Human Rights Violations of the Chilean dictatorship
Encyclopedia
The Human Rights Violations during the Military government of Chile refer to all acts of human rights abuses, persecution of opponents, political repression and state terrorism
committed by the chilean armed forces
and the Police, government agents and civilians in the service of security agencies, during the dictatorship of Augusto Pinochet
in Chile
since September 11, 1973, until March 11, 1990.
According to the Commission of Truth and Reconciliation (Rettig Commission) and the National Commission on Political Imprisonment and Torture (Valech Commission), the number of direct victims of human rights violations in Chile, it accounts for at least 35,000 people: 28.000 were tortured, 2.279 were executed and around 1.248 continued as Disappeared. In addition some of 200,000 people have suffered exile and an unknown number (hundreds of thousands) would have gone through clandestine centers and illegal detention.
" (or "political genocide"). Steve J. Stern spoke of a politicide to describe "a systematic project to destroy an entire way of doing and understanding politics and governance."
The worst violence occurred in the first three months of the coup's aftermath, with the number of suspected leftists killed or "disappeared
" (desaparecidos) soon reaching into the thousands. In the days immediately following the coup, the Assistant Secretary of State for Inter-American Affairs informed Henry Kissinger, that the National Stadium
was being used to hold 5,000 prisoners, and as late as 1975, the CIA was still reporting that up to 3,811 prisoners were still being held in the Stadium. Amnesty International, reported that as many as 7,000 political prisoners in the National Stadium had been counted on 22 September 1973. Nevertheless, it is often quoted in the press, that some 40,000 prisoners were detained in the Stadium. Some of the most famous cases of "desaparecidos" are Charles Horman
, a U.S. citizen who was killed during the coup itself, Chilean songwriter Víctor Jara
, and the October 1973 Caravan of Death
(Caravana de la Muerte) where at least 70 persons were killed. Other operations include Operation Colombo
during which hundreds of left-wing activists were murdered and Operation Condor
, carried out with the security services of other Latin American dictatorships.
Following Pinochet's defeat in the 1988 plebiscite, the 1991 Rettig Commission, a multipartisan effort from the Aylwin administration to discover the truth about the human-rights violations, listed a number of torture
and detention
centers (such as Colonia Dignidad
, the ship Esmeralda
or Víctor Jara Stadium), and found that at least 3,200 people were killed or disappeared by the regime.
A later report, the Valech Report
(published in November 2004), confirmed the figure of 3,200 deaths but dramatically reduced the alleged cases of disappearances. It tells of some 28,000 arrests in which the majority of those detained were incarcerated and in a great many cases torture
d. Some 30,000 Chileans were exile
d and received abroad, in particular in Argentina
, as political refugees; however, they were followed in their exile by the DINA secret police, in the frame of Operation Condor
which linked South-American dictatorships together against political opponents. Some 20,000-40,000 Chilean exiles were holders of passports stamped with the letter "L" (which stood for lista nacional), identifyng them as persona non grata and had to seek permission before entering the country. Nevertheless, Chilean Human Rights groups maintain several hundred thousand were forced into exile.
According to the Latin American Institute on Mental Health and Human Rights (ILAS), "situations of extreme trauma" affected about 200,000 persons; this figure includes individuals killed, tortured (following the UN
definition of torture), or exiled and their immediate relatives. While more radical groups such as the Movement of the Revolutionary Left
(MIR) were staunch advocates of a Marxist revolution, it is currently accepted that the junta deliberately targeted nonviolent political opponents as well
A court in Chile sentenced, on March 19, 2008, 24 former police officers in cases of kidnapping, torture and murder that happened just after a U.S.
-backed coup overthrew President Salvador Allende
, a Socialist
, on September 11, 1973.
an secret police
in the government of Augusto Pinochet
. DINA was established in November 1973, as a Chilean Army
intelligence unit headed by General Manuel Contreras
and vice-director Raúl Iturriaga
, who fled from justice in 2007. It was separated from the army and made an independent administrative unit in June 1974, under the aegis of decree #521. DINA made it possible for Augusto Pinochet to come to power.
DINA existed until 1977, after which it was renamed the Central Nacional de Informaciones (CNI) (National Information Center).
