Protests as Chilean torture ship comes to England
30 Jun 2003, 12:00am

Amnesty International members will be holding protests in Dartmouth (9 July 2003, time tbc) and London (16 July 2003, 12:00 pm, West India Docks, Docklands, Meridian Gate) to voice concern at the ship's use as an 'ambassador' for Chile.

The organisation is writing to Foreign Secretary Jack Straw, the Chilean President and the ship's commander, calling for acknowledgement of the use of torture in Chile and full investigations into all accusations.

Amnesty International UK Director Kate Allen said:

'The use as a 'goodwill ambassador' of this vessel, where hundreds were tortured, is an affront to the victims of torture, to their families and to fundamental human rights.

'The thousands who survived torture under Pinochet have still not been acknowledged and their torturers have not been brought to justice. The Chilean navy must acknowledge the dark history of the Esmeralda and the authorities must launch a full investigation into allegations of widespread torture under Pinochet's rule.'

More:
http://www.amnesty.org.uk/press-releases/protests-chilean-torture-ship-comes-england

This tall ship has a bloody, brutal history

La Esmeralda: The Chilean vessel was used as a torture chamber during Pinochet's rule, and an English priest died on board.

June 18, 2000|By Stacie Jonas and Sarah Anderson

TALL SHIPS FROM around the world are scheduled to sail into Baltimore's Inner Harbor on Friday for what organizers are touting as an event to promote "cultural exchange and good will."

The ships will surely be a majestic sight. But behind the stately image of one of these ships, La Esmeralda, lies a terrifying history that should not be forgotten.

In 1973, in the aftermath of a bloody coup against the democratically elected government, the Chilean Navy made a special contribution to the new military junta led by Gen. Augusto Pinochet. They allowed La Esmeralda, a four-masted Chilean naval ship, to be used as a prison and torture chamber. According to testimony collected by Amnesty International and the Organization of American States, at least 110 political prisoners - 70 men and 40 women - were interrogated aboard the ship for more than two weeks without charges or trial.

The former mayor of Valparaiso, where the ship was stationed, described being tied to one of the ship's masts and subjected repeatedly to electric shock. "I couldn't sleep for six days because they woke me up every six minutes, night and day," he told Amnesty International. "We could hear how the others were tortured right where we were."

More:
http://articles.baltimoresun.com/2000-06-18/topic/0006170165_1_esmeralda-sail-torture-chamber

government agents spied on them.

From an old post at D.U.:

...Times have changed in the United States as well. Back in the summer of
1976 when La
Esmeralda was last docked in Baltimore harbor, FBI investigators were
busy conducting extensive surveillance of the Americans protesting the
ship.
In hindsight, the FBI's focus appears shockingly misplaced. While they
had their
lenses on peaceful protestors, the real security threat was heading
toward our nation's
capital apparently unnoticed. On Sept. 21, 1976, Pinochet's agents
detonated a car bomb,
killing former Chilean diplomat Orlando Letelier and 25-year-old
American Ronni Karpen
Moffitt in Washington as they drove to work at our organization, the
Institute for
Policy Studies.

trying to conceal why we're paying attention to this lovely machine