Villa Grimaldi
Villa Grimaldi | |
---|---|
Prison camp used during the military dictatorship of Chile | |
Coordinates | 33°27′49.5″S 70°32′33.5″W / 33.463750°S 70.542639°W |
Known for | Internment of Pinochet's dissidents during his military dictatorship |
Location | Santiago |
Operated by | DINA (when the estate acted as a prison) |
First built | 19th century |
Operational | 1973-1978 |
Inmates | Pinochet's dissidents |
Number of inmates | 4500 people |
Killed | at least 226 people |
Notable inmates | Michelle Bachelet Sheila Cassidy |
Website | http://villagrimaldi.cl/ |
Villa Grimaldi is considered the most important of
History
For most of the 19th and 20th centuries, the three-acre estate was a gathering place for many of Chile's artists and intellectuals. Over the years Villa Grimaldi's various owners hosted parties and cultural events. The structures included meeting rooms, entertainment halls, and a theater, as well as a school that was open to the entire community. It was a gathering place for many left-wing and progressive cultural and political figures during the Popular Unity years, the period associated with the election of Salvador Allende, a Socialist, to Chile’s presidency in 1970.[2]
This liberal atmosphere changed suddenly when
Villa Grimaldi was taken over by the DINA, Pinochet's secret police, under Colonel Manuel Contreras and became an interrogation center under the cover of an electrical utility company. It was referred to by the government as Cuartel Terranova but continued to be referred to as Villa Grimaldi by the greater population.
An estimated 4,500 people were detained at Villa Grimaldi, and of those at least 226 "disappeared" forever.
The forced voyeurism exercised at Villa Grimaldi has been likened to places like Abu Ghraib.[6] Electric shock was the most common form of torture used by agents at Villa Grimaldi. Agents tied naked prisoners to a bare metal bed known as la parrilla, or the grill, and shock devices were attached to sensitive parts of the body such as the lips or genitals.[10] Other torture methods included hanging, underwater asphyxiation, beatings, burning, verbal abuse and general degradation. Detainees were sometimes drugged and hypnotized during interrogations.[9]
By 1978, Villa Grimaldi was no longer a detention center. It was sold to a construction company which demolished the buildings with the intention of redeveloping the estate into a housing complex. La Asamblea Permanente por los Derechos Humanos de Peñalolén y La Reina (The Permanent Assembly for Human Rights of Peñalolen and La Reina) was a community led movement that found out about these plans and initiated a campaign to redevelop the land into a memorial of the lives lost there in the name of human rights and the preservation of historical memory.[11]
Villa Grimaldi as a memorial site was first opened to the community on December 10, 1994. The Villa Grimaldi Peace Park was subsequently opened in March 1997.[5]
Carmen Rojas, a Chilean female
Architecture
The property that houses Villa Grimaldi was once privately owned, featuring a main estate and several smaller buildings, including a water tower, barracks for domestic help, and a pool.[14] In its current state, many of the historic features have been removed, but the remnants have been incorporated into the construction of the peace park. Visitors to the current site note being struck by the design’s open space. A new building has been reconstructed to resemble The Tower, a multi-tier fifty-foot oak building containing replicas of a series of torture spots, including isolation cells smaller than 91 centimetres (36 in) by 210 centimetres (83 in) in size. These holding areas are even smaller than the quarters for solitary confinement, referred to as las perras (kennels) that were used for prisoners who did not “collaborate enough”.[15]
Features of the peace park are oriented in a “+” shape, dividing the park into four corners. In the center there is a water fountain. A path connects the tower to the prison cells, creating a path between torture sites. The other portions of the divided layout connect the entrance of the park to wall of names memorial area.
Other elements of the park include el Muro de los Nombres (Wall of Names) and the Memory Room. The wall of names is situated at the far end of the park and expresses a sentiment of privacy and reverence for those who have disappeared. The piece includes names, in addition to dates of birth and death, of prisoners detained at Villa Grimaldi between 1974-1977 and then disappeared by the military. There is seating directly in front of the site wall, situated intentionally to provoke an understanding of the "different affective space this memorial produces as a place of contemplation with no barriers, in private, in solace".[17] Another feature of the park is the Memory Room, which contains mementos, black and white photos, childhood toys, journal entries and other personal items of the individual lives whose last known locations were being detained in Villa Grimaldi.
See also
- Forced disappearance
- Operation Condor
References
- ^ "Latin America's Schindler: a forgotten hero of the 20th century | Ewen MacAskill | World news". The Guardian. Retrieved 2016-12-14.
- ^ a b Almberg, Mark (8 June 2007). "Villa Grimaldi: Chiles memorial to victims of torture". People’s Weekly World. Retrieved 1 June 2013.
- ^ "Murió a los 80 años el exagente de la DINA Marcelo Moren Brito". BBC Mundo. 2015-09-12. Retrieved 2015-10-10.
- ^ "Fallece a los 80 años ex agente de la Dina Marcelo Moren Brito". La Tercera. 2015-09-11. Archived from the original on 2015-09-30. Retrieved 2015-10-10.
- ^ a b "Historia". Embajada del Reino de los Países Bajos. Retrieved 1 June 2013.
- ^ ISBN 978-0-520-25583-8.
- ISBN 978-0-520-25583-8.
- ^ Official biography of M. Bachelet Archived September 27, 2007, at the Wayback Machine on Chilean governmental website (in Spanish)
- ^ a b "Report of the Chilean National Commission on Truth and Reconciliation" (PDF). United States Institute of Peace. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2013-02-01. Retrieved 2013-06-03.
- ISBN 978-0-520-25583-8.
- ISBN 978-0-520-25583-8.
- ISBN 978-0-520-25583-8.
- ISBN 978-0-520-25583-8.
- ^ Baxter, Victoria (January 2005). "Civil Society Promotion of Truth, Justice and Reconciliation in Chile: Villa Grimaldi". Peace and Change. 30 (1).
- ISBN 978-0-520-25583-8.
- ^ ISBN 978-0-520-25583-8.
- ISBN 978-0-520-25583-8.