The Faces of Solidarity. Oral History and Everyday Life. The existential discourse of Chilean exiles in Mexico and María Esther Zuno de Echeverría.

Objective: to identify the characteristics of the discourse related to the solidarity towards the Chilean exiles in Mexico, after the coup d'état to President Salvador Allende in 1973. The relevance of the Mexican government's asylum policy and María Esther Zuno's solidarity stance, which facilitated the exiles' adaptation to Mexico, are also studied. Methodology: qualitative approach with documentary record on the exiles of the seventies and the characteristics of the asylum policy of the Mexican government. The methodology of oral history was used, specifically the testimony and account of Chileans, to analyze the discourse and the reconstruction of meanings of those who arrived in the country. The discourse analysis was based on the categories proposed by Daniel Prieto Castillo (indication, exhortation, explanation and valuation, linked to the personal situation experienced by the exiles and their entry into the country. Results: the insertion of Chilean exiles into Mexican society, after Augusto Pinochet's coup d'état in Chile, was favored by the Mexican government's asylum policy and the "de facto" exercise of power by María Esther Zuno. The resignification of the testimonies highlighted the explanation and valuation of two outstanding historical conjunctures: an institutional one (Mexico's asylum policy) and a personal one (Mrs. Zuno's de facto power policy). Conclusions: together with the asylum policy of the Mexican government, there was a discourse of solidarity towards the Chileans. The asylum policy of the Mexican government based on the Conventions of Havana (1928), Montevideo (1933) and Caracas (1954), of which Mexico was a signatory, was a fundamental element in the entry of Chileans who went into exile in Mexico.