Parrilla
Encyclopedia
The parrilla is a method of torture
where the victim is strapped to a metal frame and subjected to electric shock
.
of the type commonly found in South American countries. By gruesome analogy, the metal frame used in the torture was given the same name because of its appearance and because the victim was placed on top of it like the meat on a barbecue. The parrilla is both the metal frame and the method of torture that uses it.
, including Argentina
during the dirty war
in the 1970s and 80s and Brazil
. In Chile
during the Pinochet regime (1973 to 1990) it became notorious as a routine tool of interrogation
.
The victim was stripped totally naked, then lain on his or her back on a metal frame, often a bed-frame. Straps were used to restrain the victim in a position convenient for torture, with legs spread and arms either above the head or away from the sides of the body. The straps were tightened to prevent movement.
Electricity
was drawn from a standard wall socket and fed through a control box to the victim by two wires terminating in electrodes. The control on the box allowed the torturers to adjust the voltage
and thus the severity of the electric shocks.
A variety of methods were used to administer the shocks. A common method, chosen to maximise pain and distress, was to use electrodes, fixed to particularly sensitive parts of the victim's body for the duration of the torture session. In another method, a wire is fixed to the victim and a wire with a bare end or an electrode with a wooden insulating handle, is moved around to touch different sensitive parts of the body in turn, so as to cause a current to flow through the body between the two electrodes. For a male, the fixed wire was wrapped around his penis. For a female, it was attached to an electrode – either a short metal rod or, for better electrical contact, a wetted steel wool
pan scrub - and this electrode was pushed into her vagina. The torturer then touched the second electrode to different places on the body, such as the feet, mouth, nipples, breasts and genitals. This caused excruciating pain, at both the place where the second electrode touched the body and in the penis or vagina of the victim. Damage was often caused where the movable electrode was applied close to the point where the fixed electrode had been placed. It also caused intense pain and violent muscle contractions. Typically the person being tortured was kept blindfolded to add to the sense of helplessness as it was impossible to predict where and when the moving electrode would next be touched to the body.
it is no longer used, but its reputation survives. It appears to have been one of the most feared of all the methods of torture, possibly because many prisoners suffered it and it suited the authorities to make no secret of its widespread use. As a result, it has achieved an almost legendary status. For example, the former President of Chile, Michelle Bachelet
, has been asked in interviews about her own torture as a young woman in 1975. She says she was 'spared the parrilla', so indicating in a single phrase that in her opinion her tortures were less severe than those of many of her fellow Chileans.
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...
where the victim is strapped to a metal frame and subjected to electric shock
Electric shock
Electric Shock of a body with any source of electricity that causes a sufficient current through the skin, muscles or hair. Typically, the expression is used to denote an unwanted exposure to electricity, hence the effects are considered undesirable....
.
Name
The Spanish word parrilla paˈriʎa means a cooking grill or barbecueBarbecue
Barbecue or barbeque , used chiefly in the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, New Zealand and Australia is a method and apparatus for cooking meat, poultry and occasionally fish with the heat and hot smoke of a fire, smoking wood, or hot coals of...
of the type commonly found in South American countries. By gruesome analogy, the metal frame used in the torture was given the same name because of its appearance and because the victim was placed on top of it like the meat on a barbecue. The parrilla is both the metal frame and the method of torture that uses it.
Usage
The parrilla was used in a number of countries in South AmericaSouth America
South America is a continent situated in the Western Hemisphere, mostly in the Southern Hemisphere, with a relatively small portion in the Northern Hemisphere. The continent is also considered a subcontinent of the Americas. It is bordered on the west by the Pacific Ocean and on the north and east...
, including 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...
during the dirty war
Dirty War
The Dirty War was a period of state-sponsored violence in Argentina from 1976 until 1983. Victims of the violence included several thousand left-wing activists, including trade unionists, students, journalists, Marxists, Peronist guerrillas and alleged sympathizers, either proved or suspected...
in the 1970s and 80s and Brazil
Brazil
Brazil , officially the Federative Republic of Brazil , is the largest country in South America. It is the world's fifth largest country, both by geographical area and by population with over 192 million people...
. 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...
during the Pinochet regime (1973 to 1990) it became notorious as a routine tool of interrogation
Interrogation
Interrogation is interviewing as commonly employed by officers of the police, military, and Intelligence agencies with the goal of extracting a confession or obtaining information. Subjects of interrogation are often the suspects, victims, or witnesses of a crime...
.
The victim was stripped totally naked, then lain on his or her back on a metal frame, often a bed-frame. Straps were used to restrain the victim in a position convenient for torture, with legs spread and arms either above the head or away from the sides of the body. The straps were tightened to prevent movement.
