PART THREE
Chapter Three (D)

August 1977 through March 1990 (continued)

4. USE OF UNDUE FORCE AND ABUSES OF POWER TOLERATED BY THOSE IN AUTHORITY
   
   
   1. INTRODUCTION
      
      This Commission has regarded unpremeditated killings committed by government agents while on duty defined as use of undue force (as explained in Part One, Chapter Two of this report) as violations of human rights that fall within the scope of its mandate. Killings committed by government agents that are not politically motivated and when they are not exercising their functions, which are defined as abuses of power (as explained in Part One, Chapter Two) have been regarded as human rights violations only when they have been committed with the acquiescence or tolerance of officials or when such officials have taken measures to assure the perpetrator of impunity.
      
      This section deals with cases of use of undue force and abuse of power that constituted human rights violations which the Commission has been able to verify in the course of its investigations, even though they have no political overtones. The Commission believes that the most significant characteristic of the killings of that nature that took place in 1973 was that they were part of a general framework of political violence during that time. Hence it has opted to include them along with the other cases of fatal human rights violations committed during the months following the change of government, and therefore they will not be included in this section. However, all cases of that nature that took place during the period from 1978 to 1990 are included, as are those from the previous period covering the years 1974 to 1977.
      
      The Commission examined 242 cases fitting those categories. It concluded that sixty-eight of them constituted human rights violations. It did not come to such a conviction with regard to the remaining 174 cases.
      
      
   2. CASES IN WHICH THE COMMISSION CAME TO A CONVICTION THAT PERSONS HAD BEEN KILLED AS A RESULT OF THE USE OF UNDUE FORCE OR THE ABUSE OF POWER WITH THE ACQUIESCENCE OF OFFICIALS
      
      
      1. A note on methodology
         
         Because so little evidence and material on which to base a judgment could be gathered, and because these are isolated incidents and hence difficult to analyze in context, cases of killings due to these causes are treated differently from others on which the Commission came to a conviction. Only the names of the victims are listed in this part of the report; their cases are not described one by one. Nevertheless, their names are listed in the final volume of this report [not translated into English] on an equal footing with all the other cases on which the Commission came to a conviction.
         
         
      2. Different kinds of cases regarded as falling under these causes
         
         b.1) Deaths as a result of the use of undue force
         

         b.1.1) Deaths as the result of the use of excessive force
         

         This category includes cases in which the force used by official forces was disproportionate to the situation they were thereby seeking to halt or prevent and which in principle allowed for the use of force. The kinds of deaths due to use of excessive force include:
         
         

         • Those caused when government agents, often without any prior warning, shot at unarmed passers-by, who instinctively fled when they saw the agents approaching;
           
           
         • Those caused by disproportionate forms of repression, mainly government agents firing their weapons, often without prior warning, at people who were simply holding public demonstrations or handing out literature in opposition to the military regime;
           
           
         • Those caused by government agents firing their weapons, often without prior warning, at people who were simply violating curfew and who presented no other indication of danger;
           
           
         • Those caused by government agents firing their weapons, also often without any prior warning, at people who were caught committing a crime when there was no reasonable need for such a measure.
           
           

         It should be noted that in such cases the armed forces and police generally discharged those responsible and passed the evidence over to the military courts. That fact, however, has no bearing on whether they are to be classified as human rights violations.
         
         The following are the names of persons killed as a result of the use of excessive force by government forces:
         
         ACEVEDO CISTERNAS, Eduardo Bernabé
         ACUÑA BALLESTEROS, Reinaldo Enrique
         ANTIMAN NAHUELQUIN, Rubén Armando
         BAEZA ZENTENO, Linfor del Carmen
         BARRAZA HENRIQUEZ, Eduardo Octavio
         BARRIENTOS AÑAZCO, Hugo Orlando
         BECKER ALFARO, Víctor Hugo
         CABEDO AGUILERA, Jorge
         CARO BENITEZ, Ricardo Alejandro
         CASTILLO ARCAYA, Roberto
         CASTILLO OYARCE, Ricardo Sergio
         CAUTIVO AHUMADA, Salvador Fidel
         CONTRERAS GONZALEZ, Jorge Edilio
         CONTRERAS GONZALEZ, Juan Orlando
         CONTRERAS MENARES, Manuel Andrés
         CONTRERAS, PLOTSQUI, Exequiel Zigomar
         CORREA ORTIZ, Hernán
         CORTES NAVARRO, Andrés Nicanor
         DELPERO PANIZZA, Bruno
         ESCOBAR FERRADA, Angel
         ESCOBAR LAGOS, Lorena del Pilar
         ESPINOLA MUÑOZ, Juan Carlos
         FARIAS NARANJO, José Carlos
         FRES GALLARDO, Gonzalo Elis
         GAETE AVILA, Miguel Segundo
         GARRIDO QUEULLO, Christian Leandro
         GONZALEZ FREDES, Fernando Dionisio
         GUTIERREZ GUTIERREZ, María Cristina
         JARA CORTES, Carlos Eduardo
         MAIGRET BECERRA, Mauricio
         MENDEZ VASQUEZ, Laura Rosa
         MORALES CHAVEZ, Enrique Segundo
         MORALES SANTOS, José Eduardo
         NAVARRO SUBIABRE, Nibaldo
         OBANDO GALETOVIC, Iván
         OPAZO LARA, Luis Humberto
         ORTIZ CID, Giovanna de las Mercedes
         PEREIRA LUNA, Sergio Omar
         PEREZ ESPINOZA, Víctor Omar
         PEREZ VALDEBENITO, Roberto Andrés
         RANDOLPH SEGOVIA, José Rodolfo Rigoberto
         REYES ARZOLA, Marco Aurelio
         REYES CASTILLO, Javier Esteban
         RIQUELME CASTILLO, Luis Fernando
         RODRIGUEZ LOPEZ, Armando
         ROJAS PEARCE, Rodrigo Hugo
         SANTANDER ZUÑIGA, Omar Hernán
         TAPIA AGUILERA, René Hernán
         ULLOA SAEZ, José Iván
         VARGAS, LIZAMA, Pedro Jaime
         VASQUEZ PEÑA, Hugo Hernán
         WINLO BARRIOS, Víctor Hugo
         ZAVALA BARRA, Rubén Eurico
         

         b.1.2) Imprudent use of force
         

         This category includes deaths caused by grave negligence or gross lack of caution on the part of government agents in firing their weapons. The cases of death caused by imprudent use of force investigated by the Commission were primarily the result of shots fired into the air by government agents that hit people who had nothing to do with the prevailing situation. The following are the names of those people:
         
