The Hellenes are scattered across the world; we are the diaspora, and yet we rarely think of a country like Chile. Yet there are nearly 4,000 Chileans of Greek origin here, making Chile one of the largest centers of the Greek diaspora in the Americas.
Ancestral ties and cultural ties
I had the privilege of meeting many Hellenes who opened their doors to me, an insight into local Greek history. Journalist Veronica Rabb Saitis showed me that Greek hospitality is the same everywhere. Visiting Veronica’s casa for Greek and Chilean cuisine, I was greeted by her charismatic husband, Francisco Vicencio Castro and their two children, and of course, by the matriarch of the family, María Eugenia Saitis Triantafilo.
I connected with this Greek-Chilean house, especially after I was offered dolmades, Greek treats and Chilean specialties. Maria Eugenia explained how she came to speak and feel Greek, her father being born in Athens. His mother, born in Chile in Antofagasta, had Greek heritage. Her parents met in Bolivia, where she was born, and she was one of five children, all Greek speakers, before settling in Santiago in 1972.
She keeps memories of her parents in the form of “bolo” that my parents keep and that their parents kept in the villages of Lesbos. Veronica’s Greek is rusty, but she loves her culture. Whenever the Greek community has a panegyri, Veronica is one of the people who dances Greek all night. Veronica learned Greek dancing, saying, “It’s in my blood.” His connection to Greece, through his mother and grandfather, Geraldo Saitis, began almost a century ago, and Geraldo Saitis’s journey traces its origins to Krokilio.
Veronica’s teenagers can speak and understand basic Greek. As someone who speaks a poco de español, conversations regularly shifted from Greek to English to Spanish with the addition of hand signs and back again.
Navigating the Greek Diaspora in Chile
After meeting Veronica’s lovely family, I met the Greek Consul in Chile, Manolis Andreasson. The consul is no stranger to the Americas, with Chile being his third assignment in the region after Brazil and Argentina. The consul meets and engages with Greeks and is an integral part of the local community and the Greek representative. He sometimes gives lectures on Greek history and mythology.
The consul explained that there were more than 1,000 Greek passport holders and around 3,000 descendants, 80 percent of them in Santiago. Even though Antofagasta has fewer than 100 Greeks, there was a peak between 1920 and 1935, when there were around 4,000 Greeks in the city. Andreasson also pointed me in the direction of one of the best local historians, Nikolaidis, 90, who wrote a study of the Greeks of Chile.
The Greek language, my passport to the world, as I usually find Greeks in the 80 countries I have visited, is in decline in Chile. A Greek language teacher works at the Greek Community House and most of the students are adults. In 2011, authors Alexandros D. Zorbas, former director of the Center for Greek, Byzantine and Modern Greek Studies at the University of Chile, and Nikiforos Nikolaidis, SAE coordinator in Latin America and businessman, published a book detailing how the Greek presence survived for centuries. . Their meticulous research, which lasted 15 years, revealed that the Greeks landed in Chile in 1536. Just like Maria’s parents, many Greek families, especially from Crete, emigrated to this part of the world, specifically Antofagasta .
Xrisí Athena Tefarikis, a journalist and professor, identified that some of the first settlers were Cytherians. Consul Andreasson also alluded to the fact that the Greeks came for copper, nitrate, gold and new beginnings over the last century. It was a golden time for the Greeks and Chile, as it was a time of low taxes and Chile was booming. Greeks have a historical allergy to taxes.
A local newspaper of the time, El Mercurio, stated that the Greeks of Antofagasta had created the Sociedad Helénica de Socorros Mutuos. The association was led by Geraldo Triantafilos, Jorge Katevas, vice president, Ramón Chilovitis, Stilianós Balabanos, Jorge Karayanis, José Sclabos, Teodoro Jaramis, Jorge Galanakis, Menelao Franciskakis, Gerardo Kasaneva and Angel Adamopoulos, who made up the board of directors and the committee.
In 1926, a Greek ladies’ association named Filóptoxos was born with Xrisí Almallotis as its founding president. The professor, Almallotis’ granddaughter, mentions that the Greek community represents the fifth or sixth generation, although few speak Greek. Antofagasta celebrates its birthday on Valentine’s Day and the Greek delegation is well represented with Greek food, stalls, traditional costumes and the Greek flag.
Unraveling myth and history
While there is no doubt that the Hellenes have been in Chile for centuries, art professor Cesar Navarrete makes the wild claim that the Hellenes arrived between 800 and 600 BC while the Spartans were touring the world. Navarrete published a book in 1974, “El Origen Griego de los Araucanos.” However, this is fanciful because the Spartans were not sailors.
In his History of the Incas, 16th-century Spanish adventurer, author, and mathematician Pedro Sarmiento de Gamboa suggests that ancient Hellenes settled in Chile, influencing the Araucanian people and language. An incredible claim, born of European arrogance, that the civilizations of the Americas must have been Hellenic.
Much more tangible is the Greek Orthodox church, Iglesia Ortodoxa Griega de los Santos Constantino y Elena, located on Grecia Avenue, Ñuñoa. There I spoke with Father Ignatius, Πάτερ Hγνατιος, who spoke to me in Greek and showed me around the church, making it my first spiritual stop on my trip to America. I must say it has been a blessed journey ever since.
At the Grecia metro station there is a tribute to ancient Greek civilization. The Replicas del Friso del Partenón Griego reproduce the Frieze of the Greek Parthenon in 16 sculptures of the sculptures stolen by Thomas Bruce, 7th Earl of Elgin, and his acolytes, prisoners of the British Museum. The tribute to Grecia Station is the result of a joint effort by the Greek government and local authorities.
Seven associations represent Hellenes in Chile. Hellenic studies exist in several cities, such as the Center for Byzantine and Modern Greek Studies at the University of Santiago.
Greeks like Veronica, her family and the consul have a warmth that fuses Chilean and Greek spirits. With such a history in Chile, it is incumbent on all of us to engage with our Chilean diaspora and do our best to support the Greek language in this outpost of the Greek world.
* Read The Seven Aegeans Take Back the Marbles! Billy Cotsis is the author of The Aegean Seven: Take Back The Marbles
