Miria Contreras

Miria Contreras
Image of Contreras used on an anti-Allende propaganda pamphlet during the dictatorship[1]
Born
Miria Orea Contreras Bell

(1927-04-28)28 April 1927
Taltal, Chile
Died22 November 2002(2002-11-22) (aged 75)
Santiago, Chile
Spouse
Andrés Enrique Ropert Gallet
​
​
(div. 1970)​
PartnerSalvador Allende (died 1973)
Children3

Miria "Payita" Orea Contreras Bell (28 April 1927 – 22 November 2002) was a Chilean secretary and gallerist, known for being the private secretary and mistress of Salvador Allende.[2][3] Following the 1973 coup d'état, Contreras received political asylum in Cuba and worked as the director of the Museo de la Solidaridad Salvador Allende secretariat in exile.[2][4]

Early life and family

Contreras was born on 28 April 1927[a] in Taltal to José Angel Contreras, a lawyer, and was educated at a German convent school in Bellavista, Santiago.[5][6][7]

Contreras was married to Andrés Enrique Ropert Gallet[b] (1912–2013), an engineer, with whom she had three children.[2][8][9] Contreras' sister, Lina Contreras Bell, was previously married to the painter Pablo Burchard Aguayo.[2][5][10]

Career

In 1958, Contreras and Ropert bought a house in Providencia, Santiago.[2][5] The house was close to the Allende family home, the Casa de Guardia Vieja 392, and the two families became friends.[2][5] From c. 1961 to 1964, the Contreras family lived in France whilst Ropert was studying nuclear physics in Paris.[2] Upon their return to Chile, Contreras and Ropert ran structural mechanics workshop and became involved in Allende's 1964 presidential campaign.[2] Despite her involvement in Allende's campaign, Contreras never joined any political party or group but was staunch leftist.[2][5]

In 1968, Contreras took over the running of the Patio Gallery (Spanish: Galería El Patio) from her sister Lina.[2] Contreras gradually became Allende's personal assistant and In 1970 became part of Allende's personal presidential election campaign team.[2] Upon Allende winning the presidency, Contreras found and proposed that the State purchase the Casa presidencial de Tomás Moro as Allende's presidential residence.[5] Contreras moved to Casa El Cañaveral, where Allende spent his weekends.[5]

Contreras became a member of Allende's inner circle along with Víctor Pey and Beatriz Allende, with whom she shared an office with at the La Moneda Palace.[5][11] During this period Contreras helped administer the Museo de la Solidaridad Salvador Allende.[2]

1973 coup d'état

On on 11 September 1973, alerted to the outbreak of the coup, Contreras left the Casa El Cañaveral accompanied by her son Enrique Ropert Contreras, an economics student and member of the Socialist Party, for the presidential residence.[5][9][12] However, upon arriving Contreras learnt that Allende had already left for the La Moneda.[5] Ordering 10 members of the Group of Personal Friends (GAP), including the head of the GAP Domingo Blanco Tarrés, to accompany her in an adjoining car; Contreras traveled to the La Moneda with her son and ex-husband.[5][12][13] Arriving at Morandé 80, the side entrance of La Moneda, Contreras quickly exited her car.[5][12]

Soon after both Contreras' and the GAP's car were surrounded by coupist members of the Carabineros de Chile lead by the Lieutenants José Martínez Maureira and Patricio de la Fuente.[5][12] The occupants of the two cars, including Enrique, were arrested and taken to the Regional Government building.[5][9][12] Unable to stop the arrests, Contreras entered the presidential garage where she contacted the Palace.[5] Eduardo Paredes Barrientos, the Director General of the Chilean Investigative Police, asked Contreras to join the President and General José María Sepúlveda, the Director General of the Carabineros, in Allende's office.[5][9][12] Meeting with Allende and Sepúlveda, Contreras requested that her son and the GAP members were released.[2][5] Contreras left La Moneda with General Urrutia[c], the Carabineros second in command, who ordered the coupist Carabineros for Enquire's and the GAP members release.[5][9][12] However, the coupist Carabineros refused.[5]

When the Allende called for a truce in order for the women in La Moneda to be allowed to leave, Contreras refused as she wanted to died near Allende and her son.[2][5] During the assault on the Palace, Contreras witnessed the suicide of Augusto Olivares.[5] Later arrested alongside the other survivors of La Moneda, Contreras was recognised by Jaime Puccio, the dentist for both the Army and the Palace, who claimed that Contreras' was injured and ordered her to be put in an ambulance.[2][5] At the hospital Contreras received help from Álvaro Reyes, who hid her at his girlfriend's house until she was able to contact clandestine networks.[2] Contreras was later able to seek asylum at the former Cuban embassy, which was under the protection of Sweden and Ambassador Harald Edelstam.[2][5] Contreras' son Enrique was tortured before being shot under the Bulnes Bridge on either the night of 19 September or the morning of 20 September.[9][14]

