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OCR for page 7
F· ~.
1ncllngs
This section of the report presents the delega-
tion's findings on detention and internal banish-
ment, exile, imprisonment, torture, "disappeared"
people, and academic freedom. It contains informa-
tion obtained by the delegates from a variety of
reliable sources in Chile and information gathered
both prior to and following the mission.
TEMPORARY DETENTION AND INTERNAL BANISHMENT
The Scope of the Practice
.
The committee was told that many of the people who
were detained and subsequently sent into internal
exile without charges are believed to have been
banished for political reasons:
i.e., they voiced
criticism of the government or its practices, they
are human rights or labor union activists, they
were involved in demonstrations against the govern
-
ment/ or they are members of opposition or banned
political parties. According to the Comision Chi-
lena de Derechos Humanos J a group made up mostly of
lawyers who work to protect and promote human
rights, more than 31,000 people were detained for
political reasons in November and December 1984:
28,459 in November and 3,417 in December. During
those two months states of danger, emergency, and
siege were in effect simultaneously. Most of those
7
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8
detained were picked up during raids on shantytowns
by members of the security forces, usually Carabi-
neros (the armed, uniformed, national police force
that also deals with civil disturbances and na-
tional emergencies), and held in t~mnorarv d~n-
-; ~ ,.~; ~ ~ ~ ~ A ~
fill Wall L- In general' the detentions
were arbitrary, carried out without warrants, and
often violent. The delegates were told by human
rights groups that temporary detentions are be-
lieved to be carried out in an effort to intimidate
people in opposition to the government.
Also in the last months of 1984, more than 700
people were banished.
piled by the Vicars de la Solidaridad, a highly
respected group that is active in human rights work
and run by the Catholic church, 733 people were
banished in 1984s 136 of them in October, 426 in
November, and 139 in December. Transitory Articles
24 and 41 are applicable in cases of banishment.
They are both for 90 days but under Article 41 ban-
ishment can be, and sometimes is, extended. All of
those colleagues about whom the committee specifi-
cally inquired had been banished under the somewhat
less severe Article 24.
According to reports, most of the people who
were banished were first detained and then put on
buses and transported long distances (500 miles or
more) from their homes to small towns or villages--
without charges or access to legal representation
and often without their families' being told where
they were being taken. There was no trial or right
to appeal to an independent court. In the villages,
According to statistics com
although some people were able to find work, most
were dependent on the church or the local villagers
for feed m1 ash; nor aced He
~ , ~ A, ~ ~_~. In most cases
the relegados were restricted to the village and
required to report regularly, usually twice a day,
to the local police. They were generally allowed
to meet with certain visitors, to receive mail and
money, and to make telephone calls. However, in
Pisagua, a remote, heavily militarized rural local-
ity (localidad rural ~ some 1,185 miles north of
Santiago, the treatment and conditions of
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9
reported
severe than for those sent to other towns and
villages. Pisagua was closed to all but a few
visitors. Estimates received by the delegates
reveal that between 400 and 500 people were being
held in Pisagua at the time of the delegation's
visit' 39 of those exiled to Pisagua were reported
to have been released during that time--on March 19,
1985.
The delegates expressed serious concern to every-
one they met about banishment for political reasons.
They specifically requested information on six col-
leagues who had been banished in November and Decem-
ber 1984. (A seventh person for whom the committee
had previously made inquiries, Fanny Pollarolo, a
psychologist, was released several days before the
confinement of exiles were
to be much more
arrival of the delegation.
On March 19, the
delegates met with Leonidas Irarrazaval Barros of
the Council of Advisers to the Foreign Minister,
Ambassador Mario Calderone,
and Enrique Carvallo
Diaz. Irarrazaval said that "exceptional measures"
had been taken and that the individuals about whom
the committee had made inquiries had been freed.
While he was not able to provide the dates on which
they had been freed, over the course of the next few
days human rights organizations gave the delegates
the release dates of those who had already been
freed and the expected release dates of those still
believed to be in internal exile.
Individual Cases
As mentioned above, prior to the departure of the
delegation to Chile, the committee sent the Chilean
authorities the names of a number of colleagues who
had reportedly been banished to internal exile.
