OEA/Ser.L/V/II.34
REPORT
ON THE STATUS OF HUMAN RIGHTS IN CHILE Findings
of “on the spot” Observations in CHAPTER
III INITIATION
OF THE VISIT
1.
On July 22, the Commission began its activities in Santiago with the
following in attendance: Chairman, Dr. Justino Jiménez de Aréchaga, and
Commission members Prof. Manuel Bianchi, Ambassador Robert F. Woodward, and Dr.
Genaro R. Carrió. On the 24th, the Vice-Chairman of the Commission,
Dr. Carlos A. Dunshee de Abranches joined the mission. The two remaining
members, Dr. Gabino Fraga and Ambassador Andrés Aguilar, were not able to
travel to Chile because of unavoidable commitments entered into prior to the
establishment of the date on which the Commission's mission in that country
would begin.
It is considered appropriate to note here that the members of the
Commission are designated in their personal capacity, must be of different
nationalities, and serve as representatives of the Organization of American
States and not of their own countries.
2.
The Secretariat, which was installed in the Hotel Crillón, was under the
direction of the Executive Secretary, Dr. Luis Reque, with the assistance of
Drs. Alvaro Gómez and Edgardo Holzman and of staff members Mmes. Yoly Sequeira,
Ligia Guillén and Graciela Salas. A.
INITIAL ACTIVITIES a)
Interviews with Ministers
3.
The Commission began its work by visiting the Ministers of Foreign
Affairs, Vice-Admiral Patricio Carvajal; of Defense, General Oscar Bonilla; of
the Interior, General César Benavides Escobar; and of Justice, General Hugo
Musanti, who offered to provide the Commission their fullest collaboration. It
was initially decided that each member of the Commission would be furnished an
identification document to authorize him to visit freely, within normal hours,
the official bureaus that he considered necessary to examine in carrying out his
task. This system was not applied, because the identification cards were not
received. It was necessary to conduct the visits in the company of military
authorities, who, however, did not in any way hamper free communication with the
detained persons. However, this circumstance made it impossible to conduct
surprise visits. b)
Visits to Other Authorities
4.
Visits were also made to the Chairman of the Supreme Court of Justice,
Dr. Enrique Urrutia Manzano, with whom an extensive interview was conducted, and
the Secretary General of the Government, Col. Pedro Ewing, and the General
Controller of the Republic, Héctor Humeres. c)
Visit
to the Commission on Constitutional Reform
5.
The Inter-American Commission on Human Rights was invited to attend a
meeting held to receive it by the Commission in charge of drafting the new
Constitution for Chile.
The meeting was held in the Congressional Palace on July 25.
The Chairman of the Commission on Constitutional Reform, Enrique Ortúzar
Escobar, opened the meeting with a vigorous speech primarily devoted to a
critical analysis of the previous political regime. He briefly outlined the
constitutional reform that was being drafted and maintained that final approval
of it would fall to the Chilean people.
6.
The Chairman of the Inter-American Commission made a brief reply stating
that any consideration of Chile's internal policies was forbidden to the
Commission, since it devolved upon the citizens of Chile alone to resolve, in
the exercise of their free will, their own internal problems. Alluding to the
presence in the Reform Commission of distinguished professors of constitutional
law, he expressed his confidence that the new basic charter would strengthen
guarantees of human rights, in accordance with the purest democratic traditions
of Chilean constitutionalism, which has been an example for the rest of the
hemisphere.
7.
No deadline has been set for the Reform Commission to complete its work.
The following substantive paragraphs should be noted in the Commission's
preliminary report issued November 26, 1973, and submitted at the time of the
visit mentioned:
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . . . . .
The Constitution, whose very purpose is basically to regulate collective
coexistence of a society with full respect for human rights, shall maintain and
strengthen all of the public liberties and essential rights that are designated
as constitutional guarantees and which, without discrimination, protect all of
the inhabitants of the territory of the Republic.
The Constitution will also recognize basically both the indicated
tradition of Chilean institutions, which receive from the Hispanic past a sense
of law and human dignity, as well as the contents of international documents
that have dealt with human rights in the contemporary world, particularly the
Universal Declaration of the Rights of Man, the American Declaration of the
Rights and Duties of Man, and the Declaration of the Rights of Children.
