Remembrance, Acceptance, and Moving Forward: Chile's History of Torture

By Rebecca West

During Augusto Pinochet's regime, torture was used as the "state policy" to obtain information and create an environment of terror and political prisoners and those who knew them. The most common methods of torture were beatings, suspensions from a ceiling or a wall, electric shock, faked firing squads, and use of human or animal waste as food. 94% of political prisoners were tortured, and 12% were women, almost all of whom experienced sexual violence. 316 of them were raped. Besides psychological damage, people most often experienced impaired vision or hearing, broken teeth, and malfunctioning backs, arms, and legs as a result of the torture.



This hallway was the women's sleeping room at the National Stadium. In such a small space, the women were forced to sleep side by side in rows of two, and their feet would touch in the middle.

Photo source: http://www.globalpost.com/dispatch/chile/090408/remnants-dictatorship


Torture was reported used by both Carabineros (uniformed police) and Investigaciones (plain clothes police) but the Central Nacional de Informaciones (CNI) was most frequently cited for torture. Created in 1977, the CNI would take prisoners to detention centers, such as the one pictured above and below at the National Stadium in Santiago, Chile's capital.


This picture, taken by American-Chilean photographer Cristian Montecino, shows political prisoners being brought into the National Stadium.

Photo source: http://www.globalpost.com/dispatch/chile/090408/remnants-dictatorship



After the collapse of Pinochet's military regime in 1990, powerful members of society took steps to uncover the truth about the use of torture and its effect on the Chilean people. In 1991, the Archbishop of Santiago established the Archives and Museum of the Vicariate of Solidarity, which contains records of thousands of individuals who were tortured. These records are open to the public and youth especially are encouraged to visit them to learn about their country's past.

Human rights groups in Chile established the Ethics Commission Against Torture, which demanded that the government act to investigate torture as well. They created a nonpartisan commission that would establish a historical record of torture that took place, assess the damage incurred to those tortured, make reparations to the victims and introduce educational material that would help prevent torture in the future. In June 2001, the Chilean government agreed to have Bishop Sergio Valech head this commission, which in turn produced the Valech report on torture.

Published in 2004, the Valech Report claimed that 33,000 Chileans, who had all testified before the commission, had been tortured or severely ill-treated by Chilean police or military. After the Report's publication, President Ricardo Lagos announced that 28,000 of these victims would be offered lifelong pensions as reparations for the mistreatment they had endured.

Today, torture is not seen as much of an issue in Chile, except for some documented instances among police and indigenous peoples. However, the Chilean community is making a great effort to move forward without forgetting their past. The government has been turning detention and torture centers into memorials and museums, establishing them as national monuments to ensure their protection from destruction, alteration, or sale. They have also allocated money for plaques, memorial walls, crosses and sculptures on historically significant sites, as well as renaming streets, health centers, conference halls, parks and schools after victims of torture. There are now 170 memorials and plaques around the country, half of which are in Santiago.

The Chilean government's acknowledgment of the history of torture and their efforts to pay homage to and remember those who were tortured creates an environment of national responsibility that hopefully will help those affected by Pinochet's government to heal, and to help the country of Chile move forward into a promising future.



Sources:
"Amnesty International, Torture in the Eighties, Amnesty International Publications 1984." Remember-Chile. N.p., n.d. Web. 8 Aug. 2010.
Bonnefoy, Pascale. "Remnants of Dictatorship." Chile's torture monuments. Global Post, Apr. 2009. Web. 8 Aug. 2010.
"Chile torture victims win payout." BBC News - World - Americas. BBC News, 29 Nov. 2004. Web. 8 Aug. 2010.
Cleary, Edward. Mobilizing for Human Rights in Latin America. N.p.: Kumarian Press, 2007. 111-27.

The Rettig Report

By Rebecca West

“The truth in itself is both reparation and prevention” –Jose Zalaquett, Chilean Law professor and member of the Rettig Commission


In 1989, a sixth of Chilean national citizens believed that they or a family member had been the direct victim of a human rights violation. When asked about the magnitude of violations under Pinochet’s rule, a majority of 52.4% perceived them as being six or seven (on a seven-point scale). 67.5% chose justice proceedings over amnesty for perpetrators of human rights violations, and only 9.5% (one in ten Chileans) thought military tribunals should be used to judge human rights cases.