         DUARTE REYES, Ramón Leopoldo
         MANZANO GONZALEZ, Patricio Enrique
         PLAZA DIAZ, Sara Beatriz
         

         b.1.3) Mistreatment
         

         This category includes cases of persons who died at detention sites as a result of mistreatment when such mistreatment did not formally constitute acts of torture. The Commission came to the conviction that five people had died under such circumstances. Their names are:
         
         NAVARRO MELLADO, Sergio
         PALACIOS TORO, Esteban Alejandro
         PINO CORTES, Claudio Patricio
         RIVERA BARRAZA, Pedro Benito
         SOLORZA GONZALEZ, Bernardo Enrique
         

         b.2) Abuses of power that constituted human rights violations
         

         This Commission came to the conviction that four [sic] persons were killed by government agents who were acting for their own reasons. Their actions therefore had nothing to do with their assigned duties, and they could rely on the acquiescence of officials whose duty it was to prevent such acts. The names of the victims are:
         
         ORMEÑO MOSCOSO, Jorge Hernán
         VARGAS SALAZAR, Angel Patricio
         MELO FARIAS, Joel
         

         b.3) Human rights violations committed by private citizens
         

         The Commission came to the conviction that if a person were killed by private citizens acting under the protection of government agents, such an action would be a human rights violation and not a common crime. Such was the killing of:
         
         Gilberto Antonio MORA ORELLANA.
         
         

5. REACTIONS OF MAJOR SECTORS OF SOCIETY TO THE HUMAN RIGHTS VIOLATIONS THAT OCCURRED BETWEEN 1978 AND 1990
   
   
   1. FIRST SUBPHASE-REACTION OF MAJOR SECTORS OF SOCIETY TO HUMAN RIGHTS VIOLATIONS BETWEEN 1978 AND THE FIRST PROTESTS IN MID-1983
      
      
      1. The attitude of Chilean society
         
         New space was opened in Chile by the disbanding of the DINA, which marks the beginning of this period. Other events important for human rights, such as the expulsion from Chile of the foreign DINA agent who was linked to the murder of Orlando Letelier and Ronnie Moffit, and the replacement of the state of siege with the state of emergency, had a similar effect. This opening in turn made it possible for society as a whole to begin to react in a more coherent and effective manner to the violation of human rights and more generally to the military regime's actions. An incipient but clear opposition began to manifest itself in the realms of politics, labor, schools, and so forth.
         
         From this point onward, opposition to the military regime was to be channeled along two distinct and opposed lines: the route that accepted all forms of struggle to challenge the military regime and the nonviolent route. The attack on the Agas supermarket in 1979, the attack on the "flame of freedom" in which a policeman was killed, the murder of Lieutenant Colonel Roger Vergara, and several other attacks demonstrated the determination of some small but well-organized segments of society to take the armed route. In doing so, they did not respect the right to life and physical integrity of those whom they identified as government agents or private citizens who might accidentally suffer the consequences of their actions. Included here are the establishment of a guerrilla camp in Neltume, the attack on the house of the president of the supreme court, and the killing of four members of the investigative police in front of an army general's house.
         
         The option for a path of nonviolent opposition to the regime was expressed through the denunciation of human rights violations in Chile issued by various persons and (primarily human rights) organizations; the legal, medical, social, and moral assistance provided by the human rights organizations then existing in Chile, headed by the Vicariate of Solidarity; and the call by a number of persons and sectors to vote "No" in the September 11, 1980, plebiscite, primarily on the grounds of the military regime's violation of its fundamental obligation to respect Chileans' human rights. In addition, some sectors and individuals who were not part of the opposition made it clear that they were opposed to the human rights violations that were being committed. They generally regarded them as excesses for which the government was not directly at fault.
         
         Society as a whole did not yet react significantly in open solidarity with the victims of human rights violations. The prevailing attitude was rather one of indifference or unbelief, despite a gradual but slow growth in awareness on the matter. This growing awareness was impelled by events like the discovery of the bodies of a group of disappeared prisoners in a Lonquén mine. The government had told international organizations that these people were dead and that their bodies had been turned over to the Medical Legal Institute five years previously.
         
         
      2. The attitude of those persons making up the regime
         
         The number of those who disappeared after arrest or who were killed declined significantly during this period. Repression against dissent tended to take the form of prohibiting those outside the country who opposed the military regime from entering Chile; administratively sending labor and student leaders to internal exile in various places in the country; and administratively exiling political leaders, and insulting and humiliating them in the process. Some of the most important of such measures were the prohibition of a high-ranking Christian Democrat leader from entering the country in September 1980, and the expulsion of three other prestigious politicians almost a year later. In December 1982, a group of important labor union leaders was expelled. The power granted by the state of siege, which was still in effect, to hold people for up to twenty days without providing any reason was not used very often.
         
         This relative improvement in respect for human rights during this period was due to several factors, including private efforts by civilians in the regime or close to it, even though they were not critical of the regime as a whole. The amnesty law issued on April 19, 1978, basically reflected the government's decision to regard the phase of civil war and subversion as a phase that had now been left behind. It accordingly granted full impunity for human rights violations committed to that date. The amnesty also encompassed crimes that might have been committed by people who belonged to the Popular Unity government. Officials thus presented the amnesty as a gesture of reconciliation.
         
         The following are the most significant passages from a speech by the interior minister given June 15, 1978:
         
         Perhaps these events (the civil war supposedly taking place up to September 10, 1973) are still sharply etched in the minds and hearts of almost all Chileans. If I have sought to remind you of it today, it is because sometimes people are not sufficiently aware that those events have had a decisive influence on what has happened in the years immediately following...
         
         ...The country must realize that defeating a violent and organized subversive effort...is a challenge that has required the continuous, unselfish, preventive action on the part of the security agencies, and hence that action cannot be subjected to judgement under the criteria proper to normal times.
         
         ...It would take a long time to recount what we have done in order to move back to normality...
         
