Ariel Dorfman: Ghosts of Chile
[Ariel Dorfman, a Chilean-American writer, is a professor at Duke University. He is the author of "Death and the Maiden" and the forthcoming "Feeding on Dreams: Confessions of an Unrepentant Exile."]
When Barack Obama arrives in Chile on Monday for a 24-hour visit, something crucial will be missing from his agenda. There will be succulent seafood, speeches praising Chile's prosperity, bilateral agreements and meetings with the high and mighty. But there are no plans, I am sure, for the president to encounter what has been the defining experience of Chile's recent history, the trauma that the people of this country underwent during the 17 years of Gen. Augusto Pinochet's regime.
And yet, it would not be impossible for Obama to witness a small sample of the grief of Chile. A scant seven blocks from the presidential palace, La Moneda, where he is to be feted by President Sebastián Piñera, 120 researchers are busy all day long compiling a conclusive list of Pinochet's victims so that final amends and compensation can be made. This is the third attempt since the dictatorship ended in 1990 to deal with the massive losses it left behind. Two officially sanctioned commissions had already investigated an enormous number of cases of torture, execution and political imprisonment, but it became apparent as the years went by that countless human rights violations remained to be identified. And the current inquiry has, in fact, received 33,000 additional petitions for redress.
Although Obama would be unable to read any of the confidential reports about these cases, a few minutes spent away from his strict calendar of events, talking to some of the men and women who are carrying out the inquiries, would tell him more about the hidden agony of Chile than a thousand briefing books...
Read entire article at LA Times
When Barack Obama arrives in Chile on Monday for a 24-hour visit, something crucial will be missing from his agenda. There will be succulent seafood, speeches praising Chile's prosperity, bilateral agreements and meetings with the high and mighty. But there are no plans, I am sure, for the president to encounter what has been the defining experience of Chile's recent history, the trauma that the people of this country underwent during the 17 years of Gen. Augusto Pinochet's regime.
And yet, it would not be impossible for Obama to witness a small sample of the grief of Chile. A scant seven blocks from the presidential palace, La Moneda, where he is to be feted by President Sebastián Piñera, 120 researchers are busy all day long compiling a conclusive list of Pinochet's victims so that final amends and compensation can be made. This is the third attempt since the dictatorship ended in 1990 to deal with the massive losses it left behind. Two officially sanctioned commissions had already investigated an enormous number of cases of torture, execution and political imprisonment, but it became apparent as the years went by that countless human rights violations remained to be identified. And the current inquiry has, in fact, received 33,000 additional petitions for redress.
Although Obama would be unable to read any of the confidential reports about these cases, a few minutes spent away from his strict calendar of events, talking to some of the men and women who are carrying out the inquiries, would tell him more about the hidden agony of Chile than a thousand briefing books...