Villa Grimaldi
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Villa Grimaldi is considered the most important of DINA’s (Dirección de Inteligencia Nacional, the Chilean secret police during the Pinochet regime) many complexes that were used for the interrogation and
torture Torture is the deliberate infliction of severe pain or suffering on a person for reasons such as punishment, extracting a confession, interrogational torture, interrogation for information, or intimidating third parties. definitions of tortur ...
of
political prisoner A political prisoner is someone imprisoned for their political activity. The political offense is not always the official reason for the prisoner's detention. There is no internationally recognized legal definition of the concept, although n ...
s during the governance of
Augusto Pinochet Augusto José Ramón Pinochet Ugarte (, , , ; 25 November 1915 – 10 December 2006) was a Chilean general who ruled Chile from 1973 to 1990, first as the leader of the Military Junta of Chile from 1973 to 1981, being declared President of ...
. It is located at Avenida José Arrieta 8200 (now 8401) in
Peñalolén Peñalolén (Mapudungun "fraternal meeting place") is a Chilean commune in Santiago Province, Santiago Metropolitan Region. It was founded on November 15, 1984. History The commune was founded on November 15, 1984. Drug arrests During 2019, Ch ...
, on the outskirts of
Santiago Santiago (, ; ), also known as Santiago de Chile, is the capital and largest city of Chile as well as one of the largest cities in the Americas. It is the center of Chile's most densely populated region, the Santiago Metropolitan Region, whos ...
, and was in operation from mid-1974 to mid-1978. About 4,500 detainees were brought to Villa Grimaldi during this time, at least 240 of whom "
disappeared An enforced disappearance (or forced disappearance) is the secret abduction or imprisonment of a person by a state or political organization, or by a third party with the authorization, support, or acquiescence of a state or political organi ...
" or were killed by DINA. It was also the location of the headquarters of the Metropolitan Intelligence Brigade (BIM). The head of Villa Grimaldi during the
Pinochet dictatorship Augusto José Ramón Pinochet Ugarte (, , , ; 25 November 1915 – 10 December 2006) was a Chilean general who ruled Chile from 1973 to 1990, first as the leader of the Military Junta of Chile from 1973 to 1981, being declared President of ...
, Marcelo Moren Brito, was later convicted of crimes against humanity and sentenced to more than 300 years in prison.