According to the committee's information, these
people--fellow scientists, engineers, and medical
professionals--had been banished for the nonviolent
expression of their beliefs. The list included Juan
Restelli Portuguez, a physician, Douglas Fuenteseca,
a mathematician' Ricardo Fuentes Romero, an
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10
engineer' Armando Guerra Cano, an engineer' Jaime
Perez de Arc Araya, an economist' and Pablo Venegas
Cancino, a psychiatrist. Once in Chile, the dele-
gation also learned of the banishment of Ricardo
Godoy, a physician.
On March 20, the delegation attended a three-
hour meeting at the offices of the Colegio Medico
de Chile, an independent professional association
of physicians. The meeting was attended by the
officers of the association and was chaired by its
president, Juan Luis Gonzalez. During the meeting
the delegates were introduced to Dr. Juan Restelli
Portuguez and Dr. Ricardo Godoy--who had just been
released from internal exile. Their cases are
described in this report in detail because the
delegates were able to talk directly with them
about the circumstances of their arrests and periods
of banishment. The other cases summarized in this
section contain what limited information the dele-
gates were able to obtain from secondary sources
during the course of their mission.
Juan Restelli Portuguez, Physician
Dr. Restelli is a general practitioner in private
practice in Arica and is a member of the Comision
Nacional Contra la Tortura and the Comision Chilena
de Derechos Humanos of Arica. (Arica is about
1,270 miles north of Santiago on the Peruvian
border in one of the driest areas in the world.)
A private organization, the Comision Chilena de
Derechos IIumanos campaigns against violations of
human rights, including torture, arranges treatment
for torture victims, and takes legal action on their
behalf. Dr. Restelli also assists various social
organizations by providing medical care to those
banished to Arica by the government.
ing with the delegation, Dr. Restelli
At the meet-
described his
period of banishment and his human rights activities
prior to his arrest' he said that it was important
that others know about his experiences and the
general situation in Chile.
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11
According to Dr. Restelli,
sion in Arica intensified in 1983.
Governmental repres
In August 1983,
he examined and provided medical assistance to four
trade union leaders who were seriously tortured
while held in solitary confinement by the Central
Nacional de Informaciones (CNI), Chile's secret
police.3 He said that the examination of these
torture victims was the most dreadful experience in
his life and that since then he has worked in de-
fense of human rights.
Dr. Restelli said that, at the request of the
chief justice of the court of appeals of Arica, he
prepared a medical report on the four victims.
(According to Dr. Restelli, these four people are
still in jail in Arica under false charges, and no
action is known to have been taken on the report of
torture.) Subsequent to presenting the report, he
said he began having problems with government se-
curity agents. He was followed by CNI agents, and
in February 1984 his car was fire-bombed. Although
the Comision Chilena de Derechos Humanos brought
Dr. Restelli's case to the local courts, no inves-
tigation has been undertaken, and no arrests have
been made. Because the local press in Arica re-
portedly refused--either out of fear or censor-
ship--to publish Dr. Restelli's statement about the
incident, the Consejo Regional de Arica (Regional
Council of Arica) of the Colegio Medico de Chile
decided to "break through the barrier of silence"s
the office printed a pamphlet describing the inci-
dent, which was distributed on the streets and left
in doctors' offices.
Dr. Restelli was elected president of the Arica
branch of the Comision Chilena de Derechos Humanos
on January 4, 1984. On December 23, 1984, four CNI
agents detained him at his home and subsequently
transported him to the south of the country along
with 16 other people--mostly professionals and
leaders of union organizations. He was banished,
along with two other people, to the town of Porte-
zuelo, about 1,535 miles south of his home. Dr.
Restelli said that the treatment he received was
better than that received by others and that he and
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12
his medical colleagues were able to work in their
professions and were allowed visitors without any
restrictions. Dr. Restelli also said that he very
much appreciated the hundreds of letters of support
he received from medical colleagues around the
world as a result of efforts made by the Colegio
Medico de Chile.
During his banishment, Dr. Restelli informed the
Colegio Medico that he had decided not to appeal
for a reduced sentence because no charges had been
brought against him and he felt that he had done
nothing wrong. He said that his work had been legal
and that he had defended individual, fundamental
rights. Dr. Restelli was released on March 19,
1985, after spending 87 days in internal exile.
His meeting with the committee delegation took
place two days after his release.
