He Central Bank of Uruguay (BCU) launched a commemorative coin for the 50 years of the tragedy of the Andes and the president of the monetary authority, Diego Labat, He stressed that it is “one of the strongest symbols that a society can have.”
Labat, who participated in the ceremony with the Minister of Economy and Finance, Azucena Arbeleche, He stated that “it is an honor to be able to accompany this series of tributes” and admitted that “perhaps we would have liked to have arrived last year, but the processes are sometimes slower.”
The presentation took place at Andes Museum 1972, in Montevideo, within the framework of a tribute for the 50th anniversary of the accident of flight 571 of the Uruguayan Air Force in which 45 Uruguayans traveled to the Chilean capital, which took place in 2022.
In total, 1,500 units of the commemorative coin, which has a value of 1,000 pesos (about $25.63), were minted in silver in a work awarded to the Polish house. Mennica Polska. “It was a whole process to reflect the fact in the best way,” he said. Labat.
What is the commemorative coin like?
The brand new commemorative coin weighs 12.5 grams and has 45 radial polygons on the obverse representing the people who were on board the Fairchild, which departed on October 12, 1972 Montevideo with 40 passengers and five crew members.
It also has a mirrored circular center that, aligned with the tragedy, “invites us to reflect on existence and limits.”
Meanwhile, on the back it has an inscription that reads “Miracle of the Andes”, a phrase used to describe him by some survivors of the accident, as Fernando Parrado, who came to title his first book about the milestone that way. At the same time, it shows the silhouette of the Sosneado Mountain, landscape seen from the accident site.
Antonio “Tintín” Vizintín sees the coin as “a memory of unity”
The survivor Antonio “Tintin” Vizintin He recalled the event at a press conference and highlighted that it was “a Uruguayan tragedy that happened to Uruguayans and that we got ahead as Uruguayans.”
“Although it was a long time coming, the fact that we have a metal, something that will last over time as a memory of these 50 years, of the unit that we all had and that all the Uruguayans had with us, looking for us or worrying about us, I think it is something extremely important,” he said. Vizintin.
After the event, where he also spoke Ana Inés Martínez, the sister of Julio Martínez, one of the 29 deceased in the Valley of Tears of the mountain range, “Tintin” also highlighted the film “The Snow Society”, already released in cinemas and available in Netflix starting January 2024.
“It takes you almost to the reality that we live, that is, it is very raw. It is a very real film that shows many of the feelings that surfaced up there,” he concluded.
Source: Ambito
