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PART FOUR
Chapter Four
Truth and Reconciliation
In conclusion–the need to reflect
Our task revolved around two fundamental objectives: truth and reconciliation. As defined for us, our work was to come to a comprehensive grasp of the truth of what had happened, for it was utterly necessary to do so in order to bring about reconciliation among Chileans.
We are well aware that the task we undertook goes far beyond the thinking, the interests, and the destiny of individual persons. It is an issue facing our whole society. Each and every one of us citizens must be held accountable before ourselves and before all if we wish to encounter a solution-certainly not a final solution but at least one that is gradual and satisfactory-to the issues before us. We will have to assimilate this truth, find ways to establish the justice that any society needs, make an effort to understand where everyone stood when a human life was destroyed in a manner that overstepped all norms proper to the rule of law. We will have to search for paths to reconciliation. Otherwise, democracy-which is an essential part of our culture-will never be more than a name. For democracy means that realm in which the members of society are able to come together and settle their common problems in peace and freedom.
If this report serves such an aspiration, we can only be grateful. The events documented, evidence gathered, and convictions honestly reached will enable government authorities to adopt measures related to the triad of truth, justice, and reconciliation. Those families and social groups that have suffered in their very soul or who had ties of friendship or solidarity with the victims will now be able to exercise their rights and properly demand that those responsible be brought to account. They will also have the satisfaction that the nation as such has acknowledged and restored to its lost neighbor the full dignity proper to a human being and to a citizen. Our country should never have allowed that dignity to be lost as it did.
If all our people draw together in this fashion through the institutions of a democratic state and the rich array of social organizations, it will be easier at the proper time to take the steps that are needed in our country and that a more harmonious atmosphere may make possible.
It would be a mistake, however, to encourage simplistic illusions. We are well aware that many will find it difficult even to read this report. Clashing feelings are bound to arise. There will be problems over facts and interpretation in all honesty and fairness-and unavoidably so. This report will stand on its own.
Nevertheless we believe there is one thing that no one can deny: Chile has undergone a wrenching tragedy. The report itself says clearly and repeatedly that political situations are not on trial here. That is a matter for our country and history to decide. The report does not make distinctions between victims or perpetrators from one side or the other. It presents events whose seriousness are beyond discussion-incredible situations, sufferings borne by defenseless human creatures who were abused, tortured, destroyed or whose immediate relatives and friends underwent such treatment.
The depth of this suffering must be made known. We cannot conceal it or leave it to offhand commentary, to being dismissed, or for that matter to being exaggerated. We must collectively acknowledge that all of this happened. Only from that moment on-when each individual has plumbed what it means to suffer and to cause suffering-will some be moved to repentance and others to forgiveness. This is not a matter for mere words or for some sort of sentimental sermon. Anyone who had to go over each of the cases recorded in this report and to enter into contact with the huge number of people who told their very personal and unutterable stories will be well aware of how a human being can be ennobled.
We have witnessed and documented the tragedy. We trust that whoever reads this report will appreciate even more the expression, "Never again!" It must be never again, for we cannot return to a situation in which Chileans will again be facing the vile absurdity of resolving political problems through murder, torture, and hatred. Such a "never again" therefore also means not doing to others what has been done to oneself. Legally and politically, that is tantamount to saying that respect for the rights of every human being must come into play as the basis for our common life.
That conclusion leads us to a point that we cannot overlook in these observations. The report several times observes that the Commission believes that the human rights violations that took place during this period must not and cannot be excused or justified on the grounds of previous actions by those whose rights were violated. That is a basic proposition; it must be maintained.
When people think that the violation of fundamental rights has gone beyond the bounds of a legal or political order (or indeed simply a human order), when ordinary life in common has gone beyond the breaking point, and when matters reach the point where one portion of society believes that radical change is necessary, reactions may be very strong and a nation itself may move in a very different direction. That is a fact of political life, a reality of history on which the Commission takes no position. When matters reach this point, a society that is in crisis and faces internal or external aggression certainly has a right to defend itself.
However, as long as it intends to remain human and to respect basic values, it may never-whether for the sake of change, or self-defense, or in exercising power after a successful revolution-justify further violating human rights on the basis of the errors, excesses, or crimes that may have been committed previously.
On the contrary, we maintain that human rights fully in operation constitute the foundation of the democratic order that is now accepted by the community of nations. They are its foundation in themselves and not in terms of other objectives. That means upholding the natural dignity of the human being.
We hope that truth will serve as the basis for reconciliation. We believe we have responded to the demands of those who may have hoped either that we would show understanding for the harm that they have suffered, or be fair in judging their actions that have been branded as blameworthy. We have presented all cases, and we have taken into account all explanations. We have also fulfilled our mandate by presenting measures to prevent recurrence of human rights violations and to make reparation insofar as possible for the moral and material harm done to the victims.
Hence in concluding its labors the Commission urges all Chileans, especially those who in some manner have believed or still believe that the major problems facing Chile can be solved by inflicting violence or showing contempt for the lives of others, to turn their souls toward the choice that emerges from this long and profound tragedy. The results of what took place during this period and which to some extent remain with us, cry out in sorrow from every page of this report.
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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 Four, Chapter Four, 891-893.
Note: Digitized and posted by permission of the University of Notre Dame Press, February 22, 2000.
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