         ...In addition there is the recent general amnesty...Such a decision is an eloquent testimony to the spirit of national reconciliation motivating the government. It also indicates that our process of returning to normality is placed on foundations so firm that the most intense stage of internal emergency that we have experienced can now fortunately be regarded as overcome.
         
         ...With regard to the list of persons alleged to have disappeared to which the problem is currently reduced, I categorically assert that the government has no evidence that would prove that any of these people are being held prisoner, and hence the government categorically rejects the suggestions that officials might be holding them secretly.
         
         ...[S]ince most of the persons alleged to have disappeared are Communist, Socialist and MIR activists, it is very likely that these people have not only gone underground, but that they may have been killed in clashes with security forces under the false identities they used, thus preventing them from being accurately identified at that time.
         
         It should be noted that when the United Nations General Assembly voted to condemn the Chilean government for the human rights situation in 1977, with the United States also voting for the resolution, the response was a National Consultation, which was in practice a plebiscite. [See editor's note p. 58, Volume One]. When it was held January 4, 1978, with no electoral safeguards, 75 percent of the ballots were cast in favor of Chile and, supposedly, "against the attack from outside." These matters are also discussed in Part Two, Chapter One of this report ("Political Framework").
         
         
      3. The reaction of the churches
         
         During this period the churches, and particularly the Catholic church, steadily developed their work of defending human rights on all the fronts mentioned in connection with the previous period.
         
         c.1) Teaching activity of the Catholic church
         

         The following quotations and observations give an idea of this work:
         
         

         • Christmas message of the Permanent Committee of the Bishops, December 1977. In paragraph 6 the bishops said, "We would be profoundly grateful to the supreme government authority if, as a Christmas gesture, it were to grant an amnesty to all those who are serving their various sentences. We hereby express our gratitude and joy that some of our fellow citizens have had their sentence of internal exile revoked. Such gestures undoubtedly help overcome division and strife."
           
           
         • Letter of the bishops of Chile "to Chileans far from their country, at Christmas time," dated December 25, 1977. In this document the bishops expressed their affection for those who were outside the country for various reasons, including "to avoid being jailed for political reasons."
           
           
         • Letter from the Permanent Committee to the junta on the National Consultation (December 30, 1977). In this document the bishops rejected the formulations of those who divided the country into the "patriotic" and the "unpatriotic." They likewise rejected the conditions under which the consultation was to be held, and stated that it was important that the citizenry be able to have a say on important national issues.
           
           
         • Letter of the Permanent Committee to workers for May Day (dated April 28, 1978). On that occasion the bishops said, "We would like you to be consulted and wish you could participate in the preparation and adoption of measures affecting you. Particularly when such measures are painful, they must be accepted and not imposed if they are to render their fruit."
           
           
         • Statement of Permanent Committee of the Bishops (June 6, 1978) on the hunger strike by relatives of persons who had disappeared after arrest. The bishops again urged that information be provided on the whereabouts of citizens who had disappeared after arrest.
           
           
         • Press statement of the Permanent Committee of the Bishops (July 13, 1978) which provided information on efforts to investigate the fate of those who had disappeared after arrest. The bishops stated that the true solution to the situation of disappeared prisoners "will end the anguish of people who have suffered greatly from uncertainty, bring peace to our country, and improve Chile's image in the eyes of the world."
           
           
         • Statement of the Permanent Committee (November 9, 1978) on disappeared prisoners. The bishops said that "the answers given thus far (by government representatives) have not been satisfactory. In view of the evidence gathered and presented to the government, we believe that those persons called disappeared prisoners, who number several hundred, ought, with certain possible exceptions, to be regarded as having been arrested by government security services...The interior minister has assured us that human rights will not be violated while he is in his position. Nevertheless, we know that human rights continue to be violated on a lesser scale and sporadically."
           
           
         • Statement of the Permanent Committee (May 25, 1979), on Decree Law No. 2621. In this statement the bishops expressed their support for a document on the matter issued by the National Justice and Peace Commission. They also said, "We ask those responsible for revising the text of this Decree Law that they try to situate it, insofar as necessary, within the principles of natural ethics and our humanistic and Christian tradition."
           
           
         • Statement of the Bishops Conference on the plebiscite (August 23, 1980). The bishops offered their message to Chileans on the occasion of the plebiscite called to decide on the proposed constitution. In point 8, they stated that "whatever be the result of the plebiscite, the church will continue evangelizing and exhorting everyone to deepen in faith, hope, and charity, and to promote the values of dignity, freedom, and responsibility."
           
           
         • Statement of the Permanent Committee on the expulsion of four citizens from the country (August 14, 1981). The bishops asserted that "our country wants no violence, whether private or public, subversive or repressive." Chile wants to live under the rule of law in which "all members of the community have the absolute assurance that their opinions will be respected and that they will not be punished for their actions, unless a court of justice has found them guilty and sentenced them."
           
           
         • Letter of the bishops to Catholics, "The Rebirth of Chile," (December 17, 1982). The bishops stated "We are concerned over what is happening at this very serious moment... The provisions of the 1980 Constitution on complete respect for human rights are not being observed, partly because of the use of transitory articles." The document then indicated three conditions required for Chile to be reborn, one of them being "respect for human dignity."
           
           
         • Statement of the Permanent Committee about the expulsion of three priests (March 18, 1983). Paragraph 4 says that "it condemns the procedure followed, the unnecessary use of an enormous deployment of the police such as had not been used even for the worst criminals, and the deceitful and false manner in which they operated."
           

         c.2) Lonquén
         

         The Catholic church was directly involved in the discovery of the disappeared in Lonquén [i.e., exhuming the corpses], an event that stirred up public opinion.
         

         c.3) Specific action of the churches to aid and protect victims of human rights violations
         

         c.3.1) Work of the Vicariate
         

         The work of the Vicariate of Solidarity continued to be the central thrust of the church's defense and protection of victims and their family members. The 1978 observance of Human Rights Year culminated in December in an event organized by the Vicariate of Solidarity. Government media gave the gathering a highly polemic meaning, and there were responses from all levels of government. We here refer back to what was said earlier about this institution.
         

         c.3.2) The work of FASIC (Christian Churches Foundation for Social Welfare)
         

         FASIC continued to offer its services as it had in the previous period.
         

         c.3.3) National Justice and Peace Commission
         

         Among the objectives of this agency was that of striving to be informed about human rights violations, and to express Christian solidarity with all those suffering injustice. To this day the National Justice and Peace Commission analyzes the situation in the country and prepares documents for the bishops to use as background material for their teaching activity.
         

         c.4) Ministry of priests and pastors
         

         The churches, and especially the Catholic church, continued to carry out their practical work of defending and protecting human rights through the silent labor of their priests and pastors in different sectors of the community, especially among the poorest and most outcast. They offered their spiritual and practical support in the realm of human rights. In March 1983, two Irish priests and one Australian priest who were involved in such work were expelled from the country.
         

