SANTIAGO (Reuters) – As Chile prepares to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the 1973 coup against former President Salvador Allende, one question has been increasingly asked: “Where are they?”.
The country is intensifying its efforts to find answers, with progressive President Gabriel Boric launching a National Search Plan on Wednesday. This initiative aims to organize the vast amount of case files and investigations in order to uncover new leads.
During the brutal 17-year dictatorship of General Augusto Pinochet, approximately 40,175 people were executed, detained and disappeared, or subjected to torture as political prisoners. This information is based on findings by various commissions and is provided by the Ministry of Justice.
Out of these victims, 1,469 individuals experienced forced disappearance. Among them, 1,092 were detained and disappeared, while the remaining 377 were executed and their remains were never returned.
“We used to have hope that they were alive, but as the years went by, we realized that they weren’t,” shared Juana Andreani, who was herself a detainee during the dictatorship and was a friend of one of the missing individuals, in an interview with Reuters.
“At the very least, they should inform us about their fate, about what was done to them. That is the most painful aspect of these 50 years.”
On September 11th, Chile will commemorate half a century since the coup, which was part of a wave of military dictatorship in the 1970s, also affecting countries like Argentina, Brazil, and Uruguay. In these countries, families have also been advocating for the disclosure of information regarding the disappeared.
However, the search efforts have mainly led to families receiving bone fragments that have been identified as belonging to their missing relatives. Many individuals remain undiscovered and unidentified throughout the region.
In a unique recent case, a 42-year-old lawyer, who was stolen as a newborn during the Pinochet era and raised in the United States, met his biological mother for the first time after using DNA tracing to locate her.
Victims of human rights violations and their relatives argue that the Armed Forces possess more undisclosed information about the fate of the missing and deceased individuals. They are urging for the declassification of files in the United States.
The declassification of daily briefings presented to former U.S. President Richard Nixon on September 8th and 11th, 1973, occurred earlier this week. These documents shed light on how he was briefed about the coup in Chile.
In Chile, there have been numerous trials and convictions for human rights violations. However, General Pinochet himself, who passed away in December 2006 at the age of 91, was never held accountable for his role in these crimes.
Despite these efforts, many individuals still seek further answers and accountability.
“Clearly, the higher ranks of the Armed Forces bear responsibility. What happened to the corpses?” questioned Carlos González, who was detained and tortured by the military during the dictatorship.
“It is unacceptable that we still do not know the fate of around 1,000 Chileans. This is simply untenable.”
(Reporting by Reporting by Natalia Ramos and Reuters TV; Editing by Adam Jourdan and Sandra Maler)
Credit: The Star : News Feed