In response to the collective Chilean wounds left by the Pinochet regime, in May of 1990, President Patricio Aylwin opened the Comisión Nacional de Verdad y Reconciliación (also known as the Rettig Commission) to investigate political disappearances and extrajudicial executions that occurred during Pinochet’s rule. The commission, like ones seen in South Africa and Peru, was established as a tool to help the country transition from dictatorial to democratic, and to rebuild the national morals and belief in the political system.

The Chilean truth commission, like ones it was modeled after, served two main functions: 1) to provide a place where human rights violation cases could be filed and investigated and 2) to therefore move towards a future of healing and shared understanding of the nation’s past. Rather than serving as solely an instrument of justice, the aim of the Commission was to create an open forum for discussion and healing. As Greg Grandin writes, “Truth commissions serve as modern-day instruments in the creation of nationalism and embody…nationalism’s enabling paradox: the need to forget acts of violence central to state formation that can never be forgotten.”


Lawyers, social workers, and members of the Rettig Commission created a comfortable environment for people to give their testimonies, given by a wide variety of people from retired military officers, to surviving political prisoners to friends and family of people who had been disappeared. At its publication, the report found that 2,115 cases of death or disappearance qualified as human rights violations. In 95.7% of these cases state agents were held responsible. The report found that an additional 164 people died as a result of political violence, and another 641 cases were still undecided by the report’s deadline, but they warranted further investigation.


After the publication of the Rettig Report, Aylwin called upon courts to conduct individual investigations of many cases based on evidence from the commission. He also established the “Aylwin doctrine,” which held that the 1978 Amnesty Law did not relieve courts of their duty to investigate and establish facts and criminal responsibilities of a case before they could apply amnesty, which had previously aided many people responsible for violations.


The Chilean truth commission was a huge step toward creating a new political environment in Chile. Although many people struggled with the no-name policy of the commission, its widespread publication and availability to the public, as well as complete backing by President Aylwin, gave it enough power to mobilize change in Chile and advocate for further investigation of human rights cases. The commission was reopened several years later to hear additional cases, many of which are still being investigated today.

Notes:

The image above is of Supreme Decree No. 355, which created the National Truth and Reconciliation Commission.

Photo source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:ComisionRettig.JPG

Sources Cited

Grandin, Greg. "The Instruction of Great Catastrophe: Truth Commissions, National History, and State Formation in Argentina, Chile, and Guatemala." The American Historical Review 110.1 (2005). Web. 27 July 2010. .

Stern, Steven J. Reckoning with Pinochet: The Memory Question in Democratic Chile, 1989- 2006. Durham, NC: Duke University Press, 2010. 65-98. The Memory Box of Pinochet's Chile. Ser. 3. Print

Struggling for convivencia

by Rebecca West

An image from a protest held against police violence against the Mapuche in Santiago held October 23, 2009.

Picture source: http://www.ourwar.org/wp-content/woo_custom/184-Marcha_Mapuche_Centro.jpg

A protester holds the Mapuche flag.

Picture source: http://www.ourwar.org/wp-content/uploads/2009/10/Mitin-contra-la-represion-a-los-mapuche-3.jpg

Equal rights for indigenous people has been an issue that has garnered massive support and attention in Latin America and many advances have been made thanks to the Medellín Conference of Latin American Bishops (1968), the Barbados Conference of the International Work Group for Indigenous Affairs (1971), and movements spearheaded by the Catholic Church, anthropologists, and other concerned individuals. However, serious inequalities still exist in Chile. Even with their impressive policies of democratization that have been implemented since the end of Pinochet’s regime, repression still exists in the communities of the Mapuche people in the south of Chile.

The Chilean government preaches the ideal of convivencia, people living together in peace, but they have yet to make that a reality for the Mapuche. In the 1990s issues began to spring up when the government’s economic goals began to infringe on indigenous rights. Investors who sought to take part in exporting timber and hydroelectric projects clashed with Mapuche groups who were trying to (re)claim their rights to the land. A vocal movement of Mapuches called for better treatment and compensation for injustices remaining from the Pinochet era that inspired former President Aylwin to implement pro-indigenous policies. These encouraged respect for Mapuche land (including restitution and protection) and established a Special Commission of Indigenous Peoples to create a new Indigenous Law, which was passed in 1993. However, this legislation was clearly not strong (or strongly enforced enough) and the Mapuches continue to struggle against the Chilean government.

