Chile identifies 35,000 victims of Pinochet

Chile identifies 35,000 victims of Pinochet

Presidential commission brings forward new claims about torture

A year-long investigation into state-sponsored torture in Chile has documented that an estimated 35,000 people were abused during the 1973-90 military regime.

The report, which has not been made public, identifies dozens of secret facilities under the control of General Augusto Pinochet, who headed the military junta.

The National Commission on Political Prisoners and Torture presented its study to President Ricardo Lagos late last week. The three volumes include hundreds of new claims about torture tactics, ranging from sexual abuse using dogs, to forcing suspects to watch as family members were sodomised or slowly electrocuted.

"This is a historic step. Now those of us who were political prisoners are recognised, both socially and officially," said Mireya Garcia, of the Association of Families of the Dead and Disappeared. "I hope that this report becomes an integral part of the [educational] formation of new generations, so that in Chile never again is there torture."

The commission, made up of eight civilians and led by Bishop Sergio Valech, was created by Mr Lagos in November 2003. A team of 60 people, including lawyers, psychologists and social workers, was involved in producing the report, which was designed to be a historical document rather than a tool for prosecutions. Chileans in 40 countries were interviewed and thousands of testimonies collected.

Mr Lagos said Chile had spent 15 years investigating the crimes of the military government. "How many countries have dared to deeply examine their own history?" he said. "How many have dared dig to the bottom of what happened?"

But human rights groups criticised him for not making the findings public immediately.

Government officials have indicated that Mr Lagos will first spend several weeks reviewing the report, and then determine the amounts of what he has characterised as "austere and symbolic" financial compensation for the victims.

José Antonio Gomez, a member of the commission, said the report verified that torture was "not just excesses ... really what we have here was a state police regarding human rights abuses."

"I am fully convinced of that, and this is shared by the other commission members."

But Jovino Novoa, the president of the rightwing UDI party, downplayed the significance of the report.

"We hope that this report is received and analysed in the context in which these situations occurred," he said. "These acts happened a long time ago, in circumstances in which Chile, and the world, was very different."

The report is the third part of a 15-year effort to investigate, publish and publicly denounce the systematic murder and torture of civilians.

In 1990, the newly elected civilian government created the Rettig report, which gave details of the estimated 3,197 murders carried out by security forces.

The second forum was the 2000 round-table talks in which members of the armed forces and human rights activists gathered for months in an ultimately unsuccessful attempt to find the bodies of hundreds of regime victims.

"It is good that this is talked about by families, in the universities, in schools, neighborhoods," said Michelle Bachelet, a Socialist leader and a frontrunning candidate for next year's presidential elections.

Ms Bachelet was held prisoner in the Villa Grimaldi torture centre with her mother while her father, an air force general, Alberto Bachelet, was murdered by security forces.

Five days before the report was handed over, the Chilean army's commander in chief, Emilio Cheyre, broke with decades of denial to publish a report called The End of a Vision, in which the army admitted institutional responsibility for torture, assassinations and disappearances. His remarks caused a furore elsewhere in the armed forces.

A retired general, Guillermo Garin, told La Tercera newspaper that the report would not "contribute to the harmony of the Chilean public".

"My fear is just the opposite; this is going to worsen the wounds."

by Jonathan Franklin in Santiago | Monday November 15, 2004 | The Guardian

Here we present some first-hand accounts of the 1973 coup and the suffering endured by Pinochet's victims, and how they felt when the former dictator became embroiled in a legal battle in London in 2000.

'We were dreamers'
Carlos Reyes-Manzo: 58-year-old photojournalist living in London.
Audio: Carlos Reyes-Manzo on his arrival in the UK (1min 42s)


'I still don't know what happened to my daughter'
Ana María Navarrete: 77-year-old living in London.

'Three times I stopped breathing and my heart stopped'
Benjamin Vergara: 53-year-old school governor and volunteer, retired on medical grounds as a result of torture in Chile.

'We must fight to preserve the truth'
Myriam Bell: Advisory worker for a refugee support group, fitness instructor, and interpreter.
Audio: Myriam Bell on life after the coup (2min 41s)

'I had to confront my emotions when I saw Pinochet in court'
Roberto Vásquez: 47-year-old building contractor living in London.

'Once they pick you up, they keep coming back'
Carmen Gloria Diaz: 51-year-old living in Chile. She works for Codepu, a human rights group.

'There has been no justice for the Chilean people'
Miriam Vasquez: 56-year-old living in Sheffield. She is married with four children.

Reporting team: Gwladys Fouché, Hildegunn Soldal, Liane Katz and Mark Tran