PART ONE
Chapter One

Methodology and Work of the National Commission
on Truth and Reconciliation in Preparing This Report

1. OBJECTIVES OF THE COMMISSION
   
   On May 9, 1990, by publishing Supreme Decree No. 355 of the Ministry of the Interior in the Diario Oficial,^a His Excellency, the President of the Republic, created this National Commission on Truth and Reconciliation. Its purpose has been to help the nation come to a clear overall understanding of the most serious human rights violations committed in recent years in order to aid in the reconciliation of all Chileans.
   
   At that time the president believed that for the sake of the nation's moral conscience the truth had to be brought to light, for only on such a foundation, he said, would it be possible to satisfy the most basic requirements of justice and create the necessary conditions for achieving true national reconciliation.
   
   This Commission was charged with four tasks:
   
   
   • To establish as complete a picture as possible of those grave events, as well as their antecedents and circumstances;
     
     
   • To gather evidence that might make it possible to identify the victims by name and determine their fate or whereabouts;
     
     
   • To recommend such measures of reparation and the restoration of people's good name as it regarded as just; and
     
     
   • To recommend the legal and administrative measures which in its judgement should be adopted in order to prevent further grave human rights violations from being committed.
     
     
   As it began to operate, the Commission believed that its primary duty was to determine what really had happened in every case in which human rights had been seriously violated. Only by clearly determining what had happened in each individual instance would the Commission be able to draw up as complete a picture as possible of the overall phenomenon of the violations of these basic rights. Knowing this individual truth was also the indispensable basis for measures to repair, insofar as possible, the harm done to families, to identify the victims, and to recommend measures that might be taken to prevent such actions from recurring.
   
   As will be explained in the following chapter, the decree itself set clear limits to the actions that were to be investigated. The president judged that in order to meet its objectives the Commission should complete its task in a relatively short period of time. Accordingly, only the most grave violations could be considered and investigated. The decree defined such violations as disappearances of people who had been arrested, executions, torture leading to death when committed by agents of the government or people in its service, and those kidnappings and attempts on peoples' lives committed by private citizens for political purposes. The decree also specified that those events leading to death or disappearance should be brought to the Commission only if they were committed between September 11, 1973 and March 11, 1990. Events outside the country could be considered if they were connected to the Chilean government or to the nation's political life.
   
   The investigation of these events was to be published in a report containing the Commission's conclusions on these matters in accordance with an honest and conscientious judgement by its members.
   
   The decree stated that because the judiciary could not be expected to quickly provide the country with an overall understanding of what had happened, this Commission was charged with that task. That document also made quite clear the differences between this Commission and the courts. In accordance with a solid and well-established principle in the area of human rights, it was determined that in no case was the Commission to take on legal functions proper to the courts nor to interfere in cases already pending. In order to make the matter even more explicit, the Commission was expressly prohibited from making pronouncements on whether and to what extent particular persons might be responsible for the events it investigated.
   
   In order to achieve its purposes the Commission was empowered to carry out whatever inquiry and measures it judged appropriate, including requesting reports, documents, or evidence from government authorities and agencies. The same decree obligated government officials and bodies to offer their full collaboration within their own specific area of competence. The Commission did not have the authority to oblige anyone to appear before it and testify.
   
   Thus the task was understood as being moral in character: to examine as much evidence as possible about the most serious human rights violations of this period and report its findings based on its honest and considered judgement. The aim was to enlighten the country and its government officials, so that knowing this truth might help them to make the decisions they determined most apt for bringing about national reconciliation.
   
   
2. KNOWLEDGE OF THE TRUTH
   
   
   1. DECIDING WHICH CASES THE COMMISSION SHOULD CONSIDER
      
      After approving an overall work plan and by-laws, and hiring the first staff members, the Commission sought to invite all the relatives of the victims of these events to register their cases, and to make an appointment to meet with the Commission. They could register in the Commission's offices in Santiago, in regional offices of the national government, and in many of the provincial governorships, which provided space for this purpose. Outside the country they could go to Chilean embassies and consulates. Notices were published several times in different publications. Cases were registered during June 1990.
      
