{"id":643,"date":"2023-09-09T22:51:54","date_gmt":"2023-09-09T22:51:54","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/iran3037.cl\/web\/?p=643"},"modified":"2023-09-09T22:55:53","modified_gmt":"2023-09-09T22:55:53","slug":"chile-political-prisoners-reclaim-torture-sites-to-preserve-coup-memory","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/iran3037.cl\/web\/chile-political-prisoners-reclaim-torture-sites-to-preserve-coup-memory\/","title":{"rendered":"Chile political prisoners reclaim torture sites to preserve coup memory"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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By Ivan Alvarado<\/a> and Natalia A. Ramos Miranda<\/a> September 9, 202312:19 PM GMT-3<\/p>\n\n\n\n

SANTIAGO, Sept 9 (Reuters) – Viola remembers the terror of being naked in front of her captors, the blows to her body and the pain. Carlos recounts being barely able to breathe amid beatings that left his ribs broken. For Alejandra, some horrors she would rather not put into words.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

Fifty years after a 1973 coup in Chile that ushered in 17 years of brutal military rule and saw some 40,000 people imprisoned, disappeared, tortured or killed, Reuters went with five former political prisoners to the sites of their confinement. The testimonies of three are included here.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

These places have become focal points of shared memory as victims and their families look to gain more control over the past, find out still hidden truths, and seek accountability for what took place during the dictatorship of General Augusto Pinochet.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Carlos Gonzalez was arrested and tortured by Pinochet’s secret police in 1976 at the age of 28. For months he was held in detention centers, including the Tres Alamos and Cuatro Alamos political prison camps in Santiago.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u00abThey beat you constantly. They beat you before asking you anything, you couldn’t breathe,\u00bb he told Reuters at another former detention center, the Clinica Santa Lucia. \u00abDoctors examined us with absolute contempt, they verified blows and injuries and you returned to the cell. Then you were beaten again.\u00bb<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u00abTorture is never erased from your mind. And sometimes, not from your body either.\u00bb<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Gonzalez said he had been a union activist and supporter of leftist former President Salvador Allende whom Pinochet had deposed in the coup, but worked in a bank and was no radical guerrilla. \u00abI was not very important,\u00bb he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Alejandra Holzapfel, who was 20 years old when she was detained, disappeared, tortured and jailed by the secret police of the Augusto Pinochet dictatorship, DINA, Direccion de Inteligencia Nacional (National Intelligence Directorate), poses for a picture at the place where she was held captive and subjected to torture, a former quarter of the DINA, known as Venda Sexy, which is currently a memorial, during the 50th anniversary of the coup d’etat, in Santiago, Chile<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

According to various official commissions, the total number of victims of the dictatorship is 40,175 people, with over 1,000 still missing. Chile returned to democracy in 1990, though Pinochet himself was never convicted of a crime and died in 2006.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Valech Commission, which was set up in the 2000s to investigate dictatorship-era rights abuses, established that firing squads, systematic torture, deprivation of liberty in illegal precincts, and violations of human rights had been a \u00abstate policy\u00bb.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Incorporating testimonies from more than 30,000 people, the Valech Commission found that women were also often the target of sexual violence.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Alejandra Holzapfel was held at a clandestine center known by police as \u00abVenda Sexy\u00bb (\u00absexy blindfold\u00bb), notorious as a place where sexual violence was used as a form of torture and where police agent Ingrid Olderock trained dogs to torture detainees.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Holzapfel was just 19 then and was a militant in the MIR, a far-left armed guerrilla revolutionary group that fought military rule.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u00abI don’t think I’ll be able to enter that house. I returned once in 1990 to remember it and it was terrible,\u00bb she told Reuters, who photographed the 70-year-old outside the estate that is now being converted into a site of remembrance.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u00abI don’t like to talk about it, I don’t like it because it re-victimizes me and hurts me,\u00bb said Holzapfel, who said she planned to escape after the emotional intensity of the anniversary by traveling to northern Chile to visit her grandchildren.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u00abWe have spent our lives trying to make people understand that what happened to us is real… the only thing you want is for it not to happen again,\u00bb she said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Viola Todorovic, 69, says the first time she was tortured she almost went into cardiac arrest. She was 19 and a MIR activist. She recalled being blindfolded and gagged at the Londres 38 former detention site.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u00abYou had to undress, they touched you. It was a horrible situation, it was worse than even having electricity put on you, but you couldn’t say anything either because they could see that was your weak point,\u00bb she said, visiting the building in downtown Santiago that is now a memorial site.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

