Pinochet In Power: Human Rights Abuse In Chile

Human rights abuses were very widespread in Chile during the 20th century. Much of the government and police force was said to be corrupt and did what it needed to do for money. In Pinochet in Power: Building a Regime of Repression it goes into much further detail about how these abuses took place. The United States CIA had a special briefing paper titled “Chilean Executions” that they passed along to Secretary of State Henry Kissinger when they found out that the events were happening.1 It was estimated that more than “13,500 Chilean citizens had been rounded up through raids and mass arrests aimed at officials of the deposed Popular Unity government, political activists, labor unions, factory workers, and shanty town dwellers.”2 It was said that they there were around twenty detention camps throughout the nation in which a majority of the general public had no knowledge of. 3 The largest of the sites were two sports arenas, the National Stadium and the Chile Stadium in Santiago, that had been converted to detention camps. Many of the locker rooms and skyboxes had been converted into torture chambers. 4 Over the course of the seventeen-year dictatorship, "the Chilean military would be responsible for the murder, …show more content…
He was known in Washington as a "personable, socially pleasant man that was a mature democrat with a constructive and precise knowledge of the United States."9 He was known for having a lot of support and a "strong voice in Washington" according to Pinochet. When Pinochet found out that he was spreading false information about the regime's human rights record around Washington he knew he had to do something.1011 On the morning of September 15th, they assassinated Letelier through detonating a bomb under the drivers seat of Letelier's Chevrolet while driving to work.12 This ended up decapitating his legs while he died later at a George Washington University