      Meanwhile, as the Commission was planning its work in greater detail and approving procedures for the work of its staff, lists of those who had died as a result of human rights violations were sought and received from the various branches of the armed forces and from the police as well as from other organized groups, such as business, labor, and professional organizations, which had gathered evidence of such violations. Thus seven professional associations, the army, the navy, the air force, the police, the investigative police, the Socialist party, the Communist party, the MIR (Revolutionary Left Movement), the Vicariate of Solidarity, the Chilean Human Rights Commission, FASIC (Christian Churches Foundation for Social Welfare), CODEPU (Commission for the Rights of the People), the Pastoral Office for Human Rights of the Eighth Region, the Sebasti n Acevedo Movement Against Torture, CORPAZ (the National Corporation to Defend Peace), FRENAO (National Front of Independent Organizations), the Group of Relatives of those Arrested and Disappeared, the Group of Family Members of those Executed for Political Reasons, the CUT (Unified Labor Federation), and the National Commission of the Organization of Democratic Neighbors all brought their lists of victims to the Commission.
      
      Through registration by family members and information presented by these agencies, the Commission was able to decide on the overall body of cases it should examine. After duplications and errors had been eliminated, a little more than 3,400 cases remained.
      
      When the family members registered their cases with the Commission, in addition to the basic information about what had happened, they were asked to mention which agencies, groups, or organizations had already made some inquiry concerning the case. These agencies were then asked to provide the evidence they had been able to gather. Copies of initial court records were requested. Thus began the effort of consulting the archives of human rights organizations, particularly that of the Vicariate of Solidarity. The Commission could thus draw on a great deal of information already gathered about these matters.
      
      
   2. STAFF ORGANIZATION
      
      Determining the overall body of cases that the Commission should investigate made it possible to organize the staff more specifically. Certified lawyers and law school graduates were hired. Each lawyer, working with a law school graduate, began to study approximately two hundred cases.
      
      The Commission also hired a group of social workers in order to come to a proper understanding of the effects of these events on the victims' families, to reflect this truth in its report, and to lay the groundwork for its recommendations for reparation. The staff was aided by a computer team which was responsible for properly storing and retrieving all the information the Commission gathered, and a files and documentation unit, which was responsible for filing all documents received. Together with secretaries, technicians, and their assistants, the staff consisted of more than sixty people.1 All the professional people were chosen by the Commission, while support staff was proposed by the secretary and appointed by the president of the Commission. No more than ten percent of these people had prior experience with human rights organizations. The Commission's intention was that its staff take a fresh look at the cases it was to examine and report upon.
      
      In accordance with the terms of the decree, Commission members were not paid for their work, while the staff was hired to work by contract. All Commission expenses were paid with government funds provided by the Ministry of Justice, which offered continual support and assistance.
      
      
   3. TESTIMONY FROM FAMILY MEMBERS
      
      By the end of June, the Commission had a file on each case received, including the registration form and the request for an interview, along with all the relevant evidence previously gathered. The family members in the Metropolitan Region [Santiago and environs]2 who had requested an interview session were assigned a particular date and time.
      
      The lawyer, the social worker, and the law school graduate were present at these sessions; however, during the busiest periods only two of them might be present and in a very few exceptional cases only one of these people was able to be present. There was always one Commission member present in the office, taking part in the sessions and helping resolve any emergency problems that might present themselves.
      
      Each session lasted from forty-five minutes to an hour, although some lasted much longer. The Commission sought to obtain from relatives any information they could supply about the events. It particularly wanted any evidence that might serve to advance the investigation, such as the names of witnesses, and any information concerning proceedings initiated in the courts, human rights organizations, and other agencies. Relatives were also asked to explain the impact of these events on the family so that this aspect of the truth could be made known. This information was also intended to help provide the basis for devising policies for making reparation. The families were amazingly willing to put their trust in our group. For many of them, this was the first gesture made by the Chilean government to acknowledge their situation.
      
      When the Commission had determined how many sessions had been requested through the regional and provincial government offices throughout the country,3 it organized a schedule of visits to all these places and set dates for giving testimony. From July to September two members of the Commission, one or two social workers, and a varying number of lawyers and law school graduates visited each regional capital and practically all provincial capitals. Families were gathered in small groups so that they could express what they had suffered as a result of the grave human rights violations. This method proved very valuable, since it enabled many of them to share their experience and support one another. After these joint meetings, each family group met with a law school graduate and a lawyer, who after becoming familiar with the cases and gathering evidence where possible, recorded their accounts and testimony. Commission members organized their time so as to be present during as many interviews as possible.
      
      
   4. SUBSEQUENT INVESTIGATIONS
      
      Once the interviews had taken place and the materials had been obtained from human rights organizations and the families themselves, further steps were taken to obtain new evidence and corroborate the accounts already received. The Commission approved a general plan for that purpose. Article 4c of Supreme Decree No. 355 authorized the Commission to carry out all the investigation it deemed useful in order to accomplish its task, including requesting reports, documents or evidence from government officials and agencies. In addition, Article 8, paragraph 2, of that decree declared that these officials and agencies were obliged to "offer the Commission all the collaboration it may request, furnish the documents it may need, and provide access to such places as it may determine necessary to visit."
      
