You are here: Library

Report of the Chilean National Commission on Truth and Reconciliation (Rettig Report)

Chilean National Commission on Truth and Reconciliation

1991, Chilean National Commission on Truth and Reconciliation:

more informationTable of contents:

Foreword
Introduction to the English Edition
Guide to the English Edition
Guide to the Editor's Notes
Acronyms
Introduction
Supreme Decree No. 355

PART ONE

Chapter One: Methodology and work of the National Commission on Truth and Reconciliation in preparing this report

  1. Objectives of the Commission
  2. Knowledge of the truth

    1. Deciding which cases the Commission should consider
    2. Staff organization
    3. Testimony from family members
    4. Subsequent investigations
    5. Individual decision on each case
    6. An account of the truth about individuals and the country as a whole

  3. Sending evidence to the courts
  4. Acknowledgement of harm inflicted and proposals for reparation and prevention
  5. Chapters dealing with relevant prior circumstances
  6. A truth for reconciliation

Chapter Two: Norms, concepts and criteria on which the Commission's conclusions have been based

  1. Norms

    1. Human rights
    2. Laws of war or international humanitarian law
    3. Other norms governing the use of force
    4. Who is guilty of violating human rights?

  2. Concepts

    1. Responsibilities

      1. The relationship between the political situation prior to September 11, 1973, and the subsequent human rights violations
      2. The state's "moral responsibility"
      3. Other kinds of responsibility: those which fall on individuals and those which fall on the institutions to which they belong

    2. Some forms of human rights violations

      1. Disappearance after arrest [detenidos desaparecidos, literally "disappeared prisoners"]
      2. Executions
      3. Use of undue force
      4. Killings during curfew hours
      5. Abuse of power
      6. Torture
      7. Terrorist acts

    3. Victims

      1. Victims of human rights violations
      2. Persons who were killed in armed clashes or who were, in a general sense, victims of the situation of political confrontation
      3. Cases falling outside the Commission's mandate

  3. Criteria

    1. Honest decision on the basis of information gathered
    2. The perpetrators and their motivations

      1. The decision not to assign blame to particular individuals
      2. Determining the institution or group
      3. Motivation of the perpetrators
      4. Reference to private citizens

    3. Determination of causal connections and the fate of the victims

      1. Connection between torture and death
      2. The fate of the disappeared


PART TWO

Chapter One: Political context

  1. Situation in Chile leading up to September 11, 1973

    1. Origins of polarization
    2. Final phase of polarization and crisis
    3. Role of the armed forces and the police

  2. The 1973–1990 political framework and human rights

    1. The armed forces and police as collective actors in politics
    2. The armed forces, the security forces, and the DINA group
    3. The top-down nature of political rule
    4. Civilians as political actors under military rule
    5. Political framework after the disbanding of the DINA

Chapter Two: Legal and institutional framework

  1. The months after September 11, 1973

    1. Installation of the junta
    2. Functioning of political power
    3. The junta's legislative activity

      1. Assumption of total control
      2. Effect on constitutional guarantees

  2. The 1974–1977 period

    1. Principles and reality
    2. Creation of the DINA
    3. New provisions on personal freedoms
    4. The Constitutional Acts
    5. Banning of all political parties and suspension of political rights
    6. Authoritarian executive
    7. Control over intermediate groups and professional associations
    8. Situation of public freedoms
    9. Dissolving of the DINA and creation of the CNI
    10. Broadened powers

  3. The 1978–1990 period

    1. General amnesty
    2. Powers of the military judiciary
    3. Delegation of extraordinary powers and extension of arrest period
    4. The 1980 Constitution

      1. Foundations, basic rights, and guarantees
      2. States of constitutional exception
      3. Complementary legislation

    5. Documents concealed, filed and destroyed
    6. Constitutional reform

      1. Changes on human rights
      2. Complementary annulments and adjustments

Chapter Three: War tribunals

  1. Laws
  2. Procedure governing war tribunals
  3. Activity of the war tribunals

    1. General remarks
    2. Detailed examination

  4. Observations on sentences issued by the war tribunals

Chapter Four: Behavior of the courts toward the grave human rights violations that occurred between September 11, 1973, and March 11, 1990

  1. Overall attitude of the judiciary toward human rights violations
  2. The stance of the judicial branch toward applying the established processes most relevant to its obligation to protect human rights

    1. Reaction of the judiciary to habeas corpus
      1. Applicable legislation
      2. Practice of the courts
      3. Other factors

    2. Impunity of the violators

      1. Weighing proof in accusations against government agents
      2. The court's acceptance of official versions of events
      3. Using the amnesty law in a way to halt investigation of the events it covers
      4. Failure of the Supreme Court to exercise its oversight over war tribunals

