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After a blissful three days in Easter Island, we returned to discover more of Chile's capital, Santiago. Just two stops away by subway from our hotel doing double duty as a hostel was the Museo de La Memoria y Los Derechos Humanos. The purpose of the Museum of Human Rights was to reveal the systemic human rights violations following the coup that established the dictatorship of Agosto Pinochet after former president Salvador Allende was killed in September of 1973. It was impossible for us to spend considerable time in Chile without wanting to learn about the attempt to eradicate democracy during the coup, the resulting detention, torture and murder of Chilean citizens.
On entering, we learned that more than 30 countries, including Kenya, Uganda, Sri Lanka and Nepal, have created a Commission of Truth and Reconciliation to discover the truth of what happened during dictatorships and civil wars. The photos of those memorials were very moving.
In Chile, there were two human rights commissions following the dictatorship and after democracy had been restored in 1989. The first, in 1990, looked into the death and disappearance of thousands of Chileans. The focus of the second, in 2004, was the torture of Pinochet's opponents.
Sadly, neither commission had any legal recourse to bring perpetrators to justice. The commissions revealed there were 3,185 documented deaths - another 30 cases were subsequently found - and 38,191 citizens were subjected to political imprisonment and torture from 1973-1990.
At 6 pm on September 11, 1973, the coup occurred, the junta took over the country and millions of Chileans' lives changed forever. Summary executions were ordered of all who resisted. Books were banned evoking scenes of other dictatorships throughout history, Congress was closed, and a curfew was in force for 15 of the dictatorship's 17 years.
When all media outlets were shut down, the junta used the press as their mouthpiece. Some Chileans sought refuge in embassies to save their lives while others left en masse if they could.
At the former Santiago Public Jail, political prisoners were kept among the common penal population.
3,600 decrees were issued to eliminate Allende supporters. Two law enforcement agencies were created between 1973 and 1980 to gather information about opponents to Pinochet's regime.
There was international condemnation of the Chilean dictatorship and people around the world staged major protests in support of Chile's people. The government reacted by revoking the citizenship of thousands of Chileans. Though Nixon's government supported the coup, and therefore the US bears some responsibility, this connection was little emphasized in the exhibitions.
There was a national plebiscite in 1974 to combat the international repudiation of the junta. According to official reports, three quarters of the people voted yes but that figure was overwhelmingly skewed. Note the black rectangle over the 'no' option and the flag over the 'yes' option.
There were more than 1,000 detention centers and prison camps throughout Chile. The military tried to justify the extra-judicial executions, i.e. those outside the law, by saying they were firing on people trying to escape.
Most of the almost 40,000 people that were detained were subject to torture without a trial or due process. Their dignity and rights were ignored to break their will and gain information about people opposing the regime. Detainees were subject to electroshock after being strip searched, shackled, blindfolded and water thrown on them to make sure they felt the electrocution. Other torture methods included asphyxia, extreme temperature changes, repeated beatings, sleep disruption, mock executions, sexual assault and violations, and witnessing attacks on others.
One of the most brutal methods imaginable was when people were dumped from helicopters into the ocean to hide the means of their deaths after family members began the long search for their loved ones. Shackles were found much later on the ocean floor showing prisoners had been forcibly restrained before being thrown overboard.
One of the more heartrending exhibits were the children's letters and pictures as they watched armed strangers violently entering their homes and saw family members taken away, often never to be seen again.
The Pro-Peace Committee, led by Catholic and Protestant clerics, offered legal assistance to victims of oppression was begun by Cardinal Raul Silva Henriquez who was called a tireless fighter for human rights, the poor people's lawyer and the 'voice for the voiceless.' Thousands of Chileans paid their respects when he died in 1999. Other groups also fought for people's rights as soon as the dictatorship began. Victims' families organized hunger strikes.
The Women for Life movement created life-size figures of women in downtown Santiago who were imprisoned and later disappeared called 'Did You Forget Me?' to remember the victims.
An immense glass cube of thousands of photos of victims called for personal introspection and reflection and made us ponder how we might have reacted in face of such evil.
The rest of the museum had gripping photos and stories of students protesting in the 1980s to rebuild their universities. In 1988, when a coalition of 13 groups banded together to vote no in a national plebiscite, the 'No' vote won and elections took place the following year. When the first democratically elected president was elected in 1990 after 17 years of Pinochet's dictatorship, he called for peace and reconciliation at the National Stadium in Santiago (below) where so many had been detained and tortured. He swore there would 'never again be hatred among brothers.'
Steven and I hadn’t known that Pinochet was sworn in as ‘Senator for Life’ shortly after he lost the election. Despite the end of the dictatorship, he remained the Commander-in-Chief of the Chilean Army until 1998. As a senator, he was also immune from any legal actions for his crimes. Recently, the toll of death and torture under Pinochet's dictatorship was increased to over 40,000 people.
Seeing thousands of pictures on the wall, accounts of brutal torture, murder, detention centers, and utter cruelty brought me to tears. But the power in the museum was in the individual stories of what people endured and how they struggled successfully to overthrow the military dictatorship.
After spending several hours in the museum, we needed something light and pleasant to enjoy so we walked across the street to Parque Quinta Normal, a 75-acre park with three museums within its borders and two more down the block!
The pretty park did indeed fit our bill in terms of a reprieve from the heavy topic of the gross violation of human rights at the museum.
Never had we seen such interesting stone seats that faced different directions!
The entrance to the metro was probably the biggest one we'd ever seen. Another unusual thing were the number of people choosing to sit on the floor in the subway.
The Estación Mapocho, in use from 1905-1987, with its trio of two-story arches framed by intricate terracotta detailing had to have been as elegant as any train station in the world.
After trains were diverted to the main station, the space was converted into one of the city's principal arts and cultural centers. The cavernous station that once was home to steam engines was now host to musical performances and other events.
A couple of blocks away, a towering church spire caught my fancy so I wandered over to see it while Steven stayed by the station.
I smiled when I saw the famous Spanish phrase that said, 'My home is your home,' as I had never thought of it in connection with a church before that.
Nearby was the Mercado Central that we'd only been able to see from the outside on our previous visit to Santiago earlier in the week. Farmers' markets are always a magnet for us when we travel so we were excited to see Santiago's most famous market.
The stunning wrought-iron ceiling, reminiscent of a Victorian train station, was prefabricated in England and erected in Santiago between 1868 and 1872.
We were surprised that there were several restaurants in the center of the market and not market stalls as we thought there would be.
Seeing the fishmonger reminded me of my days working in a fish store while attending university in Ottawa. I pitied my fellow students who were also studying American Colonial History as I am sure I stunk to high heaven!
One of the strangest scenes anywhere in the world was spotting this car leaving the Metropolitana Cathedral in the city's main square, Plaza de Armas, on our way back to the hotel/hostel!
Next post: Valparaiso: The marvelous city of stairs and murals!
Posted on April 27th, 2018, on a beautiful spring day in Littleton, Colorado.
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