      4. The reaction of the media
         
         The relative relaxation of repression that characterized this period, itself the result of the end of the state of siege and the suppression of the DINA, led to the opening of more space for freedom of information. Not all the media took advantage of this space, either because their adherence to the regime led them to assume a completely uncritical posture or because self-censorship had become a habit that was difficult to shake off. Some journalists, however, began to move into such space. Even media that were not regarded as part of the opposition occasionally published information on human rights violations and opinions on the issue. That work was nonetheless taken up primarily by opposition media. The magazines Hoy, Apsi, and Análisis, which had first appeared in the waning days of the previous period were now joined by the magazine Cauce and the newspaper Fortín Mapocho, which engaged in an ongoing work of denouncing human rights violations. Some radio stations such as Radio Cooperativa and Radio Chilena did similar work.
         
         The government remained continually hostile to all such media. One indication was the two month suspension imposed on Hoy in 1979, and the banning of news programming on the La Frontera and Araucanía radio stations in Temuco. Finally it should be noted that during this period all the media, no matter what their tendency, provided information on terrorist attacks, and condemned them categorically.
         
         
      5. The reaction of political parties
         
         Since the various political parties became more organized during this period, they were able to express themselves publicly on the issue of human rights violations in Chile. It should be noted that they became more organized at a time when political parties were not legally recognized, as was noted with regard to the previous period. They did so, however, with the de facto tolerance of the authorities, whether that happened willingly or because social pressure made it impractical to prevent it.
         
         The reaction to the issue of human rights and to terrorist actions varied among the various political parties, in accord with the sector each represented. Right-wing parties and organizations openly and categorically condemned terrorist actions. They also condemned the violation of human rights by government officials in doctrinal terms, but failed to acknowledge clearly enough that such violations were actually taking place in Chile. Centrist political parties and organizations (such as the Christian Democrat, Radical, and Social Democrat parties, and some Socialist factions) took a clear and firm stance in condemning human rights violations committed by government figures, and terrorist actions from the left and the right. Even though their condemnation was vigorous, it did not have the effect of halting human rights violations or terrorist actions.
         
         The political parties of the left, which had reorganized to some extent after the persecution they had undergone, held to a stance of continually condemning actions that violated human acts and the military regime itself for violating those rights. They did not maintain an equally clear stance with regard to terrorist actions allegedly committed by extremist groups on the left. In fact some of them, such as the Communist party and the MIR, encouraged all forms of struggle, including armed struggle against the military regime. Armed groups advocating violence with ties to some left parties were formed, and they claimed credit for some of the terrorist actions carried out during this period. These matters are also discussed in Part Two, Chapter One of this report ("Political Framework").
         
         
      6. The reaction of professional people and their associations
         
         The situation remained similar to what it was during the previous period in the sense that the various professional associations did not react publicly and officially to human rights violations, and the only reactions came from individuals. Nevertheless it should be noted, that as was the case in other sectors of society (see point h below), professional people increasingly came to feel that they needed to have their own representative organizations. The eventual result was that professional associations underwent a redemocratization during the following subphase, and they took a stance on the side of promoting and defending human rights.
         
         It should also be mentioned that Decree Law No. 3621 (issued February 1, 1981), expressly abolished the legal provisions that empowered professional associations to examine and sanction violations of professional ethics. It also defined the nature of these organizations as trade or professional organizations, and made it legal to practice a profession without belonging to such an association.
         
         
      7. The reaction of victims and their relatives and of human rights organizations
         
         g.1) Organizations of victims and victims' relatives
         

         The work of the group of Relatives of Persons Who Disappeared After Arrest was now augmented by other organizations of victims or of victims' relatives, such as the group of Relatives of Persons Executed for Political Reasons. This organization, which first appeared publicly in November 1978 and still exists, made various kinds of accusations during this period, often in conjunction with other organizations. Its aim was to have those responsible for the deaths of their loved ones brought to justice, and, more generally, to accuse the military regime of responsibility for those deaths. In many instances, these groups were set up in various places around the country. Their regional and local units often played a decisive role in making known human rights violations, and especially in searching for and uncovering the remains.
         

         g.2) Human rights organizations
         

         We have already referred to the work of human rights agencies working under the aegis of the churches, that is, the Vicariate of Solidarity and FASIC, when we spoke of the reaction of the churches to human rights violations. We here refer back to that section. In addition, new human rights agencies arose during this period. Some of them have continued to this day. At that time they played an important role in promoting and defending human rights, as well as in providing legal, medical, social, and moral assistance to those whose rights were violated and to their relatives. Of these we may single out:
         
         g.2.1) National Commission for the Rights of Youth (CODEJU)
         

         It was set up in Valparaíso in 1977 and in Santiago in 1978. Its members are young leaders who hold various political, ideological, and religious positions. The aims of the organization are to condemn any violations of the rights of young people and to assure that all youth organizations take up the issue of human rights.
         
         

         g.2.2) Chilean Human Rights Commission
         

         Established on December 10, 1978, its basic aim is to work in a pluralistic, free, and independent way to assure that the human rights enshrined in international treaties are in force, respected, safeguarded, and promoted. The activities of the Chilean Human Rights Commission have included making known and condemning human rights violations and providing legal aid to persons and groups affected.
         

         g.2.3) Amnesty International, Chile Section
         

         Created in 1978, this group deals with human rights violations outside Chile. By way of exception, inside the country it can deal with all matters related to abolishing the death penalty, the signing of international human rights treaties, and carrying out educational activities on human rights.
         

         g.2.4) Foundation for the Protection of Children Harmed by States of Emergency (PIDEE)
         

         Established in 1979, this organization's work has been that of protecting children and adolescents affected by the repressive actions that grew out of the social and political situation in Chile after 1973. It has provided medical and psychological and other kinds of help to many children of people who were held in prison, disappeared, or were executed.
         

         g.2.5) Committee for the Defense of the Rights of the People (CODEPU)
         

         It was created in late 1980, and its main objective is to defend individual and collective human rights. This committee's work has emphasized collective rights, such as self-determination, solidarity among peoples, and the like.
         

         g.2.6) National Commission against Torture
         

         This group was set up in 1983, and its central objective was, and continues to be, to work to have torture in all its forms abolished.
         