  3. Other actions by the courts


PART THREE

Chapter One: September through December 1973

  1. Human rights violations committed by government agents or persons working for them

    1. Overview

      1. Introduction
      2. Control of public order
      3. Arrest and imprisonment
      4. Abuse and torture
      5. Deaths and disappearances
      6. Disposal of the bodies
      7. Treatment of families
      8. Tougher approach in October

    2. Cases

      1. Metropolitan Region

        • Overview
        • Cases: September 11, 1973 – September 13, 1973
        • Cases: September 14, 1973 – September 17, 1973
        • Cases: September 18, 1973 – September 23, 1973
        • Cases: September 24, 1973 – September 30, 1973
        • Cases: October 1, 1973 – October 9, 1973
        • Cases: October 10, 1973 – October 17, 1973
        • Cases: October 18, 1973 – December 30, 1973
        • Cases: October 7, 1973 – December 8, 1973

      2. First Region – Tarapacá
      3. Second Region – Antofagasta
      4. Third Region – Atacama
      5. Fourth Region – Coquimbo
      6. Fifth Region – Valparaíso
      7. Sixth Region – Libertador General Bernardo O'Higgins
      8. Seventh Region – Maule

      9. Eighth Region – Bío Bío

        • Overview; Cases: Provinces of Concepción, and Ñuble,
        • Cases: Chillán
        • Cases: Province of Bío Bío; Los Angeles; Santa Bárbara; Quilaco
        • Cases: Quilleco and Mulchén; Villa Los Canelos; Polcura, Alto Polcura, Central el Abanico, and Canteras; Laja and San Rosendo

      10. Ninth Region – Araucanía

        • Overview; Cases: Temuco
        • Cases: Lautaro; Galvarino; Carahue and Puerto Saavedra; Freire; Pitrufquén; Toltén; Gorbea; Victoria; Angol; Cunco; Melipeuco; Lonquimay; Llaima; Curacautín; Villarica; Curarrehue

      11. Tenth Region – Los Lagos
      12. Eleventh Region – Aysén del General Carlos Ibáñez del Campo
      13. Twelfth Region – Magallanes and Antártica Chilena

  2. Human rights violations committed by private citizens for political reasons

    1. Overview
    2. Cases

  3. Reactions of major sectors of society to the human rights violations that occurred in the immediate aftermath of September 11, 1973

    1. The attitude of Chilean society
    2. The attitude of those making up the new regime
    3. The reaction of the churches

      1. Teaching activity of the churches, especially the Catholic church
      2. Specific action by the churches to aid and protect the victims of human rights violations

    4. The attitude of the media
    5. The attitude of political parties
    6. The attitude of professional people and their associations
    7. The reaction of the victims and their relatives and of human rights organizations

      1. Organizations of victims and victims' relatives
      2. Human rights organizations

    8. The attitude of other mediating institutions
    9. The reaction of the international community

Chapter Two: 1974 through August 1977

  1. Human rights violations committed by government agents or persons working for them

    1. Overview

      1. Periods and significant dates
      2. The DINA: the main intelligence service engaged in political repression in 1974–1977
      3. DINA's foreign section and political repression outside of Chile
      4. The Joint Command and other agencies for political repression during the 1974–1977 period
      5. Detention and torture sites and other places used by the agencies for political repression during the 1974–1977 period
      6. Forced disappearances and other human rights violations: the victims and the motivations of the perpetrators
      7. Methods of repression: arrest, torture, execution, and concealment
      8. Final observation

    2. Cases

      1. Cases similar to the repression patterns of late 1973

      2. Victims from the MIR
        b.1) Victims from the MIR
        b.1.4) Late 1974 and early 1975: Villa Grimaldi
      3. Victims from the Communist party
      4. Victims from the Socialist party
      5. Victims from other political groups, or who were not politically active, or whose political position is unknown
      6. DINA agents who disappeared at the hands of their own colleagues
      7. Chileans killed or disappeared outside the country

  2. Human rights violations committed by private citizens for political reasons during the January 1974–August 1977 period
    1. Overview
    2. Cases

  3. Reactions of major sectors of society to the human rights violations that occurred between 1974 and 1977
    1. The attitude of Chilean society
    2. The attitude of those making up the new regime
    3. The reaction of the churches

      1. Teaching activity of the Catholic church
      2. Specific action by the churches to aid and protect the victims of human rights violations
      3. Ministry of priests and pastors

    4. The attitude of the media
    5. The attitude of political parties
    6. The attitude of professional people and their associations
    7. The reaction of the victims and their relatives and of human rights organizations