From the late 1990s onward the Mapuches have been active protestors against continuing work in their forests that has resulted in loss of indigenous land and water. Protests were generally non-violent, but President Lagos returned to outdated antiterrorism laws left over from Pinochet’s regime to criminalize what should be a political issue. Police violence has escalated in recent years, culminating in 2008 when a young student activist was shot and killed amidst other protests against torture and mistreatment by the police. As pictured above, police violence against the Mapuche and those advocating for their rights continues to rage on today.

From a personal standpoint, indigenous rights are an issue that needs to be taken up more seriously and actively by the Chilean government. Guidelines for equality for indigenous peoples are clearly outlined by many different groups over a long period of time. The most important of these are the protection and promotion of indigenous culture and land, as well as respect for and understanding of indigenous beliefs and practices. For a country that fought so hard for freedom from decades of dictatorship and violations of the most basic human rights, there should be equal empathy for the Mapuche, who in some ways still live in an environment that is as repressive as the Pinochet days. I believe that Chile has taken some very important steps toward establishing an environment of convivencia with the Mapuche people but there is clearly not enough support for this issue in Chile today. This issue is not just a Chilean one, however, and I believe that in Latin America and the rest of the world, activists need to fight for equality for everyone and hold true to our ideals of respect and freedom.

Sources cited:

1. Cleary, Edward. Mobilizing for Human Rights in Latin America. N.p.: Kumarian Press, 2007. 51-59

2. Stern, Steven J. Reckoning with Pinochet: The Memory Question in Democratic Chile, 1989-2006. Durham, NC: Duke University Press, 2010. 206-346. The Memory Box of Pinochet's Chile. Ser. 3. Print

Arpilleras and the Art of Human Rights

by Rebecca West

Until hearings that have occurred over the past fifteen years (although many cases are still unaddressed), most women in Chile received no assistance or acknowledgment from the government in regards to the disappearances and killings of their husbands and sons under Pinochet's regime. Many women were drawn to the Catholic Church, which helped organize group therapy sessions for women to discuss these events. From many of these oral histories women made brightly colored wall hangings called arpilleras, which contain intricate scenes made of rags embroidered on burlap.

Unable to protest against the thousands of disappearances and murders under the Pinochet regime, Chilean women began using this craft to express themselves. Many arpilleras contain images, photographs, and the names of their missing family members. They were often passed throughout communities in hopes of locating relatives. The arpilleristas had to conduct all of their work in secret, often in basements, churches, and NGO centers. The sale of these tapestries was forbidden in Chile, so missionaries smuggled them to the United States, Canada, and Europe, to help make their stories known to the rest of the world.

http://blogs.thehindu.com/delhi/wp-content/uploads/2009/03/ma15-feat2ab.jpg

The top half of this arpillera depicts a scene of village life in which there are no men (who have supposedly been disappeared or murdered by Pinochet’s army), and their wives are alone and in mourning. Below the arpillera shows children of these political shows the children of these political prisoners being fed in a community kitchen because their families are not able to provide for them on their own. What appears to be Pinochet’s face is sewn onto the bottom right corner of the tapestry, perhaps a symbol of his presence in the community.

In the late 80’s, Sting came out with a song called “They Dance Alone (Cueca Solo),” whose lyrics blatantly protest the Pinochet regime and express the mourning of Chilean women. In 1990, Sting performed the song in Santiago, and more than twenty Chilean women joined him onstage with photos of their missing loved ones.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EiEl3KaD2aM

Sources cited:

1. Agosín, Marjorie: Tapestries of hope, threads of love: the arpillera movement in Chile. Rowman & Littlefield, 2007. N.p.

2. Cleary, Edward. Mobilizing for Human Rights in Latin America. N.p.: Kumarian Press, 2007. 16-17.

3. Dehli Compass. “Voices from the margins.” The Hindu-Delhi, 15 Mar. 2009. Web. 6 July 2010.