Chile identifies 35,000 victims of Pinochet

[Englander]

http://www.guardian.co.uk/chile/story/0,13755,1351421,00.html

Jonathan Franklin in Santiago
Monday November 15, 2004
The Guardian

>> A year-long investigation into state-sponsored torture in Chile has documented that an estimated 35,000 people were abused during the 1973-90 military regime.

>>The report, which has not been made public, identifies dozens of secret facilities under the control of General Augusto Pinochet, who headed the military junta.

>>The National Commission on Political Prisoners and Torture presented its study to President Ricardo Lagos late last week. The three volumes include hundreds of new claims about torture tactics, ranging from sexual abuse using dogs, to forcing suspects to watch as family members were sodomised or slowly electrocuted.

>>"This is a historic step. Now those of us who were political prisoners are recognised, both socially and officially," said Mireya Garcia, of the Association of Families of the Dead and Disappeared. "I hope that this report becomes an integral part of the formation of new generations, so that in Chile never again is there torture." <<

[DELUSIONAL]

1. Compare that the bushie's totals --

that puts bushie's war crimes in a historical context/perspective.

from above -- what does this remind us of:

torture tactics, ranging from sexual abuse using dogs

I wonder if this sick creeps learn from each other -- or if they invent the same sick torture techniques independently?

It is part of the healing process of a Nation -- to face what has been done in detail -- in the hopes that this sort of horror won't happen again.

How long before the US starts the healing process -- when bush is very very old and most of us are very old? Meanwhile the GOPigs will attempt to turn bushie and RayGun into saints or gods.

[imenja]

3. It was a US backed military dictatorship.

The Pinochet government was installed by a coup planned and backed by the US under Richard Nixon. Henry Kissinger, then Secretary of State, knew about Pinochet's war crimes and commented that a little thing like human rights shouldn't interfere with US-Chilean relations.
The 1973 coup against Salvador Allende that installed Pinochet ended the longest running democracy (over 100 years) in Latin America. Pinochet was one of many right-wing military dictatorships that tortured and disappeared people while being bankrolled by the US. US corporations profited greatly from political repression and murder, as labor union leaders were among the key targets. (ITT conspired directly with the CIA to overthrow Allende.) Military regimes also fit in the US larger Cold War policy.
As for learning torture from each other, Latin American military officers have been trained in "interrogation techniques" at the School of the Americas in Fort Benning, GA.
Basically your tax dollars, or those of your parents, went to fund murder in torture throughout Latin America.

[DELUSIONAL]

4. There is a good movie with Jack Lemon -- which really

captured the horror of what the people went through. Of course it is from the American perspective -- an American was disappeared -- and his father comes to Chile to help with the search -- but as a device to bring the horror to the attention of the movie going public the film was excellent. This was once of Jack Lemon's best roles. There was a link to Kissinger approving or knowing about the disappearance of "troublesome" Americans in Chile.

(I also liked Jack Lemon when he teamed with James Garner -- they were two ex-Presidents being set up by the current VP who want to move into the Oval office -- what I really liked about the end of the movie was that the VP was lead out in hand cuffs. This was a comedy -- but in light of what has happened in the last few weeks -- seems all too real.)

The alternative magazines were doing their best to report about the US backed coup in Chile -- most people in the US believed their government's claim about commies running wild in South America.

[CBHagman]

14. That's the film "Missing."

By the way, it always used to drive me out of my mind that the right wing in this country were ready to excuse Pinochet because of a pro-capitalist stance. I recall picking up the Buffalo News one day in the 1980s and seeing an op-ed piece by Phyllis Schlafly on how Pinochet wasn't that bad (!!).

Of course, Bush and his administration like to talk about how Saddam Hussein tortured people and how the Taliban abused women (Am I the only one who notices that Bush seems to relish talking about whippings, torture, and killings?), and how we've supposedly saved Iraqis and Afghanis from such things, but the fact remains that the U.S. backed Saddam and others, even though it knew what he was. The concept of a power in the Middle East to balance Iran was part of that reasoning, if one can call it reasoning.

[struggle4progress]

19. "Missing" is essentially non-fiction. A few names were changed.