      1. Organizations of victims and victims' relatives
      2. Human rights organizations

    8. The attitude of other mediating institutions which played a significant role in the area of human rights during this period
    9. The reaction of the international community

      1. The Organization of American States
      2. The United Nations
      3. Other organizations

Chapter Three: August 1977 through March 1990

  1. Human rights violations committed by government agents or persons working for them

    1. Overview: periods and significant dates
      1. The National Center for Information (CNI) as the main government agency responsible for political repression and counterinsurgency during the 1978–1989 period
      2. Other agencies or groups
      3. Victims of the CNI and other repressive government agencies or groups
      4. Methods of repression

    2. Cases

      1. Fictitious gun battles
      2. Other executions
      3. Selective executions
      4. Persons tortured to death
      5. Disappearances
      6. Persons killed in political violence
      7. Other deaths from political violence: persons killed in genuine gun battles
      8. Killings and disappearances in other countries

  2. Human rights violations committed by private citizens for political reasons during the August 1977–March 1990 period
    1. Overview

      1. The victims
      2. Evolution of terrorist activity
      3. Those responsible

    2. Cases

  3. People killed in mass protests and demonstrations

    1. Overview

      1. Mass political protests and demonstrations
      2. Criteria for conviction
      3. The victims

    2. Cases

  4. Use of undue force and abuses of power tolerated by those in authority

    1. Introduction
    2. Cases in which the Commission came to a conviction that persons had been killed as a result of the use of undue force or the abuse of power with acquiescence of officials

      1. A note on methodology
      2. Different kinds of cases regarded as falling under these causes

  5. Reactions of major sectors of society to the human rights violations that occurred between 1978 and 1990

    1. First subphase – Reaction of major sectors of society to human rights violations between 1978 and the first protests in mid-1983

      1. The attitude of Chilean society
      2. The attitude of those persons making up the regime
      3. The reaction of the churches
      4. The reaction of the media
      5. The reaction of political parties
      6. The reaction of professional people and their associations
      7. The reaction of the victims and their relatives and of human rights organizations
      8. The attitude of other mediating institutions
      9. The reaction of the international community

    2. Second subphase – Reaction of the major sectors of society to human rights violations between mid-1983 and 1990

      1. The attitude of Chilean society
      2. The attitude of those making up the regime
      3. The reaction of the churches
      4. The reaction of the media
      5. The reaction of political parties
      6. The attitude of professional people and their associations
      7. The reaction of victims and their relatives and of human rights organizations
      8. The attitude of other mediating institutions
      9. The reaction of the international community

Chapter Four: Impact of the most serious human rights violations on families and social relations

  1. Loss and grief: "Human beings sometimes kill human beings..."

    1. Death as punishment: "My husband was..."
    2. Death that remains unexplained: "How can you believe someone would die this way?"
    3. Grief disturbed: "They weren't ours even in death..."
    4. Unresolved mourning: "I don't even know whether he is dead or alive..."

  2. Torture: "If they had just killed them outright, it wouldn't be so hard..."

  3. Prolonged uncertainty: "... this long nightmare from which I don't know if I'm ever going to awaken..."

    1. Waiting: "The front door of the house was left ajar..."
    2. Looking for the disappeared: "We've dug up the entire land looking for them..."
    3. The search for the truth: "I have to know the truth..."
    4. Denial of hope: "I no longer dare to have hope..."

  4. Damage to personal integrity: "Why did they take away my chance to be happy?"

    1. Ambitions ruined: "I couldn't achieve my life dreams..."
    2. Growing-up process disturbed: "It is their offspring that have continued to suffer..."
    3. Disturbances in mental and physical health: "My mother let herself die..."
    4. Loss in the realm of feeling and self: "Life has changed us..."

  5. Family life disrupted: "They didn't sentence just him. They sentenced the whole family..."

    1. Breakdown of family ties: "All relationship was broken..."
    2. Family scattered: "This has broken the family to pieces..."
    3. Change of roles: "I work year round with no relief..."
    4. Social and economic hardship: "At dinner time, all my mother could do at the table was cry..."

  6. Sense that familiar reference points have changed: "They changed the country on us..."

    1. Disruption in the meaning of legality: "We believed in the legal order..."
    2. Sense of being stigmatized over the direction of one's politics: "To them we were all dangerous subversives..."
    3. Loss of security: "Today you never know..."

  7. Being stigmatized and outcast: "We feel like outcasts in our own country..."

    1. Defamation of the victims by officials and the press: "They weren't terrorists or criminals..."
    2. Abuse of the relatives: "The thing is, they add insult to the pain you already feel..."
    3. The sensation of having been cast aside: "It was like having leprosy..."