      Many of the procedures ordered were of a general nature. Thus the Civil Registrar's Office was asked to supply the birth certificates for all those presented as victims, so as to assure from the beginning that their existence was legally recognized. Death certificates and autopsy reports were requested for those reported as having been killed, so as to provide information on the date and cause of their death and relevant evidence. In the case of those presented as disappeared after arrest, death certificates were always requested along with birth certificates, in view of the possibility that a death might have been registered unbeknownst to the family. In addition, the international police [whose task is to monitor entrance into, and departure from, the country] was asked if the victims might have left the country. Inquiries were also made with the Civil Registrar and the Electoral Registrar to see whether they might have registered in some fashion during the period in which they were presented as disappeared. These initial inquiries were useful for corroborating the basic aspects of the accounts of relatives and of human rights organizations and to weed out a few instances in which people had simply left home without informing their families. All the agencies mentioned here were helpful to the Commission, although it proved impossible to locate the documentation for autopsies carried out in some remote rural areas.
      
      Whenever there had been a judicial investigation, the Commission sought to obtain copies. In the metropolitan area law students were especially contracted for this purpose; elsewhere regional officials of the Ministry of Justice or of the bar association or other persons often provided help. Many official requests were sent to hospitals in order to provide documentation for the medical treatment mentioned in the evidence that had been gathered. The National Archives, the General Comptroller's Office,^b and the Chilean Police were also frequently consulted. The Commission sent out more than two thousand formal requests and received a response in approximately eighty percent of the cases.
      
      In practically all cases in which the evidence gathered indicated that agencies of the armed forces or police might have been involved, the head of the respective branch was consulted as well as the chief of staff when appropriate, and they were asked for any evidence their institution might have on those events. The Chilean Army replied to more than two-thirds of these requests. In most of its replies it pointed out that in keeping with the legislation in force and its own by-laws, the evidence on such events that might have existed had been burned or destroyed when the legal period for doing so had passed. In other cases the response was that the institution did not have any evidence or could not respond unless the Commission provided further information. In those cases in which the army turned over the requested information, it proved valuable for determining what had happened.
      
      The Chilean Police almost always responded to such requests by indicating that the documents from that period had been legally burned. In most cases they indicated that they had made some investigation to find the requested information, but these efforts proved fruitless except in a small number of cases. On other occasions, the police answered that the evidence was part of a judicial investigation, and they invoked legal provisions currently in force to justify not sending it. The Chilean Air Force sometimes provided the evidence requested; in other cases, however, it said that it did not have records of the events or that they had been legally burned. The Chilean Navy replied to all the Commission's requests and sent material that proved very useful for the investigations. In some cases, it replied that it did not have evidence on the situations about which inquiries were being made.
      
      The Commission made repeated efforts to obtain copies of the war tribunal records. It did not find them in the National Archive. The navy sent the Commission copies of sentences handed down by the naval wartime courts. The Chilean Air Force gave the Commission permission to examine all documents of any trial it requested. The Chilean Army stated that some of these records had been burned on army property in a fire started by a terrorist attack in November 1989, and did not respond to requests for the remainder of such records. Examining these records would have been very valuable for carrying out a more profound study of the legality of such war tribunals.
      
      When information on the involvement of their security agencies was requested, the army, the navy, and the air force pointed out that they were legally prohibited from providing information having to do with intelligence activities.
      
      On a number of occasions the Commission requested the internal investigation reports that could or should have been made within the armed services and police forces about particular events, many of them having to do with members within their own ranks who had been victims of terrorist actions. The navy sent the rulings given in all such reports requested; the air force added a good deal of direct and circumstantial information about such events; the police did not send them for various reasons, such as the fact that they had been legally burned or that they had already been sent to the courts; the army sent copies of the rulings in the reports drawn up when its members were killed.
      
      When the evidence gathered indicated the involvement of uniformed personnel not identified by name but by rank, by their unit, or by the functions they were carrying out at a particular moment, official inquiries were sent to their institutions requesting their names or the names of all those who were serving on a particular squad or unit. Pointing to Article 436 of the Military Justice Code, the Chilean Police claimed that they were legally prohibited from responding to such requests, since that article made confidential the lists of military personnel. The Commission stated that it was not seeking such lists but inquiring about the names of persons who had served on a particular unit. Subsequently the police sent the names of retired officers who had been in charge of each unit. The Chilean Air Force and Navy always responded by giving the requested names of officers in charge of particular units.
      