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 Salvador Guillermo Allende Gossens (, , ; 26 June 1908 – 11 September 1973) was a Chilean physician and socialist politician who served as the 28th president of Chile from 3 November 1970 until his death on 11 September 1973. He was the fir ...
, a
Socialist Socialism is a left-wing economic philosophy and movement encompassing a range of economic systems characterized by the dominance of social ownership of the means of production as opposed to private ownership. As a term, it describes the ...
, to Chile’s presidency in 1970. This liberal atmosphere changed suddenly when General Augusto Pinochet seized power in a military coup d’etat on September 11, 1973. Chile's wealthy oligarchy, the
Nixon Richard Milhous Nixon (January 9, 1913April 22, 1994) was the 37th president of the United States, serving from 1969 to 1974. A member of the Republican Party, he previously served as a representative and senator from California and was ...
administration, and the
Central Intelligence Agency The Central Intelligence Agency (CIA ), known informally as the Agency and historically as the Company, is a civilian foreign intelligence service of the federal government of the United States, officially tasked with gathering, processing, ...
, were among the supporters of Allende's overthrow. The owner of Villa Grimaldi at the time of the coup, Emile Vassallo, was pressured to sell the estate to the new government in order to protect his family. This is one of the first examples of the state of siege that was enforced under Pinochet for the next 17 years. His regime began to detain thousands of political activists, students, workers, trade unionists, and any other
subversive Subversion () refers to a process by which the values and principles of a system in place are contradicted or reversed in an attempt to transform the established social order and its structures of power, authority, hierarchy, and social norms. Sub ...
individuals who spoke out against his military government. 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. Victims included Carlos Lorca, the British physician
Sheila Cassidy Sheila Anne Cassidy (born 18 August 1937) is an English doctor, known for her work in the hospice movement, as a writer and as someone who, by publicising her own history as a torture survivor, drew attention to human rights abuse in Chile in the ...
, the
MAPU The Popular Unitary Action Movement or MAPU ( es, Movimiento de Acción Popular Unitario) was a small leftist political party in Chile. It was part of the Popular Unity coalition during the government of Salvador Allende. MAPU was repressed du ...
leader
Juan Maino Juan Bosco Maino Canales (died 1976?) was a photographer, political activist, and opponent of Augusto Pinochet's regime in Chile. He was a leader in the Movimiento de Acción Popular Unitaria (''United Popular Action Movement''). He was detaine ...
, the CEPAL diplomat
Carmelo Soria Carmelo Soria (Madrid, 5 November 1921 – Santiago de Chile, 16 July 1976) was a Spanish-Chilean United Nations diplomat. A member of the CEPAL (United Nations Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean) in the 1970s, he was assass ...
, and future Chilean President
Michelle Bachelet Verónica Michelle Bachelet Jeria (; born 29 September 1951) is a Chilean politician who served as United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights from 2018 to 2022. She previously served as President of Chile from 2006 to 2010 and 2014 to 201 ...
, who was tortured with her mother.Official biography of M. Bachelet
on Chilean governmental website
Prisoners were supposedly detained for interrogation but their detention usually lasted for long periods of time without explanation and many prisoners were subject to torture. According to the
Rettig Report The Rettig Report, officially The National Commission for Truth and Reconciliation Report, is a 1991 report by a commission designated by Chilean President Patricio Aylwin (from the ''Concertación'') detailing human rights abuses resulting in dea ...
, they were kept in several different living situations: ''The tower'', a tall structure containing ten narrow spaces measuring 70 x 70 centimetres and two metres high in which multiple prisoners were held. The tower also contained a torture chamber. Apparently, people brought to the tower were detainees considered to be of some importance and whose stage of intense interrogation had finished. Many prisoners who went to the tower were never seen again. ''Chile houses'' were wooden structures designed for solitary confinement. They consisted of vertical sections similar to closets in which the person had to remain standing in darkness for several days ( standing cells). ''Corvi houses'' were small wooden rooms built inside a larger room, each containing a bunkbed. This was supposedly where prisoners stayed while they were undergoing intense interrogation and torture. The forced voyeurism exercised at Villa Grimaldi has been likened to places like Abu Ghraib. 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. Other torture methods included hanging, underwater asphyxiation, beatings, burning, verbal abuse and general degradation. Detainees were sometimes drugged and hypnotized during interrogations. By 1978, Villa Grimaldi was no longer a detention center. It was sold to a construction company which demolished the buildings with the intentions 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. 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.


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. 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 by 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”. 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. Scholars suggest that the use of the “+” shape branching out from the center is employed to symbolize freedom and purification. Another potential connection is with the slogan “''nunca +''” (never again, no more), popularly used by the human rights movement during the military dictatorship. 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". 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.


Sexual torture

Carmen Rojas, a Chilean female revolutionary, is one prisoner whose detention records provide insight into the torture experienced by women at Villa Grimaldi. Sexual torture was used as a mechanism of terror, in which "male torturers threatened women prisoners with
rape Rape is a type of sexual assault usually involving sexual intercourse or other forms of sexual penetration carried out against a person without their consent. The act may be carried out by physical force, coercion, abuse of authority, or ...
and humiliated them on the basis of their bodily functions".
Torture Torture is the deliberate infliction of severe pain or suffering on a person for reasons such as punishment, extracting a confession, interrogational torture, interrogation for information, or intimidating third parties. definitions of tortur ...
was used as tool for both
emasculation Emasculation is the removal of both the penis and the testicles, the external male sex organs. It differs from castration, which is the removal of the testicles only, although the terms are sometimes used interchangeably. The potential medical ...
of male subjects and for humiliating female revolutionaries. One instance documented in Rojas’s narratives describes an interaction between her and male torturers, who force her to undress, then laugh as they electrocute her and menstrual blood drips down her legs.


See also

*
Forced disappearance An enforced disappearance (or forced disappearance) is the secret abduction or imprisonment of a person by a State (polity), state or political organization, or by a third party with the authorization, support, or acquiescence of a state or po ...
*
Operation Condor Operation Condor ( es, link=no, Operación Cóndor, also known as ''Plan Cóndor''; pt, Operação Condor) was a United States–backed campaign of political repression and state terror involving intelligence operations and assassination of op ...


References

{{commons category, Villa Grimaldi


External links


Official Villa Grimaldi Park for Peace websitePictures Villa Grimaldi (2007)Rettig Report
Buildings and structures in Santiago Metropolitan Region Defunct prisons in Chile Dirección de Inteligencia Nacional History of Chile Internment camps National Monuments of Chile Operation Condor Peace parks Political repression in Chile Torture in Chile Tourist attractions in Santiago Metropolitan Region