Pinochet-era crime comes back to haunt Chile

Pinochet-era crime comes back to haunt Chile

Woman set ablaze during a 1986 protest has become a symbol of atrocities and impunity under the country's dictatorship.

30 Jul 2015 06:10 GMT

Santiago, Chile - Carmen Gloria Quintana has had more than 50 reconstruction and plastic surgery operations, but they have not been enough to turn the clock back.

"The scars on my face and burn marks all over my body are visible proof of the atrocities I suffered, but there are many thousands more who are suffering," she says.

Quintana is the survivor of one of the most horrendous human rights violations committed during Chile's 17-year military dictatorship. Thousands of others were arrested and never found again. But this week, it is Quintana's story that has unleashed a national outcry about a so-called "pact of silence" within the army to cover up its crimes.

Quintana was an 18-year-old university student on July 2, 1986, when she and Rodrigo Rojas, a 19-year-old photographer, were chased down by three military patrols during a protest in Santiago. First they were beaten. Then an officer doused them with petrol and set them ablaze. Afterwards, they were tossed onto a truck, their bodies dumped into a ditch 20km away and left to die.

More:
http://www.aljazeera.com/blogs/americas/2015/07/pinochet-chile-carmen-gloria-quintana-150730045457725.html