      In almost every case in which the evidence gathered made it possible to pick out a particular person, the Commission asked that person to give testimony in order to learn his or her version of the events and to take it into account in discerning what had happened. If the person was still on active duty, the Commission made such a request through the commander-in-chief of each branch and through the chief of staff where appropriate. After explaining that the individual member had been mentioned in a document the Commission had received, noting that such testimony was voluntary and could be made confidentially, and that it was not the Commission's role to determine whether individuals were guilty of crimes, these officers were asked to inform the individual members how important their testimony was considered to be. The Commission requested the testimony of one hundred and sixty members of the armed forces and the police. The commanders-in-chief answered that the names of some of these people were not listed as belonging to their institution or were now retired. Even in these cases, the police attempted to locate these people and inform them of the Commission's interest. In other cases, the heads of these branches did inform those cited that the Commission wanted to receive their testimony. With the exception of a few cases, which will be noted below, those who were on active duty refused to offer testimony to this Commission. They offered a number of reasons for doing so: they generally indicated that they had no knowledge of the events for which they had been summoned; that they had already stated all they knew in court proceedings; or that, since compliance was voluntary, they chose not to appear. One member of the police who was on active duty and one in the air force indicated their willingness to offer testimony. A considerable number of policemen and one air force officer agreed to answer questions in writing. When such persons did not belong to the armed forces or were now retired, these requests were delivered directly to them. In these cases a larger number came forward to testify.
      
      The investigative police passed on all the Commission's requests except those in which it was noted that there were no records in its files. Its members were often willing to provide testimony to the Commission.
      
      Because of the limited amount of time, it was impossible to take testimony from all persons who were mentioned as witnesses of the events under investigation. Hence the Commission chose those it regarded as more relevant and whose testimony was not to be found in other reliable documents. The lawyers and law school graduates visited almost all regions of the country a second time in order to record the testimony of the most important witnesses.
      
      
   5. INDIVIDUAL DECISION ON EACH CASE
      
      By the beginning of October, the Commission had established a schedule and laid down a procedure whereby each of the lawyers could prepare information on the cases he or she had been assigned to investigate under the supervision of the Commission members. At this point the lawyers focused on drawing up a written report in accordance with Commission guidelines in order to give an account of all the evidence they had gathered in each case and to suggest that the Commission adopt a particular conclusion.
      
      Only the material in this report constitutes the Commission's opinions and consensus. The documentation in its archives has merely served as the basis for its work.
      
      The first cases were presented to the Commission at the end of October 1990. In sessions lasting until mid-January 1991, the Commission individually examined about 3,400 cases, until it had reached agreement over how it was going to present each case in which human rights had been gravely violated or in which people had been killed as a result of political violence. In other cases it concluded that it had not been able to come to such a determination or that the case was beyond its competence. In only a small number of instances did it reach agreement by a simple majority, and in none of these cases were the differences over matters of principle. Hence the Commission agreed to leave dissenting opinions only in its minutes and to omit them in this report.
      
      As a result of the time available to the Commission for completing its tasks some of its official inquiries remained unanswered and consequently a number of cases were left unresolved. Hence in this report the Commission recommends that the government continue to investigate these situations to determine whether they also constituted grave human rights violations.
      
      
   6. AN ACCOUNT OF THE TRUTH ABOUT INDIVIDUALS AND THE COUNTRY AS A WHOLE
      
      As it was weighing information, the Commission was also deciding the structure and characteristics of the present report. In order to provide an account of the episodes in which the Commission concluded that grave violations of human rights had taken place, the staff first had to provide concise accounts of these cases and present them in draft form to the Commission. Given the nature of this report, information on many circumstances connected to the most serious violations, such as prior surveillance or pursuit, treatment in prison, and arrest procedures had to be omitted, except where they were necessary for the Commission's decision. Hence what is written in the accounts are basically those elements that directly or indirectly led the Commission to conclude that a grave human rights violation had taken place. This procedure has enabled the Commission to identify every single victim of grave human rights violations, as well as the people who were killed as a result of political violence, and to indicate its conclusion and reasoning in each case.
      
