LEGALIZED REPRESSION IN CHILE
Schirmer, Jennifer G.
After recently spending a month in Chile—meeting with teachers, human rights workers and lawyers —it is clear to me that the contradictory maze of constitutional laws, penal codes, executive...
...Two such large-scale actions were carried out in December 1982 at La Cisterna and Nuevo Amanecer, and "1,500 male residents were yanked out of their beds and held for 12 hours on a tract of wasteland fixed up as a concentration camp...
...About 1,000 suspects are arrested each month in Chile now, with people being picked up from their homes, off the streets, and at work...
...Castillo was exiled twice, the second time in August 1981 for defending workers' right to petition the government in cases of injustice...
...Surely, a country such as Chile does not deserve a U.S...
...One never knows when one may need these—when there is always the threat of torture and death...
...Enfrentamientos: The "Shootouts" BESIDES THE TACTIC of mass arrests, detention, and torture, another legal form of repression is used by the security forces: the enfrentamiento, or "shootout," in which the victim is surrounded by soldiers, and murdered...
...Such mass detentions are part of the new planned, institutionalized repression used in the last few years by the security forces...
...Police Tactics and Mass Arrests BETWEEN MIDNIGHT of June 25 and dawn of June 26, 1982, in Santiago, 1,631 people were arrested and 196 detained—"in order to maintain civil peace" (El Mercurio and La Tercera, June 27...
...A 3:00 to 5:00 A.M...
...It is this kind of officially unofficial violence that we who work in human rights must watch out for...
...Others whose witness was of great help must unfortunately remain nameless...
...This ruling amounts to giving the state legalized license, making torture and kidnapping the legal norm...
...This journalist brought her case to court...
...They are doing exactly what they say they are protecting us from," he said, "what they say the Communists do— police raids by night, detention without trial, cruel torture, and threats to one's family...
...This causes tremendous fear in the population," a human rights worker told me...
...Union leaders are prohibited by law from broad-base organizing, holding meetings, negotiating collectively, petitioning, or coordinating strikes...
...Rather, it is imperative that the concept be expanded to take into account the repressive nature of a regime that is arresting thousands every month and has constitutionally legitimized torture and public executions...
...military and economic aid to Chile...
...3607, Nufloa, Santiago, Chile...
...As one of them said to me: This new form of violence may be emanating from middle-class elements, who see themselves losing control economically and are panicked by the fear of the center-left taking over again...
...287 political, secret "security" police—formerly DINA) to eliminate opponents and maintain control...
...307...
...That is why I carry this thick packet of international [protection] cards, like this one from the Canadian consul...
...How can this be justified in a country where the government has so much con289 trol, police and security forces are so efficient in repressing opponents, and where the government says there is so much 'peace and tranquillity...
...His corpse later was found...
...In the words of the Association of Lawyers for Human Rights in Chile, recorded in their Bulletin of November 1980 — It is evident that torture is...
...PIDEE provides psychological help (with four child psychologists on hand) and economic aid for the children of the disappeared, the tortured, the exiled, and the executed...
...We have been told by the government that we have no right to exist, despite this lovely framed charter of human rights there, above my head," a top official at the Human Rights Commission said to me, waving his hand toward that frame on the wall behind his rickety desk in the large, unheated room overlooking the Alameda, Santiago's main thoroughfare...
...But—"Who has the right to live in peace in Chile, if Tucapel Jimenez doesn't...
...We know who arrested and persecuted our representatives in December 1981, but we just can't know where or when desconocidos will come for us, or for others...
...curfew is constantly in force, and there are two sets of regulations covering simultaneously states of "emergency," renewed every 90 days, and "the threat of disruption of internal peace," renewed every six months...
...For if today's Chile can be presented by the Reagan administration as respecting human rights, then the very words cease to have meaning...
...Economic Decline and Political Repression CHILE'S GNP fell by 14 percent in 1982—the steepest drop in Latin America (in war-torn El Salvador, GNP dropped by 4 percent), and there were 810 bankruptcies in Chile that year, the most since 1962...
...288 former director, Jaime Castillo—a right-wing theoretician of the Christian Democratic party—was a co-author of Marxism...
...asked an editorial in the Christian journal Mensaje (April 1982, no...
...In the state's official language, this was done "to maintain public order and prevent crime" (Chilean Human Rights Report, May 1982...
...The student was tortured to death...
...Chile Advances Through Peace and Order...
...After recently spending a month in Chile—meeting with teachers, human rights workers and lawyers —it is clear to me that the contradictory maze of constitutional laws, penal codes, executive decrees, and ministerial directives provides the Pinochet regime with a constitutional facade it uses to legitimate the sophisticated, brutal forms of violence by which its security forces make innocent people their victims in the name of "peace and order...
...On February 26, 1982, Tucapel Jimenez, president of Chile's National Association of Public Employees (AN EF), who called for the unity of workers in preparation for a strike, was brutally knifed by desconocidos...
...P1DEE, the organization called the Protection of Children Damaged by the States of Emergency,' was founded in May 1979...
...And surely, the total silence about this outrage in the U.S...