Exile

On 29 May 1974, Contreras was able to escape to Stockholm, Sweden and four months later was able to relocate to Havana, Cuba.[2] In Havana, the Cuban authorities provided Contreras and her son, Max, with an apartment and she began working for Havanatur.[2]

From 1975 onwards, Contreras worked as the director of the Museo de la Solidaridad Salvador Allende secretariat in exile, and was the driving force behind the museum project in exile.[2]

On 22 November 2002 Contreras died in Santiago, aged 75.[7][2]

Legacy

In 2023, Contreras was portrayed by Francisca Gavilán in the miniseries Los mil días de Allende.[15]

Notes

  1. ↑ Also cited 1928.[5]
  2. ↑ Francized as Andre Henry Ropert-Gallet.[8]
  3. ↑ Also cited as General José María Sepúlveda.[12]

References

  1. ↑ "¿En qué quedamos? ¿Quién era la primera dama? La Payita". Archivo de Gráfica Chilena: Colección Panfletos (1973–1990); Biblioteca Nacional Digital de Chile (in Spanish). Santiago, Chile: National Library of Chile. Retrieved 28 May 2026.
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 Lebeau, Élodie (1 June 2021). "Miria Contreras Bell (La Payita): Desafíos epistemológicos para una biografía" [Miria Contreras Bell (La Payita): Epistemological Challenges to a Biography]. Les Cahiers de Framespa (in Spanish). 37 (37). doi:10.4000/framespa.11064. S2CID 199210820.
  3. ↑ Ajo Sagredo, Diego (1 January 2019). Mireya Baltra, Beatriz "Tati" Allende y Miria Contreras "Payita". Tres mujeres clave en la Unidad Popular. Autonomous University of Barcelona (Thesis) (in Spanish).
  4. ↑ Spooner, Mary Helen (22 September 1999). Soldiers in a Narrow Land: The Pinochet Regime in Chile, Updated Edition. University of California Press. ISBN 9780520221697 – via Google Books.
  5. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 Verdugo, Patricia; González, Mónica. "MIRIA CONTRERAS, "LA PAYITA", DISCRETA PROTAGONISTA DE LA HISTORIA: El gran misterio de Salvador Allende". La Fogata Digital (in Spanish). Archived from the original on 10 April 2021. Retrieved 29 May 2026.
  6. ↑ "Chile. La Payita en tres palabras". Resumen Latinoamericano (in Spanish). Buenos Aires, Argentina. 10 September 2020.
  7. 1 2 "CONTREPAS Miria Or Ca [Orea]". matchID (in French). Retrieved 28 May 2026.
  8. 1 2 "ROPERT-GALLET Andre Henry". matchID (in French). Retrieved 28 May 2026.
  9. 1 2 3 4 5 6 "Enrique Andrés María Ropert Contreras". Memoria Viva (in Spanish). 29 July 2024. Retrieved 28 May 2026.
  10. ↑ "Pablo Burchard Aguayo". Artistas Visuales Chilenos (in Spanish). Santiago, Chile: Chilean National Museum of Fine Arts. Retrieved 29 May 2026.
  11. ↑ Kruijt, Dirk (1 January 2017). Cuba and Revolutionary Latin America: An Oral History. Bloomsbury Publishing. ISBN 9781783608041 – via Google Books.
  12. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 Escalante Hidalgo, Jorge (27 February 2024). "Morandé 80: THAT MORNING AT LA MONEDA PALACE". Derechos Humanos (in Spanish). Santiago, Chile: Subsecretaría de Derechos Humanos de Chile. Archived from the original on 21 January 2025. Retrieved 28 May 2026.
  13. ↑ "Domingo Bartolomé Blanco Tarrés". Memoria Viva (in Spanish). 16 April 2026. Retrieved 28 May 2026.
  14. ↑ "Nieta de la "Payita": "Es hora de darle su sitial a Enrique Ropert" « Diario y Radio Universidad Chile". radio.uchile.cl.
  15. ↑ "Francisca Gavilán es Miria "Payita" Contreras". TVN (in Spanish). Santiago, Chile: Televisión Nacional de Chile. 2023. Retrieved 29 May 2026.
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