In late April the committee's delegates received
reports that Dr. Restelli and several other people
who had been banished with him had received a
threatening letter from a group calling itself the
"Comando Anti-Comunista." This was not the first
tome that Dr. Restelli had received threats. The
latest threat was a single sheet of paper with a
cross, red spatters resembling drops of blood, and
a red check-mark next to Dr. Restelli's name (see
Appendix D). This provocation was particularly
alarming in view of the kidnapping and murder, by
armed men in civilian clothes, of a human rights
worker and two other people at the end of March in
Santiago.4 According to an article in the local
Arica newspaper, La Estrella de Arica, on April
9, 1985, entitled "Once Dirigentes Amenazados de
Muerte" ("Eleven Opposition Leaders Threatened
with Death"), a formal request for protection that
was presented to the local court of justice was ac-
cepted, and Dr. Restelli and others were subse-
quently placed under the protection of the Carab~-
neros. The committee's delegates wrote to Chile's
interior minister, Ricardo Garcia Rodriguez, to ex-
press their concern about the threatening letter
and to request that protection for Do. Restelli be
assured. In response, Garcia wrote: "With respect
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13
to your inquiry about the situation of Dr. Juan
Restelli Portuguez, I can tell you that he enjoys
full freedoms and is afforded due personal protec-
tion, as stipulated in an order from the courts."
Ricardo Godoy, Physician
Dr. Ricardo Godoy, a surgeon from Arica, is the
secretary of the Consejo Regional de Arica (Re-
gional Council of Arica) of the Colegio Medico de
Chile. He told the delegation that following a
public appeal in December 1984 for a prompt return
to democracy in Chile, in which he and others par-
ticipated, 16 people from Arica, mostly profession-
als, were detained under Transitory Article 24.
Dr. Godoy was arrested the following day and taken
by security forces to Santiago along with a profes-
sor and a lawyer, where the group was joined by the
others from Arica who had been arrested. They were
locked in cells, and all of their personal belong-
ings were taken. The following day they were taken
by bus to the city of Chillan, about 1,520 miles
south of Arica, and then sent by the authorities in
groups of twos and threes to rural communities
around the city. Dr. Godoy was sent to the nearby
town of Ninhue. No reason was given for his
banishment.
The following excerpts are from Dr. Godoy's re-
port of his stay in exile. They were taken from a
report of the delegation's meeting that was written
and translated into English by the Colegio Medico
de Chile:
The villagers and the parish priest, who pro-
vided all forms of assistance, accepted us ra-
ther kindly. Since the inhabitants are
tremely poor I immediately began to provide
medical assistance. A clinic was set up in the
rectory. We had some drugs sent by the Regional
Council of the Colegio Medico de Concepcion. In
addition, we had a large number of drugs from
Germany which had been donated to the parish by
ex
·
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14
church organizations and which had not been used
since there were no doctors who could prescribe
them.
We were able to translate them and prescribe
them. I was later joined by my wife and small
daughters, who were sent by the Regional Council
of Arica of the Colegio Medico. I also received
economic assistance from my colleagues, since my
salary had been withheld.
we were constantly being visited he r~n'=
~ ~ _ _= _ _
sentat~ves ot several professional associa-
tions. They included, of course, doctors,
attorneys, teachers, church organizations from
the Accion Fraterna of the Archbishops See, the
Commission on Human Rights, different labor
unions, and many outstanding public figures,
including humble farmers. This made us feel
less lonely.
, ,
According to Dr. Godoy, the Colegio Medico con-
tacted the minister of the interior and requested
that Dr. Godoy be released so that he could under-
go needed surgery. As a result, he was released
one month before the end of his 90-day term. Dr.
Godoy told the delegates that the other banished
professionals had just been released' they were
freed several days before the expiration of their
terms.
Dougl as Fuenteseca, Mathematician
Douglas Fuenteseca was an instructor of mathematics
at the University of Antofagasta and a member of
. . . .
.
the university senate when he was detained and
banished in 1984. According to members of the
Chilean mathematical society, Fuenteseca collected
money and established a fund to pay for the
students' breakfasts after the dining hall at the
university was closed following a student strike.
Shortly thereafter, on November 30, 1984, he was
detained by security forces and disappeared for
several days. Subsequently, he was reported to
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15
have been handcuffed and blindfolded in detention
until December 4, when he was banished to the
village of Catapilco, some 650 miles south of his
home.