...According to the Solidarity Vicariate of the Roman Catholic Church and the Chilean Human Rights Commission, in 1982 the cases of torture reported by victims had risen to 95, compared to 65 in 1981...
...In two cases I heard of, helicopters were used to bomb the homes of "terrorists...
...In any case, the increasing frequency of such kidnappings and murders threatens the safety of human rights workers, too...
...And not only the victims' children—the children of human rights workers, too, experience threats by the CNI...
...Their hands are tied, along with those of the press," a law professor told me...
...In some cases, there are many witnesses...
...I am indebted to Andres Dominguez and Gustavo Rayo of the Chilean Human Rights Commission for their gracious help while I was in Chile and their excellent article, "Respuesta al Informe Reagan," Analisis, April 1982 (Santiago...
...Between January 1981 and February 1982, in Santiago, 35 cases of kidnapping by desconocidos were reported...
...Many of the victims had relatives who were previously detained, registered and tortured, and some of the victims themselves had been arrested before, and tortured...
...he now lives in exile in Venezuela...
...Between January 19, 1981 and February 25, 1982, 27 persons were killed in such planned "shootouts...
...It is a system that requires torturers in the name of "National Security...
...In this particular raid, 800 police officials of five city districts participated, using 150 patrol cars—"apprehending suspects with the object of preventing crime and of bringing them before the courts in order to contribute to civil peace...
...Two other human rights representatives were arrested in September 1981...
...Riveras had previously been arrested, tortured, imprisoned, and released without evidence of "terrorism...
...As one young woman of the student PIDEE welcomes all contributions at Avenida Holanda no...
...But if you know anything about Chile, you know that we don't carry guns on the streets here...
...Many innocent people are told they're guilty of such killings and sentenced to death," a human rights worker told me...
...This terrifying action frequently occurs after a member of the military or a CNI agent has been killed...
...State Department's 1981 report on Chile's "improvement in human rights" is a flagrant omission...
...Torture AT THE HEART of this legalized environment of fear is the systematic use of torture---a massive attack on the human body's physical and mental balance —by the government's various security forces...
...I can mention merely a few here...
...According to a Chilean supreme court ruling of August 1982, the state's authorities may not be questioned about the clandestine detention centers or the whereabouts of persons who have disappeared...
...He showed me a long list of cases...
...It is] a technique that now is part of the regular detention methods...
...The psychological toll this violence takes on the children of Chile, and thus on the country's future, is incalculable...
...It's supposedly an act of reprisal, and launched against anyone who's around and can be labeled "subversive...
...From Ormiga, a clandestine paper written and published by women in the poblaciones, Santiago's shantytowns...
...It also surely stems from certain sectors in the police and the army who aren't getting their "portion of the pie...
...Although a 1981 U.S...
...For instance, 20 workers at a construction site watched as one worker was surrounded by soldiers and gunned down...
...What of Human Rights...
...not a fortuitous activity but regularly practiced by persons in the police, the army, and the secret services of the government...
...Habeas corpus, although constitutionally recognized in Chile as inalienable, with guarantees of "personal liberty and individual security," is suspended during the continuous states of emergency...
...Human rights workers—the lawyers who defend tortured prisoners and the doctors who attend the victims of torture—are living under constant threat and surveillance...
...Cecilia survived...
...movement said, who had been tortured, "If you were to ask me whether I would want to have a child—a child of fear—I would say, positively, no...
...Although completely independent legally, the courts may not take [independent] action...
...Witnesses of other "shootouts," as that of Lisandro Sandoval T. on August 20, 1981, have described what they saw as a public execution— not a shootout at all...
...administration's certification that it has made "progress" in regard to human rights...
...Thus the annulment of appeals for human rights is legitimized by the state...
...These extralegal actions are publicly condemned—to give an appearance of legitimacy and constitutionality to Pinochet's regime...
...It does as much as can be managed, with its small, dedicated staff and its meager means—and its many needy, mourning, disturbed, and damaged young clients in need of help...
...People who are arrested are usually blindfolded and taken to "secret" detention centers, which now are legally accepted by the courts...
...On October 20, 1981, Hugo Riveras, an art student at Bellas Artes, was arrested, without reason, at his home by unidentified CNI agents or desconocidos after the death of one of their colleagues...
...And these things don't happen by accident," the human rights official who keeps track of police tactics told me...
...With the "economic miracle" now an economic disaster, there remains only repression— and the Pinochet regime survives only through that: legally sanctioned repression...
...The constitution also grants the Pinochet regime the right to exile persons from their domicile to various Chilean cities for a maximum of three months, to deny permission to hold meetings or to print new publications...
...he had been shot, after suffering cruel torture...
...2 Increasingly, the police are using torture as a standard interrogation technique...
...She recalls "with total certainty" that her kidnappers were not merely members of COVEMA (troops of the Comando Vengadores de Martires) but none other than the Chief of Homicide (BH) and the Chief of Investigations of Assault (BI A...
...State Department report pointed to a decrease in the number of disappeared persons as evidence of Chile's "improved" condition of human rights, it failed to describe the new tactics used by the army, police, and CNI (the ' This does not include people working on the minimumemployment project (PEM), who earn between 2,000 and 5,000 pesos ($27 and $55) a month mending roads and repainting government buildings...
