'Behind my back 14 were murdered'

• Published in: Index on Censorship
• Main Author: Verdugo, Patricia
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: SAGE Publications 1990
• Subjects: Argentina; Arellano; antartic*
• Online Access: http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/03064229008534891; https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/pdf/10.1080/03064229008534891

In May this year, Index on Censorship (5/1990) reported on the series of revelations about the wave of murders of suspected oppoirents to General Pinochet's government in the weeks following the coup in September 1973. Chile is now bracing for the shock results expected from an inquiry set up by President Aylwin (see box) into the crimes of the dictatorship. Like Argentina in 1983, Chile is going through the terror and torment of putting together the story of the years of dictatorship. Recent documents published in Santiago are beginning to reveal the extent of the horror. These include the three volume Chile, La Memoria Prohibida 1973-1983 (several authors, Pehuen, Santiago 1989); and La Historia Oculta del Regimen Militar, Chile 1973-1988 (Antartica, Santiago 1990). The following is an extract from Chapter VII (What are we going to do, General?) of the book The Clawings of the Puma by Patricia Verdugo (Ediciones Chile America CESOC, Santiago 1989). It is accompanied by a brief radio interview Speaking out in Chile, where a cemetery worker describes his job in 1973. The opening speaker is Brigadier General Joaquin Lagos Osorio, commander of the Antofagasta region, behind whose back General Sergio Arellano Stark executed detainees awaiting trial.