Ex Prisioneros Políticos de Chile (Part I)
Through my contact at Amnistia, Director Sergio L, I have a list of domestic human rights groups in Chile. I emailed all of them a few days ago requesting meetings, their perspective, etc. One of them, La Comite de Retornados del Exilio (The Committee of the Returned from Exile), responded:
The hotel is small, nestled about a block away from the Amnistia offices I described earlier. It looks like a place locals would meet for tea (never tea, of course, only coffee here). It is small inside: it reminded me of the bed and breakfast we all stayed in for Spencer and Brooke's wedding. A very homey feel. Around the corner from the receptionist was a smallish room (probably 15 by 25?) with a table at the front and maybe 7 rows of seats.
Pictures will follow when one of the gentlemen who was there emails me. I had forgotten to bring my camera, plus it didn't occur to me that I would snap photos as I listened in on the meeting.
The meeting lasted from 3 pm to almost 7 pm, with a short coffee (cafecito?) gathering at the end. I was warmly welcomed from the second I stepped into the room. The attendees looked like they were in their sixties or older, although they could've been younger and just weathered by life, given the theme of the meeting was just how weathering life was in Chile during the dictatorship. It struck me that many of the men in attendance looked like pictures of old men you see playing checkers in Havana (Buena Vista Social Club type images). The women were friendly, many outspoken. The atmosphere had a gospel-like component when it came to comments from the audience.
The first part of the meeting was a presentation by a man who no one sitting in the seats directly next to me could name. His presentation centered on legal details of the military procesos. I will elaborate when I look up the details of the case discussed.
The remainder of meeting (a good 2-plus hours) was dedicated to the group declaring their demands to the government (2 members-parlamentarios-of the government were present) who responded with statements like "We are working together to bring you justice, but our hands are tied as well." I have an interview with one of the members of government on Monday at 9 AM.
In addition to the presentations from the dirigentes of the group (one of them, a woman from the South of Chile, invited me to come stay at her house if I wanted to travel south while I am here), the presentations included energetic demands from the different representatives. Many individuals were coming from the south of Chile where living conditions are far inferior (and far colder right now) than those in Santiago. The education and income curve means that victims of the dictatorship who now live in El Sur are even less equipped than their poorly-equipped counterparts in Santiago to deal with the legal aspect (both economically and for the complicated legal content) of fighting for their rights as victims.
This was a very long and complicated meeting. I will bring more details later.
Estimada Lauren:So, at 15.00 hrs today I presented myself at the Hotel Presidente near the metro station Salvador (incidentally, Chile has a fantastic metrosantiago website where you can click on the line (L1-red), find the station (Salvador, though I live next to Los Leones) and see a very comprehensive map of the surrounding area) to sit in on a meeting of the Committee. To clarify confusion, the majority of the members in this meeting are ex-political prisoners, and then there are some representatives from the group that made me aware of this meeting, the Comite de Retornados del Exilio. Of course, some overlap.
Mañana habrá una actividad sobre Derechos Humanos en el hotel Presidente ubicado en calle Eliodoro Yañez 867- comuna de Providencia, a las 15.00 horas. Nos juntamos dirigentes del Comité de Retornados del Exilio, para escuchar a los integrantes de la Unión Nacional de Ex Prisioneros Políticos de Chile y algunos parlamentarios invitados. El tema será las demandas pendientes sobre la reparación a la prisión política y torturas. Creo que te servirá para tu estudio que debes realizar, ya que se trata de organizaciones integradas con los directamente afectados por violaciones a los derechos humanos cometidas por la dictadura militar entre el 11-09-1973 y el 10-03-1990.
Saludos fraternales para tí
The hotel is small, nestled about a block away from the Amnistia offices I described earlier. It looks like a place locals would meet for tea (never tea, of course, only coffee here). It is small inside: it reminded me of the bed and breakfast we all stayed in for Spencer and Brooke's wedding. A very homey feel. Around the corner from the receptionist was a smallish room (probably 15 by 25?) with a table at the front and maybe 7 rows of seats.
Pictures will follow when one of the gentlemen who was there emails me. I had forgotten to bring my camera, plus it didn't occur to me that I would snap photos as I listened in on the meeting.
The meeting lasted from 3 pm to almost 7 pm, with a short coffee (cafecito?) gathering at the end. I was warmly welcomed from the second I stepped into the room. The attendees looked like they were in their sixties or older, although they could've been younger and just weathered by life, given the theme of the meeting was just how weathering life was in Chile during the dictatorship. It struck me that many of the men in attendance looked like pictures of old men you see playing checkers in Havana (Buena Vista Social Club type images). The women were friendly, many outspoken. The atmosphere had a gospel-like component when it came to comments from the audience.
The first part of the meeting was a presentation by a man who no one sitting in the seats directly next to me could name. His presentation centered on legal details of the military procesos. I will elaborate when I look up the details of the case discussed.
The remainder of meeting (a good 2-plus hours) was dedicated to the group declaring their demands to the government (2 members-parlamentarios-of the government were present) who responded with statements like "We are working together to bring you justice, but our hands are tied as well." I have an interview with one of the members of government on Monday at 9 AM.
In addition to the presentations from the dirigentes of the group (one of them, a woman from the South of Chile, invited me to come stay at her house if I wanted to travel south while I am here), the presentations included energetic demands from the different representatives. Many individuals were coming from the south of Chile where living conditions are far inferior (and far colder right now) than those in Santiago. The education and income curve means that victims of the dictatorship who now live in El Sur are even less equipped than their poorly-equipped counterparts in Santiago to deal with the legal aspect (both economically and for the complicated legal content) of fighting for their rights as victims.
This was a very long and complicated meeting. I will bring more details later.
posted by Lauren at 8:12 PM
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