June 21, 1974: Flotilla Protests Chilean Torture Ship

June 21 1974, Chilean tall ship La Esmeralda, which had been used as a prison and torture chamber by the Pinochet government, docked in Oakland on a goodwill mission, where it was met by a protest flotilla organized by the Chilean solidarity movement.

A wide array of actions were taken against La Esmeralda, including protests at soccer games and other public relations events. Most dramatically, local sex workers’ group COYOTE refused to have sex with the ship’s sailors in solidarity with the Chilean people.

Four years later, the Esmeralda returned on a similar mission. This time, the International Longshore & Warehouse Union (ILWU) followed COYOTE’s example, refusing to unload Chilean cargo in protest of the torture ship’s arrival.

This boycott was just one in a number of similar actions against oppressive governments by the ILWU, who, at the urging of international solidarity movements, also refused to unload cargo from apartheid South Africa and, most recently, cargo from Israeli ships.