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

July 14, 2011

Chile: Pinochet ‘torture ship’ case turning into travesty of justice

A Chilean judge is turning the historic case of a priest tortured on board a Pinochet-era "torture ship" into a travesty of justice, Amnesty International said today, after the dropping of charges against most of those implicated in his death.

Tomorrow is the hearing of a fresh appeal launched by the family of Father Michael Woodward against the presiding judge’s recent decisions, including the absolving of 19 out of 29 former naval and police officials initially indicted.

The Catholic priest and dual British-Chilean national is believed to have died following torture aboard the naval vessel Esmeralda in 1973, which served as an interrogation centre for scores of prisoners that year.

The boat still serves as a naval training vessel and a "roving ambassador" for the Chilean government.

“This judge is turning Michael Woodward’s case into a travesty of justice,” said Guadalupe Marengo, Amnesty International’s Deputy Director for the Americas.

More:
http://www.amnestyusa.org/news/news-item/chile-pinochet-%E2%80%98torture-ship-case-turning-into-travesty-of-justice

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.