      The examination of these particular situations served as the basis for the overviews which outline the major features of events in each period considered in this report. These overviews highlight the most common and relevant features of the events, the organizations involved, who the victims were, and the methods used in these violations, such as the location, treatment, and disposal of dead bodies. Testimony given by important actors of that period and by people who were involved in organizations and groups which violated human rights, as well as the contributions of those who have studied these matters, were very important for drawing up this overview.
      
      The Commission was also charged with providing evidence that might make it possible to determine the fate of the victims and their whereabouts. From the beginning efforts were focused on this vital task. Whether it could be accomplished was basically dependent on whether people who could offer evidence were willing to appear voluntarily before the Commission. The information thus gathered can be found in this report as well as in what was presented to the courts, since whenever evidence concerning the whereabouts of the remains of someone who had disappeared after arrest was obtained, it was immediately submitted to the courts.
      
      Since this task was so important, the Commission did not want to finish its work without first sending out a confidential official request for any evidence that could directly or indirectly help determine what had happened to those persons identified as disappeared. These requests were sent to agencies or government bodies whose members were said to have participated in some action of arresting or imprisoning these persons and to those government figures who might have ordered investigations into such matters. Although almost all of these requests were answered, none of the answers offered any information that could substantially serve that purpose.
      
      The final volume [not included in the English translation] of this report is simply auxiliary in nature. It provides an alphabetical list of all of those persons whom this Commission has regarded as having suffered grave human rights violations or political violence. It seeks to indicate who these persons were and is limited to a brief mention of the events that led to their death or disappearance, in accordance with the Commission's conclusion, as presented in the body of this report.
      
      
3. SENDING EVIDENCE TO THE COURTS
   
   The second paragraph of Article 2 of the Commission's founding decree states that if "while it is carrying out its functions," the Commission "receives evidence about actions that appear to be criminal, it will immediately submit it to the appropriate court."
   
   In compliance with this obligation, the Commission sent to the courts all the evidence it gathered of whatever seemed to be an illegal burial in order to help determine the fate or whereabouts of those who disappeared after arrest. In other cases, the Commission decided to send the courts whatever evidence it gathered that seemed new, useful, or relevant for judicial investigations. Thus when the evidence the Commission gathered did not go beyond what was already in the possession of the courts, or when it did not seem relevant for a judicial investigation, it was not sent to the courts; the intention was to send only evidence that could make a difference. In no case did the Commission refrain from sending evidence because a criminal action might be ruled out, or because the amnesty law might go into effect. The Commission determined that such decisions were to be made by the courts, and hence it should not decide such circumstances on its own.
   
   In sending evidence to the courts, the Commission was careful to observe the norms laid down in its founding presidential decree, namely that the identity of those who wanted to testify confidentially should be protected. In no case has this concern hindered the Commission from sending to the courts all available evidence about sites where the remains of someone who disappeared after arrest might be found.
   
   
4. ACKNOWLEDGEMENT OF HARM INFLICTED AND PROPOSALS FOR REPARATION AND PREVENTION
   
   As has been noted, from the beginning the Commission did not want to stop at presenting the truth about human rights violations. It understood that when the Commission's founding decree spoke of the overall truth of what happened, the report could not neglect the effects of these events on the victims' families. Hence the Commission discussed this matter with the relatives in each interview and testimony session. Chapter Four of Part Three of this report seeks to present the Commission's findings as faithfully as possible.
   
   In addition to examining what the relatives of the victims of grave human rights violations had suffered, the Commission consulted with relevant experts and persons who could offer guidance on proposals for reparation and prevention such as the decree had urged it to prepare. The Commission consulted with a large number of national and international organizations by asking them what they believed would be the most fitting measures of reparation and prevention. Naturally, the Commission was quite aware that complete reparation for the damage done was impossible, and that any proposal for reparation should be made with complete respect for the dignity of the people involved. Moreover, the Commission had to bear in mind that its primary duty was to clarify the truth, which in itself had undeniable effects in terms of reparation and prevention. Starting with these premises, the Commission consulted each one of these organizations and institutions and inquired which measures of symbolic or cultural reparation, whether legal or administrative, or in the form of services or aid, they regarded as most fitting for repairing, insofar as possible, the harm that has been done. Likewise they were asked about measures that might strengthen the legal order and institutional framework, or promote a culture more respectful of human rights in order to assure that such events never again take place in our country. One hundred and nine organizations were consulted in this fashion, including those of the victims' family members, human rights agencies, the main universities and centers of learning, the political parties, the churches, and other moral authorities. Internationally, the request was sent primarily to those intergovernmental and private bodies with the greatest experience in protecting and promoting human rights. The Commission received more than seventy extensive and well-documented presentations, which it then studied and carefully processed, until it finally came to the proposals and recommendations included in this report.
   