State terrorism
State terrorism may refer to acts of terrorism conducted by a state against a foreign state or people. It can also refer to acts of violence by a state against its own people.-Definition:...
committed by the chilean armed forces
Military of Chile
Chile's armed forces are subject to civilian control exercised by the president through the Minister of Defense. Military service of 12 to 24 months is mandatory for all male citizens upon turning 18. This conscription service can be postponed for educational or religious reasons...
and the Police, government agents and civilians in the service of security agencies, during the dictatorship of Augusto Pinochet
Augusto Pinochet
Augusto José Ramón Pinochet Ugarte, more commonly known as Augusto Pinochet , was a Chilean army general and dictator who assumed power in a coup d'état on 11 September 1973...
in Chile
Chile
Chile ,officially the Republic of Chile , is a country in South America occupying a long, narrow coastal strip between the Andes mountains to the east and the Pacific Ocean to the west. It borders Peru to the north, Bolivia to the northeast, Argentina to the east, and the Drake Passage in the far...
since September 11, 1973, until March 11, 1990.
According to the Commission of Truth and Reconciliation (Rettig Commission) and the National Commission on Political Imprisonment and Torture (Valech Commission), the number of direct victims of human rights violations in Chile, it accounts for at least 35,000 people: 28.000 were tortured, 2.279 were executed and around 1.248 continued as Disappeared. In addition some of 200,000 people have suffered exile and an unknown number (hundreds of thousands) would have gone through clandestine centers and illegal detention.
History
The military rule was characterized by systematic suppression of all political dissidence, which led some to speak of a "politicidePoliticide
Politicide has three related but distinct meanings. It can mean a gradual but systematic attempt to cause the annihilation of an independent political and social entity. For example the destruction of the apartheid system in South Africa...
" (or "political genocide"). Steve J. Stern spoke of a politicide to describe "a systematic project to destroy an entire way of doing and understanding politics and governance."
The worst violence occurred in the first three months of the coup's aftermath, with the number of suspected leftists killed or "disappeared
Forced disappearance
In international human rights law, a forced disappearance occurs when a person is secretly abducted or imprisoned by a state or political organization or by a third party with the authorization, support, or acquiescence of a state or political organization, followed by a refusal to acknowledge the...
" (desaparecidos) soon reaching into the thousands. In the days immediately following the coup, the Assistant Secretary of State for Inter-American Affairs informed Henry Kissinger, that the National Stadium
Estadio Nacional de Chile
The Estadio Nacional Julio Martínez Prádanos is the national stadium of Chile, and is located in the Ñuñoa district of Santiago). It is the largest stadium in Chile with an official capacity of 47,000, and is part of a 62 ha sporting complex which also features tennis courts, an aquatics center, a...
was being used to hold 5,000 prisoners, and as late as 1975, the CIA was still reporting that up to 3,811 prisoners were still being held in the Stadium. Amnesty International, reported that as many as 7,000 political prisoners in the National Stadium had been counted on 22 September 1973. Nevertheless, it is often quoted in the press, that some 40,000 prisoners were detained in the Stadium. Some of the most famous cases of "desaparecidos" are Charles Horman
Charles Horman
Charles Horman was an American journalist and was one of the victims of the 1973 Chilean coup d'état led by General Augusto Pinochet, that deposed the socialist president, Salvador Allende, after bombing the Chilean presidential palace on September 11, 1973...
, a U.S. citizen who was killed during the coup itself, Chilean songwriter Víctor Jara
Víctor Jara
Víctor Lidio Jara Martínez was a Chilean teacher, theatre director, poet, singer-songwriter, political activist and member of the Communist Party of Chile...
, and the October 1973 Caravan of Death
Caravan of Death
The Caravan of Death was a Chilean Army death squad that, following the Chilean coup of 1973, flew by helicopters from south to north of Chile between September 30 and October 22, 1973. During this foray, members of the squad ordered or personally carried out the execution of at least 75...
(Caravana de la Muerte) where at least 70 persons were killed. Other operations include Operation Colombo
Operation Colombo
Operation Colombo was an operation undertaken by the DINA in 1975. The operation involved the disappearance of political dissidents. At least 119 people are alleged to have been abducted and later killed by state forces in the secret operation...
during which hundreds of left-wing activists were murdered and Operation Condor
Operation Condor
Operation Condor , was a campaign of political repression involving assassination and intelligence operations officially implemented in 1975 by the right-wing dictatorships of the Southern Cone of South America...
, carried out with the security services of other Latin American dictatorships.