...In May 1982 alone, over 3,241 persons were arrested for participation in May Day activities...
...Such actions are always reported in the press and by the police as a shootout with an armed terrorist," I was told...
...Chile's foreign debt now stands at $17 billion —one of the highest per-capita national debts in the world...
...About 100 people were arrested as they were leaving that meeting...
...Over 40 percent of the work force is working at or below the minimum wage of 6,000 pesos ($83) a month...
...They all turned away and ran off, because they didn't want to see anything...
...Officially, the police claimed they were looking for "delinquents and weapons" (Manchester Guardian, March 13, 1983...
...WITH 35 U.S.-OWNED mineral companies now exploring in Chile, with rumors that the old American military base on Easter Island may be reopened, and with the development of a Chilean arms industry bracing for export to the rest of Latin America, it is perhaps no surprise that the Reagan administration is anxious not to acknowledge the Pinochet regime's abuses of human rights—but eager to end the present embargo of U.S...
...A priest who works in the poblaciones (shantytowns) told me of almost nightly incidents of machine-gun fire and helicopters with searchlights circling above the roofs...
...In the future, there might emerge in Chile such organizations as Mano Blanca in Guatemala and Orden in El Salvador...
...The people who were responsible for this crime have never been found," said now-exiled Manuel Bustos, then president of the Coordinadora Nacional Sindical (one of several now illegal coordinating groups of labor leaders in Chile), at the clandestine May Day meeting a few months later...
...Loopholes need to be closed that allow both military dictators and neoconservatives to make a sham of these inalienable rights...
...The ratio of victims to soldiers in these actions is often 1 to 50, or 1 to 100, or even 2 to 400...
...This constitutional basis for repressive actions by executive order virtually annuls human rights for Chileans and legalizes a climate of repression...
...Rotating sign in three languages at Santiago Airport...
...According to the Special Report to the United Nations on Chile of November 6, 1981, "These victims were persons not involved in violent activities but often simply political opponents, and some of them had refused to become informers for the security organizations...
...one of them was severely tortured, and both now also are exiles...
...We have to commemorate May Day behind four walls [can't meet outdoors] because they are afraid of us, because the truth that our voices proclaim reveals the obscurantism of the present," said Eduardo Rios, president of the UDT (Democratic Union of Workers) at a 1982 clandestine meeting of union leaders, workers, and human rights activists...
...The journalist Cecilia Alzamora, along with a journalism student (whose name I, alas, do not know), was kidnapped from a taxi on Santiago's busiest thoroughfare, the Alameda, on July 23, 1980, at midday (as seven others were, too, later that August...
...290...
...So far, the special prosecutor—claiming for the accused officials the protection of the law that is to preserve state security—has blocked the presentation of evidence, and so has prevented Alzamora's case from coming to trial...
...PIDEE has plenty of work to do...
...They told us this charter was a Communist facade and that our Human rights activists say that the real figures reach well into the hundreds...
...Whether these new forms of violence are perpetrated by government-sponsored death squads or are happening because the state now is losing control over its own security forces is not clear to human rights workers...
...According to police statistics (and we must assume here some omissions and deletions), over 1 million people (1,112,667) were arrested in 1977 alone (twice as many as in 1970...
...Unemployment exceeds 30 percent) Wages continue to fall, and there is a serious food shortage...
...it takes its toll on their families, too...
...PIDEE—Aiding the Victims' Children THE DAMAGE of this systematic, legalized repression not only affects those who are detained and tortured...
...The use of this tactic "has increased to such an extent that it makes one believe it has been substituted for the tactic of 'disappearances' " (Chilean Human Rights Report, 1982...
...The police frequently carry out these raids in the poblaciones—the shantytowns on Santiago's outskirts—where unemployment can be as high as 70 percent...
...And Article 24—which President Pinochet has attached to the constitution and calls a "transitional statute [ensuring] gradual evolution toward democracy"—enables him to maintain a state of emergency, to suspend civil rights, and to detain persons accused of "disturbing the peace" for up to 20 days, either under house arrest or in establishments other than prisons...
...In the past year alone, 40 of them were persecuted...
...The victim] is beaten and mistreated in an objective, regulated, "technical" manner...
...Police cars, for example, are equipped with 4,000-watt electric batons, and, during "interrogations," state-paid doctors are on hand making sure that torture is skillfully meted out without leaving visible traces...
...They are well-planned...
...Ironically, a few days after Jimenez's murder the state of emergency again was renewed for another 90 days—in the words of the state, "to assure the tranquillity that Chileans have enjoyed since 1973...
...Chile's new constitution, enacted September 11, 1980, grants an impressive array of powers to the president...
...Kidnappings by Desconocidos ANOTHER FORM of legalized state repression is the kidnapping by desconocidos ("unknown"), which often ends with murder...
...Torture has become such a grave problem that the National Committee Against Torture was recently formed by human rights activists in Chile (Hoy, January 12-18,1983...
Vol. 30 • July 1983 • No. 3