During Fuenteseca's exile, the president of the
Sociedad de Matematica de Chile (Chilean Mathema-
tics Society), Rolando Rebolledo, traveled to Cata-
pilco to visit Fuenteseca and to deliver greetings
to him from the society's members. On December 29,
1984, the Sociedad de Matematica held a mathematics
conference in Catapilco to demonstrate support for
Fuenteseca. His colleagues said they found
good health and spirits, although, while in
it; an . Fuenteseca was forced to sign and put
~ ~ i,, ~_, ^ ~
hem In
deten-
his
fingerprint on a "confession" while blindfolded.
The Sociedad de Matematica set up a fund to provide
Fuenteseca with financial support during his exile,
-
and its members reported having received numerous
letters of support for their activities in behalf
of Fuenteseca from groups such as the Societe
Mathematique de France, the American Mathematical
Society, the International Mathematical Union, and
the Federacion Latinoamericana de Matematicas.
Fuenteseca was released on March 10, 1985.
Ricardo Fuentes Romero, Engineer
Ricardo Fuentes Rome ro was reportedly arrested in
Arica by plainclothes policemen on December 23,
1984, and transferred the same day to Santiago. He
was subsequently banished without charges or trial
to the town of E1 Carmen, about 1,540 miles south
of Arica. According to information obtained by the
delegates, Fuentes was expected to be released from
banishment on March 26, 1985.
-
Ada Cam Casti llo and Manuel Ala rcon Valdi vJa,
Mathematicians
In early December 1985 the committee sent telegrams
to the Chilean authorities requesting information on
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16
the status, whereabouts, and physical well-being
of these two mathematicians who were picked up on
November 29, 1984, and disappeared for several
days. Both were mathematics instructors at the
University of Antofagasta. According to informa-
tion received by the delegation from members of the
Chilean Mathematics Society, Cam and Alarcon were
handcuffed and blindfolded and held in detention
for seven days. They were released on December 7,
1984.
Armando Guerra Cano, Engineer
Armando Guerra Cano was arrested on November 24,
1984, in Arica. He was subsequently banished with-
out trial or charges to the city of Panguipulli,
some 1,760 miles to the south. The delegates
learned that he had been freed, but the date of his
release is not known.
Jaime Perez de Arc Araya, Economi st
CNI agents reportedly arrested Jaime Perez de Arc
Araya in Santiago on December 13, 1984, and took
him to a CNI detention center. Six days later--on
December 19--he was banished to the city of Quilaco,
about 340 miles south of Santiago. He was expected
to be released from banishment on March 24, 1985.
Pabl o Venegas Cancino,
Psychiatrist
Plainclothes policemen arrested Pablo Venegas
Cancino on November 27, 1984, during a demon-
stration. His home was searched, and he was
allegedly tortured while in detention. Although
the committee had been under the impression that
Dr. Venegas had been banished, the delegation
learned that, following interrogation, he was
released on November 30, 1984.
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17
EXILE
The subject of Chilean colleagues living outside the
country in forced exile was brought to the attention
of the delegates during meetings with professional
and scientific groups.
President Pinochet can keep Chileans from returning
to the country on the grounds that they "constitute
a danger to the security of the State." The dele
gates were told that, since 1983, the number of
people forcibly exiled has been reduced from an
estimated 11,000 people to between 4,500 and 5,500
people in early 1985.
are now allowed to return to the Been ~ TV renortediv
Under a state of emergency,
However, many of those who
~ ,~ _ _ ~
experience difficulties finding suitable jobs.
According to information from the Colegio Medico
de Chile, 360 Chilean physicians are now living
outside the country. This number includes those
exiled by the government of President Pinochet,
those who are living abroad voluntarily, and those
who left Chile as students and obtained their
degrees while abroad.
Of the more than 100 physi-
cians who were forced to leave Chile, the colegio
reported that in November 1984 the minister of the
interior sent them a list of about 50 who would no
longer be prevented from returning to Chile. Of
the 100 physicians who were forced to leave, 65
approached the colegio for assistance in obtaining
permission to return to Chile. The 30 physicians
listed below are among those who reportedly have
not been permitted to return to Chile, despite the
efforts of the colegio.
Name
Registration No.