   
5. CHAPTERS DEALING WITH RELEVANT PRIOR CIRCUMSTANCES
   
   Since Decree No. 355 stated that the Commission was responsible for preparing us complete a picture as possible of the most serious human rights violations, along with their antecedents and circumstances, the Commission also decided to include with these accounts some observations it believed to be essential to a better understanding of this matter. Thus, before beginning its accounts of the events themselves, this report notes some of the legal, political, and social features of the period that are more directly related to human rights violations. While fully aware that nothing can excuse or justify these violations, the Commission has sought to take into account some characteristics of the climate in Chile before and after September 11, 1973 that may have contributed to such violations. The Commission believes it is thereby carrying out a duty imposed by the decree that it should set forth the antecedents and circumstances of these violations, while also helping recall the climate that enabled such violations to take root. The purpose of these observations is to help prevent them from ever occurring again.
   
   We have also considered the main legal institutions which made such violations possible, as well as those legal mechanisms that proved most effective for countering them. The Commission believes that acknowledging such antecedents will always be useful for enabling us to examine our cultural and legal institutions and as a basis for determining the changes required in order to prevent such events from recurring.
   
   How the judiciary and the main actors in society reacted to these grave violations is also described. It will be the task of social scientists and historians to determine what happened with greater precision and depth. The Commission, however, believes it has been very important to connect the phenomena of human rights, as well as their gradual eclipse, to the greater or lesser commitment by various actors in society to protecting, defending, and promoting the rights of all Chileans.
   
   In working on these chapters, the Commission first set about gathering the literature and documentation of the period, and sought the opinion of experts in these areas. When all this material was in hand, one or more Commission members were assigned to prepare drafts of each chapter. After being reviewed by the whole Commission, these drafts became chapters in this work.
   
   
6. A TRUTH FOR RECONCILIATION
   
   The tasks assigned to the Commission were clearly and precisely described in its founding supreme decree, as were its duties and powers. In carrying out these tasks, the Commission worked with complete and utter independence. The administration that had created the Commission did not seek to influence its decisions in any way nor did any other branch or agency in the government do so. The Commission's decisions were always made in accordance with the members' conscience.
   
   Nevertheless, from the beginning the Commission understood that the truth it was to establish had a clear and specific purpose: to work toward the reconciliation of all Chileans. In view of the magnitude of such a task, the Commission sought the opinion of the main actors in our national life and especially those most concerned with this undertaking, in order to draw upon their ideas about the work that was to be done. Thus from the time it began its work until it moved into the stage of analyzing cases, the Commission met with all of the groups of victims' relatives, human rights agencies, those professional associations that sought meetings, and all the political parties. Discussions with groups of relatives and human rights organizations dealt primarily with the objectives and methods the Commission was to use to gather the evidence they had in their possession and to seek the truth both in individual cases and as a whole. The Commission also sought to keep in mind the expectations of the organizations of family members about its work, and it often sought the opinion of those who brought individual cases before it. In the case of the churches, the moral authorities in the country, and the political parties, the Commission sought to become familiar with, and analyze, their perspectives about how the Commission, within its limitations, could best reach the truth and truly aid national reconciliation.
   
   Thus after a hundred working sessions, this Commission has come to the end of its task and presents to His Excellency, the President of the Republic, this report on its work.
   
   

Notes

1. Commission staff members' names are listed in the appendix of Volume 2.
   
   
2. There were 1,845 such requests in the Metropolitan Region.
   
   
3. The number of interviews requested in other regions of the country was 1,688.

a) Diario Oficial: Chile's journal in which all presidential decrees and laws must be published, and therefore made public, within five working days following processing. It is published daily.

b) General Comptroller's Office: An autonomous body which acts independently of the executive, legislative, and judicial branches. It oversees the legality of acts of the administration, thereby registering decrees and resolutions and objecting to them whenever they are unconstitutional or contrary to existing delegatory law. This institution also controls revenues and investments of the National Treasury, municipalities and other state agencies and agents. The General Comptroller is appointed by the president with Senate approval and remains in office until he/she reaches 75 years of age.

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Posted by USIP Library on: October 4 2002
Source: Report of the Chilean National Commission on Truth and Reconciliation
(Notre Dame, Indiana: University of Notre Dame Press, 1993), vol. I/II, Part One, Chapter One, 13-25.
Note: Digitized and posted by permission of the University of Notre Dame Press, February 22, 2000.