Committee for Conflict Transformation Support |
CCTS
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A brief testimony about the Chilean Churches' commitment to human rights during Pinochet's dictatorshipby Roberta Bacic, War Resistors International (and reproduced with thanks from the July 2002 issue of The Anglican Peacemaker) Late in 2000 a Chilean friend visited London and my home. By then, Pinochet - who had been arrested for 503 days, with the intention of putting him on trial internationally for his responsibility in human rights violations - was back in Chile. She brought me two valuable presents, besides her warm friendship: a video with the suggestive title: "We cannot keep silent in front of what we have seen, and heard"; and the other, a book called: "Chronicles of a liberating church". Both were published in 2000. We had seen each other frequently during the dictatorship years, when participating in blitz actions against torture. We denounced the institutionalised use of State terror, which used torture: not only to get information, but mainly to intimidate the population, immobilise society, create fear, break solidarity and social networks, and to disempower the population. A great percentage of the participants were religious people, and the public face of the group was the Jesuit priest José Aldunate, who himself is the narrator of the video. This book and video, through story telling, chronicles, essays, episodes, interviews, anecdotes, reflections, analysis, photos and video images, give an account of what was being done to oppose dictatorship. It is an account of the commitment of the churches, as expressed through the social body of which they are part. They also show the dilemmas and challenges that this commitment created inside the church institutions. Late in 1973, soon after the military putsch on the democratically elected socialist government, the 'Comité Pro Paz' emerged. This was set up by prominent religious and secular people and embraced all denominations. They organised swiftly and bravely to give protection to people in danger, to assist survivors and to denounce the atrocities. Very soon they were banned by the Junta, were persecuted and had to dissolve. Lutheran Bishop Helmut Frenz was not allowed back into the country, as he was away at the time. Later on he became Director of Amnesty International. However, these people and institutions did not give up. Protestant churches set up FASIC (Fondo de Ayuda Social de las Iglesias Cristianas The Christian Churches Social Aid Fund) and the Catholic Church created the well known Vicar’a de la Solidaridad. Eighteen years on, both of these entities have passed on great part of their archives to the Chilean Truth Commission, as a witness of these events. Without the direct involvement of these institutions, their men and women and the people of Chile, the danger of impunity would be all the greater and the Chilean case would not have reached the high profile it has in the struggle for human rights.
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