The Human Rights Violations during the Military government of Chile refer to all acts of human rights abuses, persecution of opponents, political repression and state terrorism committed by the Chilean armed forces and the Police, government agents and civilians in the service of security agencies, during the dictatorship of Augusto Pinochet in Chile since September 11, 1973, until March 11, 1990.

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Detentions and Torture Centers[edit]

Intelligence agencies under Pinochet’s regime instituted secret detention and torture sites to conduct political repression. In total, Chile had 17 torture centers.[31] On occasion, prisoners were released after being confined and tortured. However, many detainees were also killed and “disappeared.”

Cuatro Alamos[edit]

Cuatro Alamos was a detention center that no one outside the DINA had access to, except personnel from other intelligence agencies. It was instituted in 1973, during the earliest phase of the regime. Life in Cuatro Alamos was relatively easier than it was in other detention sites. It consisted of twelve small cells, one large cell and staff offices. There were very few instances of torture within the walls of the prison.[30]

Londres No. 38[edit]

Londres No. 38 was a secret detention center located in downtown Santiago, where DINA members operated from 1973 until the end of 1974. This was one of the many sites that had been previously owned by leftist organizations. Prisoners at Londres No. 38 endured lengthy interrogation periods and continual humiliating treatment. Captors preferred to torture detainees by electrocuting them. Not only were the suspects incarcerated, but their relatives were also arrested. Family members underwent sexual abuse in the presence of their relatives. However, during the initial period, prisoners were still permitted to interact with one another and share information.[30]

Villa Grimaldi[edit]

Villa Grimaldi, located in Santiago, was DINA’s most important torture center that began operating in 1974. Prisoners were interrogated for long periods of time. Once people were incarcerated on a massive scale, new places were reconditioned to hold them. The “tower” was designated as a holding center for political prisoners. There was a water tank on the top floor of the building, which included ten tight spaces where prisoners were held. These spaces were so small that victims had to enter them by crawling on their knees. The tower also included a torture chamber, where prisoners were kept in isolation. Many of them were never seen again. Food was scarce and the conditions were extremely unsanitary.[30]

Physical Torture[edit]

One torture method which was very commonly used was the “grill” or "La Parilla."[disambiguation needed] In this torture, electricity was fed from a standard wall outlet through a control box into two wires each terminating in electrodes. The control box gave the torturers the option of adjusting the voltage being administered to the prisoner. The naked prisoner was stretched out and strapped onto a metal bedframe, or a set of bedsprings, and tied down. He or she was subjected to electrical shocks on several parts of the body, especially on sensitive areas like the genitals and on open wounds. The Valech Report includes a testimony of a Chilean man who was interrogated by prison captors. They took off his clothes and “attached electrodes to his chest and testicles. They put something in his mouth so he would “bite his tongue while they shocked him.”[32] In another method, one of the wires would be fixed to the prisoner (typically to the victim's genitalia) while another wire could be applied to other parts of the body. This caused an electrical current to pass through the victim's body, with a strength inversely proportional to the distance between the two electrodes. A smaller distance between the electrodes led to a stronger current and thus more intense pain for the prisoner. A particularly barbaric version of the "grill" was the use of a metal bunk bed; the victim was placed on the bottom bunk and on the top bunk, a relative or friend was simultaneously tortured.

Most prisoners suffered from severe beatings, and broken or even amputated limbs. At Villa Grimaldi, DINA forced non-compliant prisoners lie down on the ground. The captors ran over their legs with a large vehicle, and crushed the prisoners' bones.[33] The assailants also beat prisoners in the ear until they became deaf, and entirely unconscious; this torture method was called the "telephone."[34] Most of the acts of punishment were intended to severely humiliate the prisoners. At the Pisagua Concentration Camp, captors intimidated prisoners by forcing them to crawl on the ground and lick the dirt off the floors. If the prisoners complained or even collapsed from exhaustion, they were promptly executed.[35]

Sexual Abuse[edit]

General Pinochet’s regime carried out many gruesome and horrific acts of sexual abuse against the victims. In fact, several detention sites were solely instituted for the purpose of sexually tormenting and humiliating the prisoners. Discothèque (La Venda Sexy) was another one of DINA’s main secret detention centers. Many of those who “disappeared” were initially held in this prison. The prison guards often raped both men and women. It was at this prison where internal repression operations were centralized. Militants anally raped male prisoners, while insulting them, in an attempt to embarrass them to their core.[36]

Women were the primary targets of gruesome acts of sexual abuse. According to the Valech Commission, almost every single female prisoner was a victim of repeated rape. Not only would military men rape women, they would also use foreign objects and even animals to inflict more pain and suffering. Women (and occasionally men) reported that spiders and live rats were often implanted on their genitals. One woman testified that she had been “raped and sexually assaulted with trained dogs and with live rats.” She was forced to have sex with her father and brother—who were also detained.[37]