Ramaswami: This March 29 marked the 35th anniversary of the Day of the Young Combatant, a non-official day to commemorate the victims of the US-backed military dictatorship in Chile, led by General Augusto Pinochet (1973-1990). In 1985, on this day, 18-year-old Rafael Vergara Toledo and 20-year-old Eduardo Vergara Toledo were assassinated by the officials of the national security forces serving the dictator. The Vergara Toledo brothers were student activists associated with the Movement of the Revolutionary Left (MIR), one of the most important Marxist organisations in Chile that bravely resisted the dictatorship. Together with the brothers, another 20-year-old activist Paulina Aguirre Tobar was also gunned down. In addition, the same day, the security officials also kidnapped the Communist Party members José Manuel Parada, Manuel Guerrero Ceballos and Santiago Nattino Allende and slaughtered them the next day.