Workers of my country, I have faith in Chile and its destiny. Other men will overcome this dark and bitter moment when treason seeks to prevail. Go forward knowing that, sooner rather than later, the grandes alamedas (great avenues) will open again where free men will walk to build a better society.

 — Salvador Allende’s final speech, delivered on September 11, 1973

The tight US presidential contest has understandably diverted people’s attention from two hugely important elections, separated by half a century, in a small country of the Global South. Fifty years ago, Salvador Allende, Chile’s martyred president, made history with his November 4, 1970 inauguration. And on October 25, 2020, worlds apart from Joe Biden’s tiny margin of victory, a colossal majority of Chileans voted to draft a new constitution, prying open the grandes alamedas that had been slammed shut by the 1973 military coup that crushed Chile’s socialist experiment. After decades of marginality, Chilean workers have roared back into the streets and voting booths, at long last resuming what is certain to be a grueling fight to reclaim genuine political and economic democracy. Allende and the thousands of militants killed or disappeared by Augusto Pinochet’s dictatorship are smiling down on this unquestionable victory.