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . . . . .
A contemporary republican democracy requires that governments be selected
by the people in free, multiparty, secret, honest, and freely publicized
elections, and for that purpose, the pertinent constitutional and legal
mechanisms will be fully developed.
The Chilean Constitution will ensure the establishment of a social
democracy that will diffuse the political, social, and economic power base
throughout the population; a functional democracy that will stimulate and ensure
the inclusion of all sectors of national activity in the processes of making
collective decisions; and a participatory democracy that will implement the
right of all to take part, within their natural communities, in the social,
cultural, civic, and economic life of the country, in the search for full human
development.
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . . . . .
Hence, it will be the duties of the parties and political groups to
generate and animate the government of the nation. To govern requires an overall
view that is political and that does not result from the mere sum of many
partial, technical or specialized views such as those held by trade unions.
Therefore, it is not such groups to govern or co-govern with decisive power, but
rather their specialized nature confers upon them the capability of constituting
an effective technical support for a modern government.
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . . . . .
Political power originates in the Chilean people, and the Constitution
sets forth mechanisms and institutions ensuring their actual, active and
responsible participation in the civic processes of designating government
leaders and in the other control or decision-making activities that devolve upon
them through the workings of their institutions.
Electoral proceedings and plebiscites will be free, with secret ballot
and the broadest and most effective guarantees for the dissemination of the
viewpoints of the various sectors taking part in political controversy, so that
extensive and accurate information will be provided to the people. The people
have a right to select from among real alternatives, and hence, a multi-party
system will be guaranteed as a civic expression of various democratic
ideologies.
To ensure that elections are honest and secret, and freely and
expeditiously held; to strengthen the representation of majorities and ensure
respect for the rights of minorities, the system of employing our armed forces
to safeguard elections will be expanded and improved.
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . . . . .
The Constitution will contain a special chapter setting forth
systematically the most essential standards relating to the Police Force, and to
that end, will take into consideration the studies being made by the Armed
Forces Staff.
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . . . . .
It can be seen from the recent experience with the “Unidad Popular”
that that regime sought to destroy democracy and the Rule of Law which our
country had enjoyed almost without interruption and which was pointed out as an
example to America and the world; and that, as a means of installing a
totalitarian system in Chile.
Therefore, the new constitutional structure shall protect the assurance
and strengthening of the democratic system and the Rule of Law which are the
basic pillars supporting the fundamental rights of human beings, and which in
turn make possible the normal evolution of the country.
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . . . . . d)
Visit
to the Cardinal Archbishop of Santiago
8.
The members of the Commission found extremely useful the interview with
His Eminence the Cardinal Archbishop of Santiago, Monsignor Raúl Silva Henríquez,
who received them in his office. e)
Preparation of the Work Plan
9.
The Commission drew up a work plan comprising the following main points:
a) Study of the legal system in effect as of September 11, 1973, and the legal
situation and significance of the “state of war”; b) Visits to jails and
other detention installations in Santiago; c) Visits to places indicated as
detention installations or “concentration camps,” located outside Santiago;
d) Gathering direct testimony from the largest number possible of detained
persons, seeking to determine the reasons for their detention, the relevance of
those reasons from the legal standpoint, the treatment the prisoners received,
whether physical and/or psychological pressures were brought to bear in such
establishments or outside them, the individualization of the places where
prisoners might be tortured, if there are any, the possibility of obtaining
legal assistance, the effectiveness of the remedies of amparo and habeas
corpus, etc.; c) Examination of cases being tried by Ordinary Justice,
particularly remedies of amparo, to evaluate the effectiveness of the
judicial branch's actions to protect human rights; f) Attend trials before war
councils, and examine cases that have been handled by them, to determine to what
extent their procedures adequately guarantee due process and respect the legal
rights of the defense; g) Observe the extent of freedom enjoyed by mass
communication media; h) The extent to which the provisions contained in
international conventions on asylum, expulsion of foreigners, etc., are complied
with.
10.
