‘‘Pagaré con mi vida, la lealtad del pueblo.. La patria esta erida pero no vencida.”
“I will pay with my life the loyalty of the city… Patriotism is hurt but not beaten”
These were the shocking words from Salvador Allende’s last speech when the military coup d’etat took over La Moneda on September 11, 1973. Knowing I’d travel to both Peru and Chile this summer, I dedicated my senior global studies research to Truth Commissions in Latin America. Due to this, the Museo de la Memoria y los Derechos Humanos (Museum of Memory and Human Rights) was the stop I was most anticipating in Chile.
In Latin America, post-transitional justice led to the rise of Truth Commissions which are official investigative bodies that document patterns of past human rights abuses. There have been over twenty in the past decade and they represent a political or civil response to mass human rights abuses.
In Chile, Augusto Pinochet seized power in a military coup d’etat staged on September 11, 1973. Thousands of people were arrested, tortured, detained, exiled, and neglected basic rights. People affected range from 40,000 to 250,000. Pinochet had declared a civilian war to those who wanted to change the political system or opposed his government. When Patricio Aylwin took office in 1990, he established the National Truth and Reconciliation Commission (NTRC). The NTRC sought to uncover the military abuses during the Pinochet dictatorship 1973 – 1990 and worked for nine months. The NTRC’s final report made recommendations for legal, institutional, and educational reforms, restorations of the area, and monetary compensation for victims (and or their families). Yet, many officials that were Pinochet’s military supporters still held office during the initiation and opposed any action to revert amnesty laws by vetoing any constitutional amendments.
The NTRC’s report was very through and many of their recommendations were implemented in the future. Though there were reparations, there was a great amount of impunity due to the vast Amnesty laws placed by Pinochet and by the Mesa de Dialogo. The government had acknowledged the findings of the Truth Commission, but no member of the Chilean military ever accepted publicly the views of the NTRC.
This is why I was very interested in coming to the Museum of Memory and Human Rights, which is based on the findings of the National Truth and Reconciliation Commission. It was established in 2010 by President Michelle Bachelet and is a continued effort to make amends in the Chilean community.
Public denial of conflict in civilized areas makes it difficult to move forward. For that reason, truth commissions are essential for the establishment of a clear truth. The greatest issue these commissions faced is that there was no standard framework for which these investigative groups should work under. They all had to obey different amnesty laws, faced impunity, narrow scopes, and lack of support and governmental involvement. While reconciliation may not be achieved, perhaps a new narrative can be created to make a coherent collective memory.
Even now, 40 years after the initial coup, the circumstances in which this occurred are not clear. If I were to ask my Chilean host father (who served in the Navy and lived in the U.S. some years) he would deny that the CIA had any involvement in the coup. Mama Chilena called him and their oldest daughter “Pinochetistas” and declared their other daughter a communist. It is shocking to see how even this family, who is very educated and runs a small private school, can be so ideologically divided. It only illustrates the reality that Chile was never able to achieve a clear truth.
While the occurrences of this time are way beyond our spectrum of understanding. Museums serve as information outlets and have the difficult task of taking a vast amount of information and presenting in a way that its viewers can comprehend. For this reason, I thought the Museum of Memory and Human Rights was successful in the way it was well organized and structured. Since this museum is only four years old, it was more technically advanced than others museums. Interactive televisions, sound booths, and a detailed collection of individuals affected and their photographs, made it possible for the viewer to grasp more information. In this case, it honored the lives of those who were affected by this and allowed my peers and I to experience it rather than tour it.