Barberis Yori, Victor
Barcelo Amado, Nelly Patricia
Behm Rosas, Hugo
Carrera Villavicencio, Maria Elena
Cerda Catalan, Moises
Cid Palacios, Patricia
Condeza Vaccaro, Edgardo
3779
7906
417
4122
2454
7094
6089
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26
Cases of people who are arrested by mistake and
tortured are reported to be the most difficult.
Those people who know they were tortured for their
beliefs, or for other reasons, are usually better
able to cope. In 1984, FASIC's staff treated 147
victims of torture and 35 members of their families.
The FASIC staff told the delegates that, under
Chilean law, detainees are required to be exam-
ined by a physician both before and after detention.
Consequently, upon release, a physician may falsely
report that a detainee bears no signs of torture.
In addition, before release, some prisoners have
been required to sign statements indicating that
they were not tortured while in detention.
According to FASIC, torture increased in Chile
after the declaration of the state of siege in No-
vember 1984. Actions by the military became more
violent and brutal, particularly in the slum
where mass demonstrations against the government
were taking place. During the demonstrations, se-
lected individuals were often tortured intensively
for a few days, to create a sense of panic, fear,
and intimidation within the general population.
Staff members at the Vicars de la Solidaridad
and FASIC told the delegates that while in the
mid-1970s torture was usually attributed to the se-
cret police, it is now practiced by all branches of
the security forces.
areas,
Collaboration of Medical Pry; nor] ~
in Torture
In Dr. Gonzalez's testimony before the U.S. Con-
gress (see note 6), he said that "in accordance
with Chilean law, anyone who is arrested or jailed
must be examined by a physician when entering and
leaving detention . . . . Nevertheless, we know
that there are physicians who certify the physical
condition of persons arrested in secret places
without examining them at all,
very superficial examination."
or performing only a
He went on to say:
OCR for page 27
27
These health certifications have been used for
different purposes, especially to give torture
and arrest in secret places the appearance of
legal processes, and, what is worse, to certify
in some cases the degree of torture an arrested
person can withstand.
Written certifications are routine, he said, and
often the signatures of the examining physicians
are illegible, making it impossible to know which
physician signed the certificates. In other cases,
he said, "some physicians have suffered retaliation
after denouncing or certifying acts of torture."
At the meeting held with members of the Colegio
Medico, the delegates specifically requested in-
formation on reports of the involvement of medical
professionals in torture. They were told that in
1983, when the Colegio Medico reviewed and amended
its code of ethics, two provisions dealing with
torture were included.
This was done, according to
Dr. Carlos Trejo, president of the Ethics Depart-
ment of the General Council, to establish clear and
positive rules for physicians. Patricio Figueroa,
the colegio's attorney, pointed out that the two
provisions against torture--Articles 5 and 25--were
included because of the colegio's concern about
"the increase in the use of torture and other ill-
treatment and because of charges that doctors were
:___~_.~= 't 1~ ~r~r`=nr];Y F:,
Involves . . . `~= ^~c~ ~ J . Dr. Trejo said
that the code of ethics "was given wide circulation
and that the colegio has held meetings on ethics
and encouraged members to write papers on ethics
issues." Dr. Trejo also pointed out that there had
been "a clear absence of teaching on such matters
in . . . academic work."
March 1985 the Colegio Medico issued guide-
that describe conditions under which physi-
should not attend to patients: (1) if the
physician has been ordered not to identify himself
or to obstruct his identity by physical means,
(2) if the physician encounters a patient who is
In
lines
clans
.
OCR for page 28
28
blindfolded
seeing the
, hooded, or otherwise prevented from
examining physician' (3) if the patient
is held in a secret detention center or has been
brought from such a center, and (4) if contact
between the patient and physician can only be
carried out in the presence of a third party. Dr.
Trejo said that shortly after the all; ~1 ; n== Or
releases/ a member of the ethics committee received
a call from the director of a military hospital who
requested that the committee support his efforts
protest an order that hospital staff attend to vic-
tims of torture and mistreatment under conditions
that are proscribed in the new guidelines. This
request is seen as a measure of the actual and
potential value of these new guidelines.
The colegio has so far investigated five physi-
cians alleged to have participated in the abuse of
political detainees. Dr. Villegas, the colegio's
general counsel, explained to the delegates that
the purpose of such investigations is twofold:
establish the truth and to punish those who are
guilty. He said that "the aim is to put a stop to
torture in Chile, as torture is something that
exists because an entire society condones it." Dr.
