Director of the Naval School.

Right after the elections (September 1970), on November 3, 1970, Arturo was appointed Naval Aide-de-Camp to President Salvador Allende. (Unión de Oficiales en Retiro de la Defensa Nacional, 2021)

The last time I saw Arturo was on October 1971 during a visit of President Allende to the port of Antofagasta in the North of Chile. At that time, I was a professor at the University of the North in Antofagasta. I remember he complained about his legs. He said that having to stand for hours in all those ceremonies affected the circulation in his legs. I was very glad to see him, and we talked long about our family.

Because of Arturo’s position as an aide-de-camp, and the political situation in Chile, it was very difficult to obtain permission to see anybody in the staff of President Allende. However, I had several factors in my favor when I tried to see Arturo that time in Antofagasta. Arturo was my cousin, I had studied in the same school as the daughters of President Allende, and I knew Dr Allende personally. I had also interviewed Allende in his capacity as doctor when he developed a method to fight childhood malnutrition in Chile.

In July 27, 1973, I heard on the radio that militants of the Socialist party had assassinated President Salvador Allende’s Naval aide-de-camp, Commander Arturo Araya Peeters. I called my parents and they confirmed that Arturo had been shot and died instantly. He had gone out on a balcony at his house, gun in hand, to check the cause of explosions and shots in front of his house.

I was able to convince the only airline available at that time that I needed to be in Santiago immediately. There were no seats on that flight so I traveled most of the time in the restroom. I was able to go to the government palace and pay my respects to my cousin whose coffin had been transported there. Thousands of people came. He was an innocent victim.

Arturo was shot by a sniper who was in front of his home, and still today nobody really knows who killed him. In later years, his sons, especially his older son who is a lawyer, did the impossible to renew investigations about his death, but in vain.

His death was obviously planned. In 1984 a journalist that I knew when I was a journalist in Chile, Monica Gonzalez, published the results of her investigation about my cousin’s dead. She confirmed what I always suspected. Arturo was killed by a member of Frente Patria y Libertad (Fatherland and Liberty Nationalist Front) an ultra rightist group because he was opposed to the coming military coup. With the help of United States, members of the three military branches in Chile planned a military coup that took place in September 11, 1973. Some of the members of the Military Junta had recognized in private circles that the respect of my cousin toward the constitutional rights of an elected government, Socialist or not, was “very inconvenient.” He had even told his sons that he knew they wanted him dead.