She also spent almost a year in Tres Alamos, where she recounts that despite the torment, female prisoners created ways to support each other. They knitted, organized workshops, distributed food, and forged ties that remain.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u00abYou had no choice but to survive. They sought to break you and destroy you as a person,\u00bb she said. \u00abIn many cases, they succeeded.\u00bb<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Reporting by Ivan Alvaredo and Natalia Ramos; Editing by Adam Jourdan and Rosalba O’Brien<\/p>\n\n\n\n

FUENTE REUTERS<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

___________________<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

TRADUCCI\u00d3N<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Prisioneros pol\u00edticos chilenos recuperan sitios de tortura para preservar la memoria del golpe<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Por Ivan Alvarado y Natalia A. Ramos Miranda<\/p>\n\n\n\n

9 de septiembre de 2023<\/p>\n\n\n\n

SANTIAGO, 9 sep (Reuters) – Viola recuerda el terror de estar desnuda frente a sus captores, los golpes a su cuerpo y el dolor. Carlos cuenta que apenas pod\u00eda respirar en medio de golpizas que le dejaron las costillas rotas. Para Alejandra, hay algunos horrores que prefiere no poner en palabras.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Cincuenta a\u00f1os despu\u00e9s de un golpe de Estado en Chile en 1973 que inaugur\u00f3 17 a\u00f1os de brutal r\u00e9gimen militar y vio a unos 40.000 personas encarceladas, desaparecidas, torturadas o asesinadas, Reuters acompa\u00f1\u00f3 a cinco ex prisioneros pol\u00edticos a los sitios de su confinamiento. Se incluyen aqu\u00ed los testimonios de tres.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Estos lugares se han convertido en puntos focales de la memoria compartida, ya que las v\u00edctimas y sus familias buscan obtener m\u00e1s control sobre el pasado, descubrir verdades a\u00fan ocultas y buscar responsabilidades por lo ocurrido durante la dictadura del general Augusto Pinochet.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Carlos Gonz\u00e1lez fue arrestado y torturado por la polic\u00eda secreta de Pinochet en 1976 a la edad de 28 a\u00f1os. Durante meses estuvo detenido en centros de detenci\u00f3n, incluidos los campos de prisi\u00f3n pol\u00edtica Tres \u00c1lamos y Cuatro \u00c1lamos en Santiago.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u00abTe golpeaban constantemente. Te golpeaban antes de preguntarte cualquier cosa, no pod\u00edas respirar\u00bb, dijo a Reuters en otro antiguo centro de detenci\u00f3n, la Cl\u00ednica Santa Luc\u00eda. \u00abLos m\u00e9dicos nos examinaban con absoluto desprecio, verificaban los golpes y las lesiones y regresabas a la celda. Luego te golpeaban de nuevo\u00bb.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u00abLa tortura nunca se borra de tu mente. Y a veces, tampoco del cuerpo\u00bb.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Gonz\u00e1lez dijo que hab\u00eda sido un sindicalista y partidario del expresidente de izquierda Salvador Allende a quien Pinochet hab\u00eda depuesto en el golpe, pero trabajaba en un banco y no era ning\u00fan guerrillero radical. \u00abNo era muy importante\u00bb, dijo.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Seg\u00fan varias comisiones oficiales, el n\u00famero total de v\u00edctimas de la dictadura es de 40.175 personas, y m\u00e1s de 1.000 a\u00fan est\u00e1n desaparecidas. Chile regres\u00f3 a la democracia en 1990, aunque el propio Pinochet nunca fue condenado por un crimen y muri\u00f3 en 2006.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