Villegas said that torture is condoned for a vari-
ety of reasons: societies lack the strength to end
it, a large sector of society ignores it, or tor-
ture is attributed to psychopaths.
Dr. Villegas also emphasized the importance of
reconciliation. All accused physicians must agree
to be investigated by the colegio. The investiga-
tions are conducted in secret in order that the ren-
utations of innocent physicians are not harmed.
Physicians who are found guilty are permitted to
return to the ranks of their colleagues after
having been punished. Measures taken by the cole-
gio against those physicians found guilty can in-
clude an oral rebuke, a written reprimand, one
yearns suspension from the colegio, and expulsion.
Because the colegio has no official power to moni-
tor ethical abuses, expulsion from the colegio is
the maximum penalty it is able to apply.9
_
to
to
· .
-
OCR for page 29
29
Of the five cases so far investigated by the co-
legio, one has been concluded. The principal army
physician in the Lautaro de Rancagua regiment, Dr.
Carlos Hernan Perez Castro, was suspended for a
year from the colegio for his role in certifying
that Maria de Los Angeles Sanhueza Ruin, who had
been interrogated in March 1982, was in good physi-
cal condition upon release from a secret detention
center when, in fact, she had been tortured. The
colegio is expected to rule on the cases of the
four other accused physicians later this year.
According to Dr. Gonzalez, as many as 30 to 40
physicians may have been implicated in the abuse of
political detainees during the past ten years.
The case of Dr. Perez was brought to the Colegio
Medico by Maria Sanhueza in 1983. Sanhueza alleged
that Dr. Perez had given her a cursory physical
examination following torture and certified that
she was in good physical condition.l° She said
that during her five days of incommunicado deten-
tion she was blindfolded, physically beaten, burned
with a cigarette, and subjected to electric shocks.
In sworn testimony before the colegio's ethics com-
mittee, a physician from the Vicars who examined
Sanhueza a week after her release confirmed that
she had a visible cigarette burn on her face and
that she showed signs of having been beaten on the
ears, for which she received treatment from a
specialist.
Dr. Trejo said that the most important event
with regard to the written or documentary evidence
produced by the colegio was an invitation to pre-
sent the colegio's ethical position on the problem
of torture to the House of Representatives of the
United States in May 1984. He said that this tes-
timony gave rise to subsequent invitations to mem-
bers of the colegio to speak on torture at the
First Ibero-American Congress on Human Rights in
Zaragoza, Spain, by invitation from the government
of France' and to Pope John Paul II in Rome.
Dr. Amador Neghme, president of the Academia
Chilena de Medicina (Chilean Academy of Medicine),
OCR for page 30
30
told the delegates that the members of the Academia
Chilena de Medicina fully support the Colegio Medi-
co's efforts to prevent professional complicity in
torture and that they disagree with the govern-
ment's decision that revoked the legal authority of
the colegio to certify physicians to practice medi-
cine in Chile. Dr. Neghme said that this authority
was revoked because the government did not want
such power in the hands of institutions over which
it had no formal control. Dr. Neghme said that the
Colegio Medico has, nevertheless, maintained its
moral authority and that between 80 and 85 percent
of the country's young physicians still register
with the colegio even though they are not required
to do so.
DESAPARECIDOS--DISAPPEARED PEOPLE
The Committee on Human Rights has been concerned
for a number of years about the disappearances of
24 scientists in Chile. According to the Vicaria,
more than 600 people disappeared between 1973 and
1978' many are believed to have died as a result of
torture or extrajudicial execution while in offi-
cial custody. In 1979 the Supreme Court of Chile
appointed special judges to investigate the unre-
solved cases of the disappeared' to date, no one
has been indicted. The committee's delegates sub-
mitted the names of disappeared scientists to the
Chilean authorities and requested information re-
garding their whereabouts and legal situation (see
Appendix A).