It was believed that interviews with persons from the most varied social
sectors and with the most dissimilar political or religious convictions would
open up new perspectives to the Commission and might even lead it to investigate
other fields directly relating to the protection of human rights.
11.
The vast scope of the work that the Commission proposed to carry out and
the need to reduce its stay in Chile to the minimum time consistent with the
importance of the mission it was required to conduct, made it necessary to
distribute these tasks among its members. It was sought to the extent possible
to have at least two members take part in each task or to have them assisted by
lawyers from the Commission's Secretariat.
It was necessary to confine the work to gathering available material,
leaving critical analysis of it for later.
12.
The Commission was therefore able to compile, in days of intensive work
from July 22 to August 2, extensive material, which has served as a basis for
preparing the basic chapters of this report.
It is a matter of strict justice to recognize the extremely useful
assistance of the liaison officials designated by the Government of Chile,
Messrs. Olegario Russi, Luis Winter and José Luis León, who facilitated the
travel of the Commission members and arranged interviews for them. B.
THE WORK BEGINS a)
New Denunciations and Complaints
13.
Once the Inter-American Commission installed its offices in the Hotel
Crillón, a continuous procession of persons of all ages and social conditions
filed in virtually 12 hours a day to formulate complaints and denunciations.
They were supplied for that purpose mimeographed forms containing the
various particulars required by our Regulations.
Many of these persons expressed the fear that their coming to the Hotel
Crillón was recorded by the police, which they thought might cause them serious
difficulties. Despite that, they stated that they had not hesitated to make
their charges, in the hope that they would be able to aid their loved ones in
some way.
14.
In general, these complaints or denunciations—which reached the number
of 576—dealt with the disappearance of persons beginning September 11, 1973,
detentions of indeterminate duration without trial, physical of psychological
torture; disregard of the legal rights of attorneys, etc. In other cases, our
Commission was requested to use its good offices to obtain the release of
persons detained without charges of any kind being brought against them, and
authorization for them to travel to other countries, particularly in Europe,
through the Embassy of any of those countries.
Many of these communications caused the Commission to send notes to the
Government of Chile through the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
In some cases, a speedy reaction was obtained. When for example the
authorities were informed that a minor was detained in an establishment for
adults, living with them, he was released and returned to his mother.
The complainants in general did not confine themselves to filling out
their form with the personal assistance of the Secretariat—in some cases they
barely knew how to write—but rather they insistently expressed a desire to
speak with any of the Commission members. The Commission members personally
received virtually all persons who expressed desires to have interviews with
them. b)
Meetings with Chilean Attorneys
15.
Two very informative and extensive meetings were held with Chilean
attorneys who gave detailed information to the Commission on obstacles—at
times insurmountable—placed in the way of the performance of their
professional work, when it involved defending persons detained or prosecuted, or
simply, seeking to contact them to decide whether to intervene in their case.
The testimony provided to the Commission by these professional men, representing
a broad range of opinions, was in agreement that their ability to act in defense
of the basic rights of persons was substantially limited. c)
Meetings with Wives of Detainees
16.
The Commission received a collective visit of wives of prisoners formerly
confined in Dawson Island who had been transferred to Ritoque. With noteworthy
precision, the visitors gave detailed reports on the hardships their husbands
had had to suffer. Later, in direct interviews with the prisoners, the
Commission hear their stories, which confirmed all aspects of the accounts that
their wives had previously given. d)
Contact with the International Red Cross
17.
On August 1, Commission member, Ambassador Robert F. Woodward, had an
interview with representatives of the International Red Cross in Chile.
On the above date, he met with the following representatives of the
International Red Cross: Serge Nessi, General Delegate for Latin America and the
Caribbean; Roger Santschy, Chief of Delegation, Red Cross International
Committee; and Bruno Doppler, Delegate, Red Cross International Committee.
18.
These persons stated that, when General Bonilla was Minister of the
Interior, they had called his attention to the provisions of Article 3 of the
Geneva Conventions,1
and he stated that Chile would comply with the provision cited. The Commission
was informed that the Government of Chile had been the first government in South
America to ratify the Geneva Conventions.