      8. The attitude of other mediating institutions
         
         During this period there was a growing acceptance of the idea that the various sectors of society should regain the possibility of becoming organized democratically in institutions that would represent them and defend the interests of their particular sectors. Since there was now a greater degree of tolerance, and since changes in laws were making the legal framework applied to such institutions less rigid, it became possible during the next subphase for them to become redemocratized and to take a stance of promoting and defending human rights in their own circles and particularly with regard to their own members.
         
         Some human rights violations during this subphase had serious affects on some of these institutions, particularly the Chilean labor union movement, and had a profound impact on the country. Such was the killing of the labor leader Tucapel Jiménez by unknown people on February 27, 1982, while he was trying to bring the labor movement together, and the 1982 expulsion of three opposition leaders.
         
         
      9. The reaction of the international community
         
         This period was generally similar to the previous period. Many countries in the international community remained critical of the Chilean government because of the human rights situation in Chile. This criticism was reflected in the refusal to renew diplomatic relations, and in votes to condemn Chile in international organizations because such rights were being violated in our country. As examples of the latter we may single out:
         
         i.1) Organization of American States (OAS)
         

         Between 1977 and 1980 meetings of the OAS General Assembly led to resolutions expressing concern over human rights violations in Chile. In May 1981, the government decided to suspend its relations with the Interamerican Human Rights Commission which is part of the OAS. That commission's annual report for 1982-1983 contains criticisms of Chile in the area of human rights.
         

         i.2) United Nations
         

         The following are some of the highlights in the efforts made by United Nations with regard to human rights in Chile:
         
         

         • Resolution of the Human Rights Commission, March 6, 1978, condemning the Chilean government for human rights violations;
           
           
         • Visit of the Ad Hoc Working Group to Chile, which issued a special report on the human rights situation in Chile in December 1978;
           
           
         • General Assembly resolution approved December 20, 1978, calling on the government to take various measures to improve the human rights situation in Chile;
           
           
         • Creation of the special group of the Human Rights Commission to examine the situation of people who had disappeared after arrest in Chile;
           
           
         • Resolution of the Human Rights Commission in March 1979 condemning the Chilean government for human rights violations and asking that measures be taken to improve the situation;
           
           
         • Appointment in 1979 of a special rapporteur to draw up a report on what was happening in human rights in Chile.
           
           

         The special rapporteur prepared elaborate reports on the issue covering the years 1979, 1980, 1981, and 1982. The United Nations Human Rights Commission issued critical commentaries on the human rights situation in the country during those years. It is noteworthy that in 1981 the commission urged the Chilean judiciary to use its power to bring about an improvement in the situation. On the basis of these reports and other evidence, the United Nations General Assembly issued resolutions of condemnation in 1979, 1980, 1981, and 1982, and urged that steps be taken in this area. Each resolution was passed by an overwhelming majority.
         

         i.3) Other organizations
         

         As had been the case in the previous period, non-governmental international human rights organizations including Amnesty International and the International Commission of Jurists continued their work of trying to bring about an end to human rights violations in our country.
         

   2. SECOND SUBPHASE-REACTION OF MAJOR SECTORS OF SOCIETY TO HUMAN RIGHTS VIOLATIONS BETWEEN MID-1983 AND 1990
      
      
      1. The attitude of Chilean society
         
         a.1) The reaction of the opposition
         

         Human rights violations were one of the main causes of activity in opposition to the military regime. Such opposition, which continued to grow stronger, was expressed in the same two options that had arisen in the previous subphase: the route that accepted all forms of struggle, with the support of small well-organized sectors on the far left which sought to overthrow the military regime by force; and the route of active nonviolence, which by using its right to dissent, sought to promote a peaceful transition toward a democratic regime that would fully respect human rights.
         
         a.1.1) The option for violence
         

         The option to use violence in confronting the military regime was translated into a spiral of terrorist attacks by groups on the far left:
         
         

         • On August 30, 1983, the intendant of Santiago, General Carol Urzúa was murdered by a MIR commando group. The members of a MIR cell involved in the attack were soon arrested.
           
           
         • On November 12, 1983, a bomb exploded against a police bus. Four police were killed and ten were injured.
           
           
         • On November 4, 1984, the police station in La Cisterna was attacked, and two police were killed.
           
           
         • On March 26, 1985, a bomb placed in the Hotel Araucano killed two CNI members.
           
           
         • On February 5, 1986, a bomb thrown at a police bus killed one policeman and injured fifteen.
           
           
         • On April 2, 1986, the UDI leader Simón Yévenes was murdered.
           
           
         • On April 28, 1986, a policeman was killed in the attack on the Lautaro bakery.
           
           
         • On July 16, 1986, a bomb set off in the metro killed one passenger and injured three.
           
           
         • On September 7, 1986, General Pinochet was attacked, and five of his bodyguards were killed. The Manuel Rodríguez Patriotic Front (FPMR) claimed credit. This attack took place shortly after the discovery in northern Chile of large caches of arms that the FPMR had smuggled into the country. The attack deepened the divisions in the opposition since the Communist party was accused of supporting the activities of this terrorist group. On October 23, 1986, seven members of the organization who had been involved in the attack were arrested.
           
           
         • On September 1, 1987, Lieutenant Colonel Carlos Carreño of the Chilean Army was kidnapped by the Manuel Rodríguez Patriotic Front (FPMR). Two months later he was released in Sao Paulo.
           

         a.1.2) Peaceful approach
         

         Because there were no adequate channels for expressing dissent peacefully, it was expressed first through what are known as National Protests. The first of these was held in May 1983, and it ushered in this period. Small extremist sectors increasingly took advantage of these protests, which the organizers intended to be peaceful actions, and used them for their own purposes, including political violence. The government's response was to adopt drastic measures, which sometimes violated human rights. In doing so, it invoked its obligation to maintain public order. These developments led nonviolent opposition groups to put the emphasis on other ways of expressing their disagreement as such means became available.
         
