Truth and Reconciliation in Chile

My 2014 visit to Chile begins with a few days in the capital city, Santiago. I wanted to see two sights dedicated to those who were detained, tortured, and killed during the military dictatorship of 1973-1990. The coup in 1973 overthrew the democratically elected socialist president, Salvador Allende, who died in the first moments of the coup. 

The Museum of Memory and Human Rights, dedicated to commemorate the victims of human rights violations during the military regime led by Augusto Pinochet.

The museum is located in a neighborhood of Santiago facing the Quinta Normal, a beautiful public park comprising almost 90 acres of grass, trees, museums, and an artificial lake.

The museum was inaugurated in 2010 by Chilean president Michelle Bachelet. It houses memorabilia of torture devices used during the Pinochet dictatorship, letters to family members by prisoners in detention centers, newspaper clippings, and testimony from survivors. The museum also includes a philosophical examination of human rights. Chilean popular icon and folksinger Victor Jara's last poem, Estadio Chile, written in the moments before his death in the stadium during the 1973 coup, sprawls the entrance to the museum

The museum website states that “The Museum of Memory and Human Rights seeks to draw attention to human rights violations committed by the Chilean state between 1973 and 1990. Its mission is to allow dignity for victims and their families, stimulate reflection and debate and to promote respect and tolerance in order that these events never happen again.”

Villa Grimaldi is a three-acre estate that served as a detention and torture center during the military rule of Augusto Pinochet that began in 1973 and ended in 1990. It is located in the Peñalolén area on the outskirts of Santiago, with impressive Andes mountains as a backdrop. Most of the structures were demolished by the military, but testimony by officials and survivors allow for some modern reconstruction. The original building was destroyed.

In contrast with the Museum of Memory, which is entirely indoors, Villa Grimaldi is an outdoor space that affords good photo opportunities. Before the military coup the property was an elegant estate with a restaurant. Intellectuals and leftist political people often visited. It had been planted with exotic species of trees.

 This is the iron gate is where prisoners entered the grounds of the detention center. Years after the dictatorship the property was expropriated from the fraudulent owners.

The gate was locked permanently and the key was entrusted to a Jesuit priest. A sculpture was created in the entry way so that it will never again be used.

“Old access. Through here the prisoners began their route. This gate will remain closed forever.”

In 1973 the regime began to detain thousands of political activists, students, workers, trade unionists, and any other subversive individuals who spoke out against the fascist military government. This is a reconstruction of a small structure where prisoners were kept. Current Chilean president Michelle Bachelet and her mother were detained here briefly and subjected to some torture. Her father, as a member of the previous government, was detained elsewhere, and died in 1974 as a result of his treatment.

They were constantly blindfolded except when going to the bathroom. Those that survived only remembered some of the colored tiles in the walls. Many interpretive signs were made with tiles as a tribute to their only visual memory. This sign indicates where the torture room was located, where metal beds and rods were used to apply electric shocks. One can see the actual artifacts at the Museum of Memory.

This is the “Patio de los Abedules,” or Patio of the Gray Birch Trees. This is where the small cells were located, now indicated by bricks laid on the ground to show the boundaries of the cells. A birch tree was planted in each space to symbolize the prisoner in that cell.

This rose garden is a tribute to the women who were killed here. Each rose bush has a little sign with the name of a female prisoner. The signs without names are dedicated to the women who were not identified.

Between 200 and 300 people were killed here or disappeared by being dropped in the ocean from helicopters. Around 3,000 people were killed by the regime. Villa Grimaldi will remain a strong reminder of those dark years, with the intention that these events never again will happen .