Torture
Torture is the act of inflicting severe pain as a means of punishment, revenge, forcing information or a confession, or simply as an act of cruelty. Throughout history, torture has often been used as a method of political re-education, interrogation, punishment, and coercion...
and detention
Detention (imprisonment)
Detention is the process when a state, government or citizen lawfully holds a person by removing their freedom of liberty at that time. This can be due to criminal charges being raised against the individual as part of a prosecution or to protect a person or property...
centers (such as Colonia Dignidad
Colonia Dignidad
Villa Baviera , formerly known as Colonia Dignidad is a hamlet in Parral Commune, Linares Province, Maule Region, Chile. Located in an isolated area of central Chile, it lies 35 km southeast of the city of Parral, on the north bank of the Perquilauquén River. It was founded by a group of German...
, the ship Esmeralda
Esmeralda (BE-43)
Esmeralda is a steel-hulled four-masted barquentine tall ship of the Chilean Navy, currently the second tallest and longest sailing ship in the world.- Construction :The ship is the sixth to carry the name Esmeralda...
or Víctor Jara Stadium), and found that at least 3,200 people were killed or disappeared by the regime.
A later report, the Valech Report
Valech Report
The Valech Report was a record of abuses committed in Chile between 1973 and 1990 by agents of Augusto Pinochet's military regime. The report was published on November 29, 2004 and detailed the results of a six-month investigation. A revised version was released on June 1, 2005...
(published in November 2004), confirmed the figure of 3,200 deaths but dramatically reduced the alleged cases of disappearances. It tells of some 28,000 arrests in which the majority of those detained were incarcerated and in a great many cases torture
Torture
Torture is the act of inflicting severe pain as a means of punishment, revenge, forcing information or a confession, or simply as an act of cruelty. Throughout history, torture has often been used as a method of political re-education, interrogation, punishment, and coercion...
d. Some 30,000 Chileans were exile
Exile
Exile means to be away from one's home , while either being explicitly refused permission to return and/or being threatened with imprisonment or death upon return...
d and received abroad, in particular in Argentina
Argentina
Argentina , officially the Argentine Republic , is the second largest country in South America by land area, after Brazil. It is constituted as a federation of 23 provinces and an autonomous city, Buenos Aires...
, as political refugees; however, they were followed in their exile by the DINA secret police, in the frame of Operation Condor
Operation Condor
Operation Condor , was a campaign of political repression involving assassination and intelligence operations officially implemented in 1975 by the right-wing dictatorships of the Southern Cone of South America...
which linked South-American dictatorships together against political opponents. Some 20,000-40,000 Chilean exiles were holders of passports stamped with the letter "L" (which stood for lista nacional), identifyng them as persona non grata and had to seek permission before entering the country. Nevertheless, Chilean Human Rights groups maintain several hundred thousand were forced into exile.
According to the Latin American Institute on Mental Health and Human Rights (ILAS), "situations of extreme trauma" affected about 200,000 persons; this figure includes individuals killed, tortured (following the UN
United Nations
The United Nations is an international organization whose stated aims are facilitating cooperation in international law, international security, economic development, social progress, human rights, and achievement of world peace...
definition of torture), or exiled and their immediate relatives. While more radical groups such as the Movement of the Revolutionary Left
Revolutionary Left Movement (Chile)
Revolutionary Left Movement is a Chilean political party and former left-wing guerrilla organization founded on October 12, 1965...
(MIR) were staunch advocates of a Marxist revolution, it is currently accepted that the junta deliberately targeted nonviolent political opponents as well
A court in Chile sentenced, on March 19, 2008, 24 former police officers in cases of kidnapping, torture and murder that happened just after a U.S.
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
-backed coup overthrew President Salvador Allende
Salvador Allende
Salvador Allende Gossens was a Chilean physician and politician who is generally considered the first democratically elected Marxist to become president of a country in Latin America....
, a Socialist
Socialism
Socialism is an economic system characterized by social ownership of the means of production and cooperative management of the economy; or a political philosophy advocating such a system. "Social ownership" may refer to any one of, or a combination of, the following: cooperative enterprises,...
, on September 11, 1973.