         At the same time the peaceful opposition became increasingly cohesive during this period. Political parties were reorganized even though they were still prohibited; sector and occupational associations (labor unions, student organizations and professional associations) reorganized; multiparty alliances (such as the Democratic Alliance) and multi-sector alliances (such as the Assembly of Civilian Forces and the Unified Labor Federation) were also formed; agreements with a vast appeal and support such as the National Accord and Broad Political Pacts, and the political platform of the coalition of opposition parties [Concertación]^d were drawn up and signed.
         
         This process culminated with the victory of the "No" vote in the October 5, 1988 plebiscite; the approval of the constitutional reforms submitted to a plebiscite in 1989; and the presidential election December 14, 1989. In each of these developments the issue of human rights played a major role.
         

         a.2) The reactions of groups supporting the regime
         

         a.2.1) The reaction of moderate sectors
         

         Human rights violations committed during this period and information on those committed previously prompted some sectors on the right to become critical of what the military regime was doing. Even though such criticism did not mean that these sectors stopped supporting the government, it did lead to some distancing from it. One sign was the fact that one of the political groups representing these sectors took part in the National Accord promoted by the Catholic church.
         

         a.2.2) Counter-reaction of far right groups
         

         The growing process of opposition to the military regime, and especially the option for armed struggle mentioned above, prompted a reaction on the part of small extremist groups close to the regime. A portion of the terrorist attacks carried out during this period can be attributed to such sectors. The government failed to take effective measures against them. It should be noted that the increasing level of violence that the protests gradually took on, especially in poor areas, was largely due to provocation by these groups. It was in their interest to cause the demonstrators to respond with violence so as to delegitimize the protests as an ethically valid way of exercising their right of dissent.
         

      2. The attitude of those making up the regime
         
         During this time political conditions, including the fact that a transition based on the 1980 constitution was underway, greater awareness of what had happened and was happening in the area of human rights, and a generally stronger opposition, led the government to adopt measures to bring about relative improvement in the human rights situation in Chile. This development was part of an overall series of institutional changes needed for the transition to democracy (such as issuing constitutional laws to govern the election process and the laws governing the composition of political parties). The government's efforts to lessen the problem of exile by allowing most of the exiles to return toward the end of this period were part of this process.
         
         The resignation of the head of the police César Mendoza, who was a junta member, and of other high-ranking police officials when they were found to be involved in the triple murder of Santiago Nattino, Manuel Guerrero, and Jose Manuel Parada (known as the case of the "slit throats") was a reaction to human rights violations from within the government.
         
         By and large there were no other reactions within the regime to human rights violations. This observation does not refer to private efforts to improve the situation made by some people within the regime. However, there were some grave actions that violated human rights, a portion of which were exacerbated by terrorist attacks made by the advocates of armed struggle. In this category fall the reprisals for the attack on General Pinochet, including the case of José Carrasco, Felipe Rivera, Gastón Vidaurrázaga, and Abraham Mouskablitt.
         
         These matters are also discussed in Part Two, Chapter One of this report ("Political Framework").
         
         
      3. The reaction of the churches
         
         The Catholic church continued to show its concern for the promotion and defense of human rights and to carry out the endeavors it had begun previously. A new feature-important enough to receive separate treatment here-was the Holy Father's visit to Chile.
         
         c.1) Teaching activity of the Catholic church
         

         We now cite some passages from statements by the Permanent Committee of the Bishops and the Bishops Conference which in our judgement represent the position of the church on the matter.
         
         

         • Christmas letter of the Permanent Committee to fellow Chileans in exile (December 10, 1983). The bishops said that "our faith in Jesus prevents us from accepting the fact of exile. That is all the more the case when it has been imposed administratively."
           
           
         • Statement of the plenary assembly of the Bishop's Conference, "A Christian Way" (December 15, 1983). Among the guidelines the bishops offered in this statement were the following: "Those who in some fashion engage in, encourage, or aid in torture gravely offend God and human dignity. The security agencies, and especially the CNI, are utterly and urgently in need of a fundamental reform, so that they may act morally and according to the just laws that ought to govern a country. Only in this fashion will torture, intimidation, informing, and humiliating treatment be avoided. Exiles have a right to return to the country, or at least to have their legal situation clarified before the courts so that they may know where they stand."
           
           
         • Statement by the president and secretary of the Bishops Conference (September 5, 1984). In response to censorship measures imposed on several radio stations and three magazines, the bishops stated that "again we find these rights to dissent and to information are being violated."
           
           
         • Statement by the president and secretary of the Bishops Conference on violent actions and the killing of a priest, "One More Holocaust," (September 5, 1984). In this document they pleaded "that God's justice may reach the hearts and minds of our magistrates and that an accurate, competent, and just investigation determine the truth and punish the guilty party."
           
           
         • Statement of the Permanent Committee, "On the Path of Justice," (August 2, 1985). In response to the decision made by appeals court Judge José Cánovas on the responsibility of police for horrifying crimes, the bishops said, "The events that have troubled our country are a challenge to the conscience of all Chileans. We pray to the Lord that those responsible for these crimes may be converted. And we invite Catholics and people of good will to assume their own responsibility for building up a society that will not be violent but will be family-spirited, and to expel once and for all from our common life everything that violates life and social peace."
           
           
         • Statement of the Permanent Committee, "We will not be silent nor will we rest," (January 15, 1986). This document discussed reconciliation.
           
           
         • Statement of the Bishops Conference, "Justice or Violence" (April 7, 1986). This document stated, "We hope that justice will be fully achieved with regard to those who have disappeared, who have been murdered, tortured, and even had their throats slit. It is not enough to say that justice is slow but eventually comes. Justice not exercised in due time is already injustice... The fact that a number of political crimes have remained in obscurity has been creating a climate of mistrust and suspicion that has contributed to tensions and hatred that is harmful to all Chileans."
           
           
         • Message of the Bishops Conference, "Happy Are Those Who Build Peace," (July 13, 1986). The bishops here speak about violence. In paragraph 9 they say, "Another cause of violence is the way the police sometimes exercise their functions... the unnecessary or excessive use of war procedures against the civilian population causes terror, anguish, and annoyance among those who suffer it. Very often they have not even been involved in the actions that prompt such repression."
           