  8. Positive forces: "I got strength from God, from my wonderful memories of him, and from the support I received from so many people who had gone through the same thing..."

  9. Feelings today: "One phase is ending but a more difficult one is beginning..."

    1. Reassessment of social institutions: "I never thought this would happen in Chile..."
    2. The need to build the future: "For us this is a very painful but very important moment..."

Chapter Five: Cases declared to be unresolved

  1. Explanation
  2. Unresolved cases
  3. List of names of other unresolved cases


PART FOUR

Chapter One: Proposals for reparation

  1. Introduction
  2. Recommendations for restoring the good name of people and making symbolic reparation

    1. Publicly repairing the dignity of the victims
    2. Some suggestions for restoring the good name of people and making symbolic reparation
    3. Solemnly restoring the good name of the victims

  3. Legal and administrative recommendations

    1. Unresolved legal issues

    2. Special procedure for declaring persons arrested and disappeared to be dead

      1. Criteria
      2. Proof
      3. Procedure

  4. Recommendations in the area of social welfare

    1. Antecedents
    2. Recommendations in the area of pensions

      1. Countless problems and the complexity of solutions
      2. Proposal for a single reparation pension

    3. Recommendations in the area of health care

      1. Consequences from the standpoint of people's health
      2. Need for specialized health care
      3. Suggestions for organizing health activities
      4. Responsibilities of the health care system

    4. Recommendations in the area of education

      1. Need for a vast creative effort to devise ways to make reparation in the realm of education
      2. Measures to take as quickly as possible
      3. Appreciation for the efforts of those teaching outside the government system

    5. Recommendations in the area of housing

      1. Different problems
      2. Special treatment

    6. Further recommendations in the realm of social welfare

      1. Recommendations for canceling debts
      2. Recommendations concerning obligatory military service
      3. Recommendations concerning most vulnerable groups

  5. The most urgent recommendations

Chapter Two: Prevention of human rights violations

  1. Introduction
  2. Suggestions in the institutional and legal area to assure that human rights remain in force

    1. Bringing our nation's legal framework into line with international human rights law

      1. Ratifying international human rights treaties
      2. Improving our national legislation so as to make it compatible with what is known as international human rights law
      3. Establishing effective procedures for defending human rights
      4. Complementary measures

    2. A judicial branch that really plays its role in safeguarding the essential rights of persons

      1. Measures aimed at assuring an independent and impartial judiciary
      2. Procedural and institutional measures aimed at leading the judiciary to better fulfill its fundamental duty to defend the essential rights of persons

    3. Armed forces, security forces, and police committed to exercising their functions in a way that is fully in accord with the obligation to respect human rights

      1. Recommendations in the area of education
      2. Recommendations in the area of institutions

    4. Creating an institution to protect human rights
    5. Specific changes in the legal order in constitutional, criminal and procedural matters in order to better protect human rights

      1. Assuring full respect for human rights during arrest and in confinement and imprisonment
      2. Other changes in the legal system

  3. Suggestions aimed at consolidating a culture truly respectful of human rights

    1. Creating a cultural environment capable of respecting human rights
    2. Desirability that the institution whose creation is suggested in the next chapter ("Other recommendations") issue proposals for assuring a culture solid in the area of human rights
    3. Some suggestions of a conceptual nature that may serve as a framework for teaching human rights
    4. Some specific suggestions to shed light on human rights education

      1. Suggestions on curriculum
      2. Suggestions for training personnel
      3. Suggestions for preparing and providing educational materials

    5. Recommendations that occasions to discuss and adopt symbolic preventive measures be provided as soon as possible
    6. Inclusion of terrorist acts in the category of human rights violations

  4. Truth, justice and reconciliation as preventive measures

    1. A culture that respects human rights can develop only in an atmosphere of a healthy national common life
    2. Truth
    3. Justice
    4. Reconciliation

Chapter Three: Further recommendations

  1. Creation of a public law foundation

    1. Aid in the search for victims
    2. Gathering and assessment of evidence
    3. Centralization of the information gathered by the Commission
    4. Assistance for relatives
    5. Elaboration of educational proposals

  2. Applying sanctions for concealing information on illegal burials and competence in investigating such matters

Chapter Four: Truth and Reconciliation


APPENDICES

Appendix I: Cases outside the Commission's mandate
Appendix II: Statistics
Appendix III: National Commission on Truth and Reconciliation Staff

Source(s):

LanguageFormatSource
English HTML page sourceview/download
Spanish PDF document sourceview/download