Although no information has been received to
date from the Chilean authorities regarding the
status of these scientists, human rights groups
were able to supplement the information previously
obtained by the committee. According to the Vica-
ria de la Solidaridad, Alvarez Santibanez, a chem-
ist, was detained by the Carabineros on August 15,
1979. The committee was under the impression that
he had disappeared, but the delegates were told that
he had died, reportedly as a result of torture, on
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31
August 21, 1979. The Vicaria also informed the
delegation that Dr. Carlos Lorca Tobar, a psychi-
atrist whose status was unknown to the committee,
disappeared on June 25, 1975. In addition, the
Vicaria provided the delegates with names and
background of several scientists whose cases were
not known previously to the committee.
The delegates also purchased volumes 2 through 7
of a publication by the Vicaria de la Solidaridad
of the Arzobispado de Santiago (Vicariate of Soli-
darity of the Archdiocese of Santiago) entitled
cDond e Estan ? (Where Are They'd. These books
nrovi~ Retailed documentation on 478 cases of
= ~
people, many of whom were political dissidents, who
disappeared in Chile between 1973 and 1977, often
while in the custody of a-tents of the government
security forces.
(Volume 1 is out of print, and
volumes 8 and 9 have not yet been published.) Most
of the cases were brought to the attention of the
Vicaria by the family members of the disappeared'
case details were obtained through interviews with
witnesses and family members. In most cases, some
legal or administrative action was taken either by
the family or the Vicaria. These volumes were pre-
sented by Cardinal Raul Silva Henr~quez to the
minister of the interior.
INFRINGEMENTS ON ACADEMIC FREEDOM
Traditionally, Chile's universities have been
self-governing, but when General Pinochet came to
power most were placed under military control. Ac-
tive and retired military officers were appointed
The delegates encountered considerable
discontent among scientific colleagues about in-
fringements on academic freedom at the univer-
sities. The specific problems mentioned included a
lack of academic autonomy' restrictions on academic
curriculum for ideological and political reasons,
selection of university administrators on the basis
of political allegiance rather than academic and
professional qualifications' a view among university
as rectors.
OCR for page 32
32
administrators that a university is a commercial
enterprise' awarding scholarships to students on
political grounds' and the hiring and firing of
academics for political reasons.
With regard to the dismissal of academics for
political reasons, the general Impression given the
delegates was that many people were dismissed from
their jobs in the mid-1970s--most for political
reasons, some for academic reasons, and others for
budgetary reasons. Dismissals appeared to be more
prevalent in economics and the other social sci-
ences, philosophy, and fine arts than in other
disciplines. It is estimated that immediately
following the 1973 coup, about 30 percent of the
faculties of Chile's universities were summarily
dismissed from their posts for political reasons.
Most of the dismissals made since then appear to
fall into "grey areas"s i.e., it is not clear
whether they were done for political reasons, for
budgetary reasons, or for academic reasons. How-
ever, a number of highly qualified scientists,
whose views do not coincide with those of the
present government, have reportedly been barred
from university positions.
According to the January-February 1985 bulletin
of the Academia de Humanismo Cristiano (Academy of
Christian Humanism), for various reasons "some one
hundred functionaries--among them teachers, admin-
istrators, and professionals--were dismissed from
the Universidad de Chile . . . . Communications
announcing their dismissals began to arrive yester-
day [January 4, 1985] to those affected [dis-
missed]." The bulletin went on to say that "those
dismissed are people from the Tower 15 (central
administration), legal administration, and from the
departments of Medicine, Economic Sciences, Basic
Sciences, Philosophy, Humanities and the Main
Building (La Tercera, 5.1.85~."
The delegates were told by Maximo Pacheco, vice
president of the nongovernmental Chilean Commission
on Human Rights and a former dean of the Law School
at the University of Chile, that 80 percent of the
law professors at the University of Chile were
OCR for page 33
33
dismissed during the two-year period following the
coup. At a meeting arranged by the Chilean Foreign
Ministry, Carlos Martinez Sotomayor, the minister of
foreign affairs in 1962-1963 under the Alessandri
government, expressed to the delegates his concerns
tear, win the University of Chile, there exists
a "clear discrimination against the country's long-
standing cultural and democratic traditions" that
will have serious implications for future gener-
ations. He said that courses on political inter-
national relations, laws for minors, criminology,
and aeronautical law have been eliminated, although
a course in international public and private law has
been maintained. Sotomayor said he was very con-
cerned that students now learn only the legal and
judicial aspects of law, not general studies or
history. Sotomayor suggested that U.S. universities
that had cooperative agreements with Chilean univer
. . . , ~. .
sities, such as those that existed between the Uni-
versity of Chile and the University of California,
be reactivated or given additional support. He said
that in this wav omen discussions could perhaps be
held again within the universities in Chile.
