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Chile is located on the west coast of Latin America and today has a population of just over 19 million. The figures on the victims and survivors of the Chilean military dictatorship, which came to power in 1973 with a coup against the democratically elected government of President Dr Salvador Allende and lasted until 1990, vary. It is now (2016) estimated that 50,000 political prisoners survived imprisonment and torture and 3,300 disappeared and executed. The numbers have continued to rise over the years. There is hardly a family that has not been affected by the persecution during the military dictatorship, even if not every family talks about it. The wounds are deep and Chile is a divided country in many respects, although there has always been strong opposition to the violation of human rights.
In cases of systematic persecution by state and/or military authorities, the number of victims and survivors identified by state-appointed commissions of enquiry after the end of the violent regimes is usually significantly lower than the figures determined by independent non-governmental organisations. This is also the case in Chile, where, according to the Rettig Commission, a commission of enquiry named after the lawyer Raúl Rettig Guissen (1909-2000), 2,279 people were murdered or disappeared (957 desaparecidos). An updated version of the report by the „Comisión de Verdad y Reconciliación Nacional“ came to the conclusion in 1996 that 3,197 people were murdered, including 1,102 „disappeared“ (pdf of the report) .
The state „Comisión Nacionál sobre Prisión y Tortura“, a truth commission set up in 2001 and chaired by Auxiliary Bishop Sergio Valech Aldunate (also known as the Valech Commission), published a report on 30 November 2004 on cases of torture and atrocities that had not been investigated by the Rettig Commission. The report can be read on the website of the „Comisión Nacionál sobre Prisión y Tortura“. It revealed that people suspected of being „left-wing“ were tortured, abducted and murdered by the Chilean secret police. It was also proven that this was systematic torture in which all branches of the army and the security organs, police and secret services, were actively involved and which took place over the entire duration of the military dictatorship (17 years). The report revealed the constant development of systematic torture methods. It recognised 27,255 political prisoners, although the number of victims may be tens of thousands higher. Almost all (94%) were tortured.
The report contains numerous testimonies from survivors. An abridged German edition of the report was published in 2008: National Commission of Political Imprisonment and Torture (ed.), „There is no tomorrow without yesterday“. Coming to terms with the past in Chile : Hamburg: Hamburger Edition, 2008.
Beatrix Brinkmann, herself a survivor of the military dictatorship, summarised the progress made in clarifying the crimes in autumn 2005 as follows: „In summary, I would say that the limited progress made in clarifying the truth about the human rights violations in Chile has been achieved mainly thanks to the perseverance of those affected themselves, with the support of human rights organisations. But also thanks to the selfless and uninterrupted work of the lawyers who conducted the trials in this area and, more recently, thanks to some honourable judges who pushed forward the investigation of the crimes. International pressure, which was extremely strong during the dictatorship but is hardly noticeable today, has also played a decisive role.“ (Cf. http://www. gerechtigkeit-heilt.de/kongress/dokumentation/brinkmann_recht_auf_wahrheit.html, 6 April 2015)
The newspaper Handelsblatt reported on 18 August 2011 that the number of victims and survivors had increased further. According to the Handelsblatt , a Chilean government commission has „increased the number of victims of the military dictatorship to 40,018. The country has thus officially recognised that far more people died during this period than previously assumed. Chile has officially recognised that far more people than previously assumed were victims of the military dictatorship in the country. A government commission raised the figure to 40,018 on Thursday. This figure includes those who were tortured or imprisoned because of their political views, as well as the 3,065 people who were killed or disappeared by the Chilean armed forces during the dictatorship of Augusto Pinochet (1973-1990). The previous figure of 27,153 surviving victims of the dictatorship, who receive monthly compensation from the Chilean government, has been increased by 9,800 as a result of the new investigation.“
Forty years after the military coup in Chile in September 1973, Chilean judges acknowledged their failures during the military dictatorship for the first time, in particular towards the relatives of the disappeared. The Süddeutsche Zeitung reported on 5 September 2013 that the Chilean Association of Judges declared: „‚It must be clearly stated and fully acknowledged: The judicial system and especially the Supreme Court failed at the time in their role as guarantors of basic human rights and in protecting those who were victims of mistreatment by the state,‘ the judges‘ association announced. The judges also asked ‚Chilean society‘ for forgiveness.“
The question of what such apologies, which come decades too late, can achieve remains unanswered. Only a justice system that respects and defends human rights and does not accept impunity for crimes can contribute to overcoming the wounds caused by the military dictatorship in Chile. Whether they can be healed permanently is questionable.