Repressive agencies
The Dirección de Inteligencia Nacional (National Intelligence Directorate) or DINA was the ChileChile
Chile ,officially the Republic of Chile , is a country in South America occupying a long, narrow coastal strip between the Andes mountains to the east and the Pacific Ocean to the west. It borders Peru to the north, Bolivia to the northeast, Argentina to the east, and the Drake Passage in the far...
an secret police
Secret police
Secret police are a police agency which operates in secrecy and beyond the law to protect the political power of an individual dictator or an authoritarian political regime....
in the government of Augusto Pinochet
Augusto Pinochet
Augusto José Ramón Pinochet Ugarte, more commonly known as Augusto Pinochet , was a Chilean army general and dictator who assumed power in a coup d'état on 11 September 1973...
. DINA was established in November 1973, as a Chilean Army
Chilean Army
The Chilean Army is the land arm of the Military of Chile. This 45,000-person army is organized into seven divisions, a special operations brigade and an air brigade....
intelligence unit headed by General Manuel Contreras
Manuel Contreras
Juan Manuel Guillermo Contreras Sepúlveda is a Chilean military officer and the former head of DINA, Chile's secret police during the dictatorship of General Augusto Pinochet. As head of DINA he was the most powerful and feared man in the country, after Pinochet...
and vice-director Raúl Iturriaga
Raúl Iturriaga
Raúl Eduardo Iturriaga Neumann is a Chilean Army general and a former deputy director of the DINA, the Chilean secret police under the Augusto Pinochet military dictatorship...
, who fled from justice in 2007. It was separated from the army and made an independent administrative unit in June 1974, under the aegis of decree #521. DINA made it possible for Augusto Pinochet to come to power.
DINA existed until 1977, after which it was renamed the Central Nacional de Informaciones (CNI) (National Information Center).
Main Human Rights Violators
Since human rights violations during the military regime corresponded to a state policy, the number of people involved in these acts as authors, accomplices or accessories, is high. While it is difficult to determine their number, it is estimated that exceeds several hundred.- Sergio Arellano Stark
- Víctor Barría
- Patricio Carranza Saavedra
- Manuel ContrerasManuel ContrerasJuan Manuel Guillermo Contreras Sepúlveda is a Chilean military officer and the former head of DINA, Chile's secret police during the dictatorship of General Augusto Pinochet. As head of DINA he was the most powerful and feared man in the country, after Pinochet...
- Álvaro Corbalán Castilla
- Patricio Díaz Araneda
- Pedro Espinoza Bravo
- Armando Fernández Larios
- Humberto GordonHumberto GordonHumberto Gordon Rubio was a Chilean Army general and member of the Government Junta that ruled Chile from 1973–1990. He served on the junta as a member from 1985–1987.Barros, Robert. , p.259 -References:...
- Carlos Herrera Jiménez
- Raúl Iturriaga NeumannRaúl IturriagaRaúl Eduardo Iturriaga Neumann is a Chilean Army general and a former deputy director of the DINA, the Chilean secret police under the Augusto Pinochet military dictatorship...
- Mario Jahn Barrera
- Miguel Krassnoff Martchenko
- Roberto Lawrence Mires
- Gustavo LeighGustavo LeighAir General Gustavo Leigh Guzmán was a Chilean general, who represented the Air Force in the 1973 Chilean coup d'état and, for a time, in the ruling junta that followed. Leigh was forced out of the military government in 1978.-Biography:Leigh was born in Santiago, son of Hernán Leigh Bañados and...
- José Toribio MerinoJosé Toribio MerinoJosé Toribio Merino Castro was one of the principal coup leaders of the 1973 Chilean coup d'état, along with General Augusto Pinochet of the Army, General Gustavo Leigh of the Air Force, and General Mendoza of the "Carabineros"...
- Marcelo Moren Brito
- Augusto PinochetAugusto PinochetAugusto José Ramón Pinochet Ugarte, more commonly known as Augusto Pinochet , was a Chilean army general and dictator who assumed power in a coup d'état on 11 September 1973...
- Alfonso Podlech
- Osvaldo RomoOsvaldo RomoOsvaldo Romo Mena was an agent of the Chilean Dirección de Inteligencia Nacional from 1973 to 1990, during the rule of Augusto Pinochet...
- Arturo Ureta Sire
See also
- Forced disappearance in Chile
- TortureTortureTorture is the act of inflicting severe pain as a means of punishment, revenge, forcing information or a confession, or simply as an act of cruelty. Throughout history, torture has often been used as a method of political re-education, interrogation, punishment, and coercion...
- ExileExileExile means to be away from one's home , while either being explicitly refused permission to return and/or being threatened with imprisonment or death upon return...