At a meeting with members of CIEPLAN, a private
nonprofit economic research institute, the dele-
gates were told that most of its members had worked
at the Pont~fica Universidad Catolica de Chile but
decided to leave and do independent research be-
cause of the lack of academic freedom.
At the Universidad Catolica, the rector, Juan de
Dios Vial Correa, told the delegates that there had
been no dismissals of members of the teaching staff
since the declaration of the most recent state of
siege. He said that labor laws in Chile do not
allow for dismissals.
Vial, a highly respected
biologist who is one of t'ne few nonmilitary rectors
of a university in Chile, had just been appointed
to his position, reportedly as a result of pressure
on the Chilean government from the Catholic church.
At the Escuela de Negocios de Valparaiso (Busi-
ness School of Valpara~so), which is affiliated
with the Universidad Federico Santa Maria but is
located in Santiago, Carlos Caceres, the director
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34
of the school and former minister of finance under
President Pinochet, told the delegates that there
had been no difficulties in running the school,
either politically or economically. The school is
a private institution that does not receive funding
from the government. Caceres said that he did not
know of any professors at the University of Santa
Maria who had been fired since 1983, but in the
first few years following the coup many had lost
their jobs for political reasons. He said that in
the last ten years some economists at the Universi-
dad de Chile had had various problems. The dele-
gates learned later from other sources that these
problems were generally associated with allegiance
to a particular approach to economics not espoused
by the government.
The rector of the Universidad de Chile, Briga-
dier General Roberto Soto MacKenney, told the dele-
gates that the university has a system by which no
one can be dismissed without the right of appeal
within the university. He said that during the
last two years, since he became rector, no one had
been expelled from the university for academic or
nonacademic reasons, if they had kept up their aca
demic activities.
The delegates were told by reliable sources that
at the University of Santiago the mathematics
department had 12 people with Ph.D.s four years ago
and that now only 2 are left.
At a meeting with the director of the National
Institute of Nutrition, Fernando Monckeberg, and
his staff, the delegates were told that only one
person had been fired, presumably for political
reasons, and that that person was brought back by
efforts of the staff. The delegates were told,
however, that those in the field of health care had
been less affected by political changes than those
in the social sciences.
The delegates made inquiries of several groups
about a number of specific cases involving scienti-
fic colleagues who had been dismissed from their
posts in recent months. The information they re-
ceived is summarized below.
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35
Rubi Rodr ~ Suez Moreno
Rubi Rodriguez Moreno is a mathematician who
received a master's degree (1975) in mathematics
from Universidad Tecnica del Estado, now the Univer-
sidad de Santiago, and an M.A. (1977) and then a
Ph.D. (1981) from Columbia University in New York
City. She was dismissed from her position as
professor of mathematics at the Universidad de
Santiago, without explanation but presumably for
political reasons, in January 1985.12
Ada Cam Castillo
Ada Cam Castillo is a mathematician who received a
master's degree (1980) from the Universidad Tecnica
del Estado. She was reportedly dismissed from her
position as instructor of mathematics at the Univer-
sidad de Antofagasta in November 1984 at the time
of her arrest (see above, "Individual Cases".
Manuel Alarcon Valdi v, a
Manuel Ala rcon Valdiv~a is a mathematician who re-
ceived a master's degree (1980) from the Universi-
dad Tecnica del Estado. He was reportedly fired
from his position as instructor of mathematics at
the Universidad de Antofagasta in November 1984 at
the time of his arrest (see above, "Individual
Cases".
Douglas Fuenteseca
Douglas Fuenteseca is a mathematician who received
a master's degree (1973) in mathematics from the
Universidad Tecnica del Estado and another master's
degree (1982) in statistics from Centro Interameri-
cano de Ensenanza de Estad~stica - CIENES (Inter-
American Statistics Teaching Center). Fuenteseca
was reportedly dismissed from his position as
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36
instructor of mathematics at the Universidad de
Antofagasta in November 1984 at the time of his
arrest (see above, "Individual Cases"~.
Representative terms from entire chapter:
human rights