           
         • Statement of the Permanent Committee on the attempt to kill the president (September 10, 1986). In this document the bishops rejected the attack as an act of homicidal violence. Furthermore, in paragraph 4 they said, "[The Bishops Conference] once more reaffirms that peace in Chile will not be brought about by making it a matter of violence and war but by allowing the whole Chilean people to express itself with freedom and responsibility and to participate actively in building a just and family-like homeland." In paragraph 6 they said, "[The Bishops Conference] hopes that the state of siege that the government has declared will be applied with moderation and that the country will return completely to normal as soon as possible." In paragraph 7 they said, "[The Bishops Conference] asks that what has happened these last few days when organized groups have taken several people from their homes and they have later been found dead be brought to light."
           
           
         • Letter of the Permanent Committee at the beginning of Lent (March 4, 1987). In this document the bishops referred to an army major's confession that he had been involved in the crime against Orlando Letelier. "The moral good of the country and the prestige of the Chilean Army demand that this matter be completely brought to light, not only in the courts but primarily for the sake of the very institution to which they belong or belonged."
           

         c.2) The work of the Vicariate of Solidarity
         

         During this long period the Vicariate continued to be concerned about instances of human rights violations from previous periods, as well as the new cases that continued to present themselves. In doing its work the Vicariate of Solidarity was able to compile very complete documentation on the cases it investigated. It continues to expand that documentation to this day.
         
         The government was openly hostile to the vicariate and demonstrated that hostility in various ways. These included the expulsion of its vicar, the Spanish priest Ignacio Gutiérrez in November 1984, and putting a doctor and a lawyer of the Vicariate of Solidarity on trial for the professional attention they provided to a wounded man who was allegedly implicated in an act of terrorism. These persons were arrested, tried, and imprisoned as a result. In January 1989, the military prosecutor's office attempted to confiscate the files of the cases the Vicariate had undertaken, but the Vicariate refused.
         
         On March 29, 1985, the body of José Manuel Parada, who worked at the Vicariate, appeared with his throat slit along with those of Santiago Nattino and Manuel Guerrero. The fact that government agents were involved caused public outrage.
         
         FASIC, the ecumenical organization, continued to do its work. We refer back to what was said about that institution in the earlier period.
         

         c.3) Ministry of priests and pastors
         

         As was the case in previous periods, in their ministry many priests and pastors continued to advocate the need to respect human rights and to make accusations when those rights were violated. Especially commendatory was the work done on behalf of the poorest sectors by priests and pastors, and especially those in the Catholic church who exercised their apostolate in the shantytowns of Santiago. Government officials singled them out for harassment, for example, when the Catholic priests Pierre Dubois, Daniel Caruette, and Jaime Lancelot were expelled on September 10, 1986, and accused of being connected to the attempt on General Pinochet's life. Father Dubois had exercised his ministry in Chile for more than fifteen years.
         
         Although it does not believe the killing of the French priest André Jarlan was a deliberate action by government officials, the Commission believes that it should be mentioned because of the great impact it had. The killing happened on a day of protest in early September 1984. A bullet fired by police hit Jarlan as he was praying in a room of the parish house in the La Victoria shantytown in Santiago.
         

         c.4) Participation of the Catholic church in the National Accord
         

         Cardinal Archbishop Juan Francisco Fresno of Santiago was destined to play an important and decisive role in bringing about the National Accord, which gained broad support in our nation as a whole. One of its main points was the defense and protection of human rights. In this regard the document stated: "Reconciliation requires full respect for the right to life and for all the other rights contained in the Declaration of Human Rights, and the complementary agreements. That means rejecting violence as a means for political action whatever its source. It also makes it necessary to bring to light the attacks and crimes that have disturbed the country and bring to bear the full weight of the law on those responsible." The National Accord, which the government dismissed, created major tensions between the government and the church.
         

         c.5) The pope's visit
         

         On April 1, 1987, Pope John Paul arrived in Chile on an official visit. He took part in mass gatherings in Santiago and in various parts of the country, offering a message of peace, love, and commitment to respect for the dignity of the person, which was broadcast widely on the media and was very moving for many people. In his speech to young people at the National Stadium on April 2, 1987, he referred specifically to the human rights violations that had been committed there in the following terms, "[We are here] now, in this stadium, a place of athletic contests, but also of pain and sorrow in the past .." The visit by this eminent spiritual figure allowed members of the Catholic community speaking on behalf of various and broad sectors of society to denounce in his presence the human rights violations that had been committed in the country, in a setting in which people had been drawn together by his presence.
         

      4. The reaction of the media
         
         During this period some measures to control the media remained in place. These included the limitation laid down by Decree No. 5720 (September 16, 1985), which stated that the media could not offer information or opinions over conduct regarded as terrorist crimes or over activities of a political party character as long as the state of emergency remained in effect. In any case, it should be noted that despite those limitations (which were not always observed as strictly as possible, particularly the prohibition of news on political parties) the limits to freedom of expression were continually being expanded, even though there was not complete freedom of expression in Chile.
         
         Until the appearance of Fortín Mapocho in 1984 and La Epoca in 1987 (after they had overcome great obstacles placed by the government), the work of promoting and defending human rights took place primarily in opposition magazines such as Hoy, Cauce, Análisis, Apsi, Mensaje, Solidaridad, Pluma y Pincel, La Bicicleta, and over radio stations that inclined toward the opposition, such as Radio Chilena, Radio Cooperativa, and Radio Santiago. It should also be noted that some pro-government and independent media allowed journalists to refer to the basic principles of respect for human rights under any circumstance or to provide news on violations of those rights (magazine Qué Pasa).
         
         
      5. The reaction of political parties
         
         By virtue of Transitory Article 10 of the 1980 Constitution, the prohibition of all political or political party activity was maintained, until the Organic Constitutional Law on Political Parties was issued in March 1987. Political parties representing all sectors nonetheless were intensely engaged in their activity well before that date and with the acquiescence of government authorities. One example is the participation of twenty-one political leaders from eleven organizations of the right, center and left, in the previously mentioned National Accord that Cardinal Fresno had convoked in August 1975 [sic].
         