Informative old book: "The Death of Charles Horman"

[peacetalksforall]

8. deleted

dupe

[LynnTheDem]

2. Bahhhhh...Pinochet's a beginner. BUSH has 100,000+ victims.

And bush is just getting started!

[DELUSIONAL]

5. bush also started late -- 2002 before he could rack up the body count

What will his body count be by 2004 -- or beyond? Could be some of us will be disappeared -- could be that this is happening now? One citizen is being held without trial, lawyers or any of the rights supposed to be guaranteed under the US Constitution (or should this now be called bush's TP?)

[0007]

6. junior makes Henry A. Kissinger look like a sick whore when

it comes to morals, eh?

[dArKeR]

7. I'm sure this is Saddam they're talking about? Trained by the Americans.

A story we'll see the Heritage Foundation and Pat Robertson pick right up on.

Friendly Dictators (website is down, found this copy:
http://weaver.freeservers.com/SouthAmerica.html

Third World Butchers
http://www.thirdworldtraveler.com/US_ThirdWorld/dictators.html

[bluedonkey]

9. September 11.1973

May they all rest in peace.
I still want to see Pinochet hanging in the town square!

[barbaraann]

11. 9-11???

Just a coincidence?

[imenja]

15. Isabel Allende

Isabel Allende says it was karmic, essentially implying that fate has a way of making a people pay for their past crimes. She discussed this in an interview on the Diane Rehm show (wamu.org) that you can access through the show's archives.

[Zynx]

20. The death tolls from Pinochet and 9/11 are nearly identical too.

Both around three thousand.

[peacetalksforall]

10. Put this on your reading list...The Secret History of the CIA by

Joseph J. Trento.

Much of it covers Chile. You can find the detail for what imenja is saying.

I observed while reading that Nixon's ‘project’ for Chile was the perfect marriage of corporation (ITT), intelligence (CIA), politics (Nixon-Kissinger), military (assistance), media (NYT & Hersch - not in good light).

[DELUSIONAL]

17. Thanks -- ITT -- was the detail that I was trying to remember

This has been added to my reading list --

The Secret History of the CIA

So damned amazing that a phone company was powerful enough to lobby for the removal of an democratically elected President.


This is a history we must not forget -- the political meddling in other countries seems to most always end in violence.

[peacetalksforall]

18. They were involved in large land and building ownership, also. I thought

Chile was also related to copper. I'll check.

When you examine all the nasty dealing it is always about the earth. Earth's resources. Including all inhabitants. Humans are just pestier then pests and they have to think up fancier ways to fool us and control us.

[Minstrel Boy]

12. "I don't see why we have to let a country go Marxist

just because its people are irresponsible." - Henry Kissinger

"Of all of the leaders in the region, we considered Allende the most inimical to our interests. He was vocally pro-Castro and opposed to the United States. His internal policies were a threat to Chilean democratic liberties and human rights." - Kissinger

"Not a nut or bolt shall reach Chile under Allende. Once Allende comes to power we shall do all within our power to condemn Chile and all Chileans to utmost deprivation and poverty." - Edward Korry, US Ambassador to Chile

source

[Solon]

13. A more personal perspective...

Salvador Allende's niece describes her memories of Chile's coup, she was a journalist at the time and is a very good writer. Her book, "My Invented Country" is very timely. She talks about her mixed feelings, being a Chilean-American and seeing, on the same date, 9/11, as her Uncle was overthrown, the Twin Towers falling. She describes in detail the what it feels like to be an exile, literally, from your own home. Its a heartbreaking and yet hopeful and nostalgic book.

ON EDIT: Forgot to give her full name, stupid me: Her name is Isabel Allende, even after marriage she keeps the name.

[imenja]

16. House of the Spirits is also wonderful

It doesn't get to the coup until the final chapters of the book, but it's an amazing working of literature. In regard to the coup, it shows how wealthy Chileans who backed the coup came to regret their support for Pinochet after discovering how brutal his government was.

[Zynx]

21. Somebody post this on the FreeRepublic and watch them defend him.

That should be good for increasing our disgust of them.