La Comisi\u00f3n Valech, que se cre\u00f3 en la d\u00e9cada de 2000 para investigar los abusos contra los derechos humanos durante la dictadura, estableci\u00f3 que los pelotones de fusilamiento, la tortura sistem\u00e1tica, la privaci\u00f3n de libertad en recintos ilegales y las violaciones de los derechos humanos hab\u00edan sido una \u00abpol\u00edtica de Estado\u00bb.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Incorporando testimonios de m\u00e1s de 30.000 personas, la Comisi\u00f3n Valech descubri\u00f3 que las mujeres tambi\u00e9n eran a menudo objetivo de violencia sexual.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Alejandra Holzapfel fue retenida en un centro clandestino conocido por la polic\u00eda como \u00abVenda Sexy\u00bb, notorio como un lugar donde la violencia sexual se utilizaba como forma de tortura y donde la agente de polic\u00eda Ingrid Olderock entrenaba a los perros para torturar a los detenidos.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Holzapfel ten\u00eda s\u00f3lo 19 a\u00f1os entonces y era militante del MIR, un grupo guerrillero revolucionario de extrema izquierda armado que luch\u00f3 contra el gobierno militar.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u00abNo creo que pueda entrar a esa casa. Regres\u00e9 una vez en 1990 para recordarla y fue terrible\u00bb, dijo a Reuters, quien fotografi\u00f3 a la mujer de 70 a\u00f1os fuera de la finca que ahora se est\u00e1 convirtiendo en un sitio de memoria.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u00abNo me gusta hablar de eso, no me gusta porque me revictimiza y me duele\u00bb, dijo Holzapfel, quien dijo que planeaba escapar despu\u00e9s de la intensidad emocional del aniversario viajando al norte de Chile para visitar a sus nietos.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u00abHemos pasado nuestras vidas tratando de hacer que la gente entienda que lo que nos sucedi\u00f3 es real\u2026 lo \u00fanico que quieres es que no vuelva a suceder\u00bb, dijo.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Viola Todorovic, de 69 a\u00f1os, dice que la primera vez que la torturaron casi sufre un paro card\u00edaco. Ten\u00eda 19 a\u00f1os y era activista del MIR. Record\u00f3 estar vendada y amordazada en el antiguo sitio de detenci\u00f3n Londres 38.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u00abTen\u00edas que desnudarte, te tocaban. Fue una situaci\u00f3n horrible, fue peor que incluso cuando te electrocutaban, pero tampoco pod\u00edas decir nada porque pod\u00edan ver que ese era tu punto d\u00e9bil\u00bb, dijo, visitando el edificio en el centro de Santiago que ahora es un sitio memorial.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Tambi\u00e9n pas\u00f3 casi un a\u00f1o en Tres \u00c1lamos, donde recuerda que a pesar del tormento, las presas pol\u00edticas crearon formas de apoyarse mutuamente. Tej\u00edan, organizaban talleres, distribu\u00edan comida y forjaban lazos que perduran.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u00abNo ten\u00edas m\u00e1s remedio que sobrevivir. Buscaban romperte y destruirte como persona\u00bb, dijo. \u00abEn muchos casos, lo lograron\u00bb.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Reporte de Ivan Alvaredo y Natalia Ramos; Editado por Adam Jourdan y Rosalba O’Brien<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Ivan Alvarado and Natalia A. Ramos Miranda September 9, 202312:19 PM GMT-3 SANTIAGO, Sept 9 (Reuters) – Viola remembers the<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":644,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_eb_attr":"","_uag_custom_page_level_css":"","_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"iawp_total_views":22,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-643","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-sin-categoria"],"aioseo_notices":[],"uagb_featured_image_src":{"full":["https:\/\/iran3037.cl\/web\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/09\/R4JWHNVOSNN2JL36JMOL3Y6O4U.png",960,640,false],"thumbnail":["https:\/\/iran3037.cl\/web\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/09\/R4JWHNVOSNN2JL36JMOL3Y6O4U-150x150.png",150,150,true],"medium":["https:\/\/iran3037.cl\/web\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/09\/R4JWHNVOSNN2JL36JMOL3Y6O4U-300x200.png",300,200,true],"medium_large":["https:\/\/iran3037.cl\/web\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/09\/R4JWHNVOSNN2JL36JMOL3Y6O4U-768x512.png",640,427,true],"large":["https:\/\/iran3037.cl\/web\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/09\/R4JWHNVOSNN2JL36JMOL3Y6O4U.png",640,427,false],"1536x1536":["https:\/\/iran3037.cl\/web\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/09\/R4JWHNVOSNN2JL36JMOL3Y6O4U.png",960,640,false],"2048x2048":["https:\/\/iran3037.cl\/web\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/09\/R4JWHNVOSNN2JL36JMOL3Y6O4U.png",960,640,false],"morenews-large":["https:\/\/iran3037.cl\/web\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/09\/R4JWHNVOSNN2JL36JMOL3Y6O4U.png",825,550,false],"morenews-medium":["https:\/\/iran3037.cl\/web\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/09\/R4JWHNVOSNN2JL36JMOL3Y6O4U.png",590,393,false]},"uagb_author_info":{"display_name":"Editor","author_link":"https:\/\/iran3037.cl\/web\/author\/zeta\/"},"uagb_comment_info":0,"uagb_excerpt":"By Ivan Alvarado and Natalia A. Ramos Miranda September 9, 202312:19 PM GMT-3 SANTIAGO, Sept 9 (Reuters) – Viola remembers the","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/iran3037.cl\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/643","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/iran3037.cl\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/iran3037.cl\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/iran3037.cl\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/iran3037.cl\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=643"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/iran3037.cl\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/643\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":650,"href":"https:\/\/iran3037.cl\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/643\/revisions\/650"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/iran3037.cl\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/644"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/iran3037.cl\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=643"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/iran3037.cl\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=643"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/iran3037.cl\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=643"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}