Chile marks 50 years since Pinochet's military coup
Members of the media may directly contact:
Marie-Christine Doran (English, French and Spanish)
Full Professor, School of Political Studies, Faculty of Social Sciences, and Director, Observatory on Violence, Criminalization and Democracy (OVCD).
Professor Doran can provide insight into why it's taken 33 years since Chile's transition to democracy to see progress on human rights and why Chile is still so polarized on these issues, as evidenced by the rise of the far right claiming the legacy of Augusto Pinochet's dictatorship.
"Fifty years after the coup d'état and more than 30 years after the end of the dictatorship, Gabriel Boric's government is the first to launch a National Search Plan to get to the bottom of the fate of thousands of missing and enforced disappearances committed under the dictatorship that were never punished because of the amnesty law bequeathed by the Pinochet dictatorship.
"There have also been recent historic judgments by Chile's Supreme Court about human rights violations committed during the dictatorship, including the torture and murder of popular singer Victor Jara, and the first judgment on the systematic sexual violence committed against female political prisoners during the dictatorship (politico-sexual violence)."