Electricity
Electricity
Electricity is a general term encompassing a variety of phenomena resulting from the presence and flow of electric charge. These include many easily recognizable phenomena, such as lightning, static electricity, and the flow of electrical current in an electrical wire...
was drawn from a standard wall socket and fed through a control box to the victim by two wires terminating in electrodes. The control on the box allowed the torturers to adjust the voltage
Voltage
Voltage, otherwise known as electrical potential difference or electric tension is the difference in electric potential between two points — or the difference in electric potential energy per unit charge between two points...
and thus the severity of the electric shocks.
A variety of methods were used to administer the shocks. A common method, chosen to maximise pain and distress, was to use electrodes, fixed to particularly sensitive parts of the victim's body for the duration of the torture session. In another method, a wire is fixed to the victim and a wire with a bare end or an electrode with a wooden insulating handle, is moved around to touch different sensitive parts of the body in turn, so as to cause a current to flow through the body between the two electrodes. For a male, the fixed wire was wrapped around his penis. For a female, it was attached to an electrode – either a short metal rod or, for better electrical contact, a wetted steel wool
Steel wool
Steel wool, also known as wire wool, is a bundle of strands of very fine soft steel filaments, used in finishing and repairing work to polish wood or metal objects, and for cleaning household cookware....
pan scrub - and this electrode was pushed into her vagina. The torturer then touched the second electrode to different places on the body, such as the feet, mouth, nipples, breasts and genitals. This caused excruciating pain, at both the place where the second electrode touched the body and in the penis or vagina of the victim. Damage was often caused where the movable electrode was applied close to the point where the fixed electrode had been placed. It also caused intense pain and violent muscle contractions. Typically the person being tortured was kept blindfolded to add to the sense of helplessness as it was impossible to predict where and when the moving electrode would next be touched to the body.
Effectiveness
Opinions differ as to whether any form of torture achieves the purpose of those who use it. Whether or not the parrilla was effective in that sense, it achieved a number of the torturers' objectives as effectively or more so than the other methods of torture available to them:- The parrilla was easy for the torturers to use. Unlike beating and other forms of physical torture, it required no physical exertion on their part and the severity of the torture was finely adjustable by simply varying the strength of the shocks.
- It had a powerful psychological effect, even before any shocks were applied to the victim. Women, in particular, found the process of being prepared for a session on the parrilla degrading. For some women, part of their preparation was to be raped on arrival in the torture room in order to 'soften' them. Cassidy writes that she thought herself fortunate not to be raped as she knew other women had been. Even when there was no rape, many women found being forced to strip, being tied down in an exposed position, and then having an electrode inserted into them by the torturers, to be sexually abusive and intimidating. Instilling this feeling of degradation in the victims was intended by the torturers. A part of the torture process was that both female and male victims were made to feel utterly helpless and in the power of their torturers.
- Its physical effects were severe. When shocks were applied, victims say the experience was indescribably painful. Sometimes the violent muscleMuscleMuscle is a contractile tissue of animals and is derived from the mesodermal layer of embryonic germ cells. Muscle cells contain contractile filaments that move past each other and change the size of the cell. They are classified as skeletal, cardiac, or smooth muscles. Their function is to...
contractions in the restrained limbs caused them to fracture. Some prisoners even died.
Elsewhere in the world
Electric shock torture has been, and still is, used in many places in the world, and often the victim is restrained on a frame or table. Only in South America was this type of torture called the parrilla.Symbolism
The use of the parrilla has declined in many places where it was once common. In 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...
it is no longer used, but its reputation survives. It appears to have been one of the most feared of all the methods of torture, possibly because many prisoners suffered it and it suited the authorities to make no secret of its widespread use. As a result, it has achieved an almost legendary status. For example, the former President of Chile, Michelle Bachelet
Michelle Bachelet
Verónica Michelle Bachelet Jeria is a Social Democrat politician who was President of Chile from 11 March 2006 to 11 March 2010. She was the first woman president of her country...
, has been asked in interviews about her own torture as a young woman in 1975. She says she was 'spared the parrilla', so indicating in a single phrase that in her opinion her tortures were less severe than those of many of her fellow Chileans.
See also
- DINA
- Villa GrimaldiVilla GrimaldiVilla Grimaldi was a complex of buildings used for the interrogation and torture of political prisoners by DINA, the Chilean secret police, during the government of Augusto Pinochet. The complex was located in Peñalolén, in the outskirts of Santiago, and was in operation from mid-1974 to mid-1978...
- Sheila CassidySheila CassidyDr. Sheila Cassidy is an English doctor, known for her work in the hospice movement, as a writer and as someone who, by publicising her own history as a torture survivor, drew attention to human rights abuse in Chile in the 1970s.-Early life:Cassidy grew up in Sydney, and attended the Our Lady of...
- 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...
- Use of electric shock for torture
- Ethical arguments regarding tortureEthical arguments regarding tortureEthical arguments have arisen regarding torture, and its debated value to society. Despite worldwide condemnation and the existence of treaty provisions that forbid it, some countries still use it...