         With regard to the reaction of parties to human rights violations and terrorist activities, the following points may be noted:
         
         
         • Criticism of human rights violations and the demand that such practices cease was one of the main banners under which the parties making up the Democratic Alliance and the Coalition of Parties for Democracy [Concertación] struggled. These parties also maintained a clear and steady stance of condemning terrorist actions of any stripe. Nevertheless in elections in particular sectors (such as university elections), they sometimes presented common slates with parties or political coalitions that encouraged all ways of struggling against the military regime. Significant sectors saw this fact as standing in contradiction with the nonviolent mission of those parties.
           
           
         • The stance of left parties that did not belong to the Democratic Alliance or the Coalition of Parties for Democracy [Concertación] likewise condemned human rights violations. However, these parties had not taken a clear stand of rejecting acts of terrorism. Some of them, like the Communist party and the MIR, even supported all forms of struggle in opposing the military regime. That position was regarded as clear support for violent groups such as the Manuel Rodríguez Patriotic Front which were involved in very serious acts of terrorism, including the attempt to assassinate General Pinochet.
           
           
         • Parties representing sectors on the right which generally supported the "Yes" vote in the 1988 plebiscite, continually condemned terrorist behavior. Although they generally claimed to advocate support for human rights, they did not raise their voice with enough energy to criticize and correct practices of violating those rights in Chile.
           
           
         • Finally those party groups that gave unlimited support to the military regime and to General Pinochet personally, such as Advance Guard of the Nation were not clearly on record as favoring the protection and defense of human rights. Some people in this group had said that they would carry out terrorist activities if the country came to a point where they believed such actions would be justified.
           
           
      6. The attitude of professional people and their associations
         
         As they recovered their democratic character, the various professional associations were led to become concerned over human rights violations in Chile, especially when the rights of their own members were violated. During this period, and even today, many professional associations established a human rights department, in order to maintain an ongoing concern over the issue. Likewise during this period the Federation of Professional Associations began to operate. It includes a significant number of these organizations and to this day maintains a human rights department which coordinates the efforts that its member organizations are making in this area.
         
         The Seventh Congress of the Bar Association in 1986 should be mentioned. One of the topics was "Safeguarding Human Rights and Assuring Their Enforcement." The agreed upon resolutions included a categorical denunciation of the situation of human rights violations at that time in the country, and a series of specific recommendations to end that situation. The particular concern of the Medical Association in its seminars on medical ethics in 1986 should also be mentioned. At that gathering, the findings of the investigation to determine the responsibility of medical professionals in the application of torture to political prisoners were presented. The Journalists Association presented to the Supreme Court the issue of the government policy of preventing the media from reporting the truth.
         
         
      7. The reaction of victims and their relatives, and of human rights organizations
         
         g.1) Organizations of victims and victims' relatives
         

         This subphase was similar to the previous one, and we refer back to the observations made earlier. In any case it should be noted that the changes in the political situation in the country during this subphase such as the gradual diminishment of the regime's repressive activity allowed organizations of victims or their relatives to carry out their activities with greater tolerance on the part of officials. Likewise the rise of a strong and organized opposition movement, and the gradual albeit uneven reduction of restrictions on freedom of information allowed organizations of victims and of relatives to work together and support one another and to do the same with other institutions. It also enabled them to publicly spread the word about their existence, their aims, and what they had suffered.
         

         g.2) Human rights organizations
         

         We here refer back to what was said on this matter under point c.2) above, where human rights agencies under church sponsorship are discussed and to point c.3) in the previous subphase, since in this subphase many of the agencies created up to that time continued to do their work. We should note that it was during this period (September 1983) that the Sebastián Acevedo Movement Against Torture was established. It played an important role in making known and condemning human rights violations and continues to do so. It chose its name in memory of a father who set himself on fire in front of the cathedral in Concepcián, as a last resort attempt to draw public attention to the abduction of his children by CNI members. [See case of Sebastián Acevedo p. 673.]
         

      8. The attitude of other mediating institutions
         
         The process of redemocratizing the various occupational and mediating groups in earlier periods now accelerated and began to render its fruits. Labor and student organizations, neighborhood associations, and toward the end, universities, returned to electing their officers democratically. Insofar as their by-laws and resources allowed, some of these organizations demanded far more emphatically that human rights be respected without limit. They took a special interest in those cases that affected their associates or members. The fact that some of these agencies were continually pointing to human rights violations in Chile helped create a national awareness around the issue.
         
         
      9. The reaction of the international community
         
         As was the case in previous periods, diplomatic relations with various countries remained poor due to human rights violations in Chile. Likewise international organizations continued to give Chile special treatment, preparing condemnations of our country for the human rights situation and recommending measures to improve it. In this respect the following should be noted:
         
         i.1) Resolutions and actions by the Organization of American States
         

         The main ones are the following:
         
         

         • Annual reports of the Interamerican Human Rights Commission for the 1983-1984, 1985-1986, 1987-1988 and 1989 periods, which refer specifically to the human rights situation in Chile.
           
           
         • The Commission's request to make a new visit to Chile in November, 1984, which the government rejected.
           
           
         • The comprehensive report by the Commission on the human rights situation in Chile during the 1973-1985 period.
           
           

         i.2) Resolutions and actions by the United Nations
         

         The main ones are as follows:
         
         

         • Reports of the Special Rapporteur for Chile from 1983 to 1989. The reports for the most recent four years were preceded by visits to Chile by the rapporteur.
           
           
         • Resolutions in the United Nations General Assembly which on the basis of the reports of the Special Rapporteur and the Human Rights Commission, issued condemnations of the Chilean government over the human rights situation in the country and asked that appropriate measures be taken.
           
           

         i.3) Other agencies
         

         We should also mention the continual activity of international non-governmental human rights organizations. Throughout this whole period they continued to be concerned about the situation of human rights violations in Chile, and carried out actions aimed at bringing about an improvement.
         
         

d)Concertación: The Concertación is a coalition composed of eighteen center and moderate left parties who worked to successfully defeat the continuation of the military regime and to vote into office President Patricio Aylwin on December 14, 1989.

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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. II/II, Part Three, Chapter Three (D), 752-776.
Note: Digitized and posted by permission of the University of Notre Dame Press, February 22, 2000.