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| Donde Estan? - the question
of Chile's "disappeared" |
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| Gabriela Zuniga with a picture of her husband. |
'Where are they now, the missing sons, daughters, brothers, sisters and husbands and wives that disappeared during Pinochet's rule in Chile?' This question bears heavily on the minds of those left behind. One of these is Gabriela Zuniga, whose husband was arrested and subsequently disappeared in 1974, barely a year after Pinochet's CIA backed military coup overthrew Salvadore Allende's democratically elected Socialist Party. She has since been active as a PR spokesperson in AFDD (The Association of Families of the Detained and Disappeared); an organisation dedicated to finding out the truth about the fates of their missing family members.
In her well presented lecture Gabriela underlined the importance of establishing the full truth of what happened to those who disappeared in order to build a new, peaceful society in Chile. However, even though 28 years have passed since her husband was arrested she still doesn't know what exactly happened to him and who is responsible for his disappearance. |
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| AFDD pin commemorating family members who were
made to "disappear" by Pinochet's security forces. |
The activities of the AFDD concentrate on locating burial sites, tracing
implicating documents and interviewing people who may have information
shedding light on the fate of the many remaining cases. What the AFDD
research, together with 2 major commissions by the civilian government
of President Patricio Aylwin and various committees have so far established
since the end of military rule in 1990, is that many people who were
considered left wing or supporters of the former president were arrested,
exiled, tortured and killed. One of the commissions, the National
Corporation of Reparation and Reconciliation, recorded the "disappearance",
extrajudicial execution or death under torture of 3197 people between
1973 and 1990 (Amnesty International). On top of that, criminal complaints
on behalf of tens of thousands of former prisoners who were tortured
by the security forces have been submitted to Judge Juan Guzman Tapia,
who chairs the criminal investigation against Pinochet. However, the
issue of impunity with regard to these serious human rights violations
committed under military rule remains far from resolved.
One of the problems hindering the investigations, according to Gabriela,
is that despite Chile's transition to democracy, there are still many
people, including former members of the Directory of National Intelligence,
in important political and social positions who were also holding
posts in Pinochet's administration. Further lack of will on the side
of the government in settling the problem is demonstrated by the refusal
to revoke the Amnesty Law of 1978, which was passed by the military
dictatorship and is widely seen as nothing less than a self-amnesty
for violators of human rights.
Consequently, for Gabriela and many others who cannot forget the fate
of their loved ones, an open wound will remain until the truth is
out and justice has been done. |
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| Ushaia-Papeete
/ Peace Boat's 36th Voyage |
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PEACE BOAT is an NGO in Special Consultative Status with the Economic and Social Council of the United Nations. |
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