The Commission was informed that the International Red Cross had obtained
written permission from the Government of Chile on September 25, 1973, to visit
places of detention. It had not received permission to visit places where
prisoners were interrogated.
By virtue of that permission, it had for example made 17 visits to the
National Stadium.
19.
At the time of the Commission's visit, the Red Cross was visiting each
place of detention two times a month. As a result of these visits, prisoners
were identified; and a card was made up for each of them, with a copy
transmitted to the central file in Geneva.
In addition to these periodic visits, the Red Cross was distributing food
and supplies to the detention centers. It reported, for example, that it had
distributed 10,000 blankets, powdered milk, medicines, mattresses, and other
articles. The distribution of these supplies was carried out in cooperation with
the Chilean Red Cross and charity institutions.
20.
It also reported that, in cases of the alleged commission of acts in
violation of the Geneva Conventions, committed by the personnel of the prisons
or detention centers, the Red Cross representative had brought such
denunciations to the attention of the Chilean authorities.
21.
It was also reported that, with respect to the duty of the Government of
Chile to comply with Article 3(d) of Geneva Convention Nº 1 on recognized
“judicial guarantees” in cases of decisions by Chilean military courts, the
Red Cross had sent attorneys to observe the trials and consulted with the
prosecutor or judge in “War Councils”, such as for example in so-called Air
Force case. However, the Red Cross did not have a continuing service for the
provision of legal assistance to prisoners or detainees, although it hoped to be
able to establish one in the near future. In any event, the representatives
expressed their concern for the recent trials that had been held in the country,
particularly because of the death sentences, which would have been in violation
of “Edict 44” of 10-XII-1973.
22.
Since the latter part of January, 1974, and up to the time of the
interview—it reported—the International Red Cross had supplied material
assistance to members of the families of prisoners in urgent cases. Such aid had
usually consisted of meals, blankets, medicines, and clothing. It had also
established distribution centers, the chief one being in Santiago. Cooperating
with the Red Cross were the Social Workers Service and the Social Work Service
of SENDET. At the time of the interview, the Red Cross was providing more or
less regular assistance to 3,000 families (each family of four or five persons)
and expected to maintain, and if necessary, increase that assistance throughout
the remainder of the year 1974. e)
Audience with a Representative of the High
Commissioner for Refugees
23.
The Commission received Mr. Daniel S. Blanchard, Representative in Chile
of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, who submitted a very well
documented statement. At that time, and on many occasions, the Commission had to
resort to Mr. Blanchard, who always showed the greatest readiness to assist it
in its tasks.
[ Table of Contents | Previous | Next ] 1
Red Cross International Committee. The Geneva Conventions of August
12, 1949, Madrid-1970 (Convention Nº 1, pp. 25 to 55). The text of the
article cited, which is the same in all 4 Conventions, is as follows: Article
3 In
the case of armed conflict not of an international character occurring in
the territory of one of the High Contracting Parties, each Party to the
conflict shall be bound to apply as a minimum, the following provisions: 1.
Persons taking no active part in the hostilities, including members
of armed forces who have laid down their arms and those placed hors de
combat by sickness, wounds, detention, or any other cause, shall in all
circumstances be treated humanely, without any adverse distinction founded
on race, color, religion or faith, sex, birth or wealth, or any other
similar criteria. To
this end, the following acts are and shall remain prohibited at any time and
in any place whatsoever with respect to the above-mentioned persons: a)
violence to life and person, in particular murder of all kinds,
mutilation, cruel treatment and torture; b)
taking of hostages; c)
outrages upon personal dignity, in particular humiliating and
degrading treatment; d)
the passing of sentences and the carrying out of executions without
previous judgment pronounced by a regularly constituted court, affording all
the judicial guarantees which are recognized as indispensable by civilized
peoples. 2.
The wounded and sick shall be collected and cared for. An
impartial humanitarian body, such as the International Committee of the Red
Cross, may offer its services to the Parties to the conflict. The Parties to
the conflict should further endeavour to bring into force by means of
special agreements, all or part of the other provisions of the present
Convention. The
application of the preceding provisions shall not affect the legal status of
the Parties to the conflict. |