Latest news with #Pinochet
The Star
15 hours ago
- Politics
- The Star
Chile's government to expropriate land tied to Pinochet-era torture
VILLA BAVIERA (Reuters) -Chile plans to expropriate a settlement founded by a German cult leader where torture took place during former dictator Augusto Pinochet's military regime as the government takes another step to shine a light on a dark period of the past. The enclave, originally called Colonia Dignidad and renamed Villa Baviera, was founded in 1961 by Paul Schafer, a former Nazi medic turned evangelical preacher who kept the isolated community under tight control and was later jailed for sexually abusing children. During Pinochet's 1973-1990 dictatorship, Colonia Dignidad also bore witness to another kind of abuse: the torture of political prisoners by military forces in a secret prison at the site. Schafer collaborated with Pinochet's secret police and in exchange was shielded for years from prosecution for his own crimes. The dictatorship viewed the secretive, fortified and remote community as an ideal site to detain and torture dissidents away from public view. The government now wants to turn the 290-acre (117-hectare) community into a memorial, Justice Minister Jaime Gajardo said at an event this month. The aim is to make it "a place that allows all Chileans to enter freely to learn about what happened there," Gajardo said. "Nothing justifies violating human rights as they were violated during the military dictatorship." Schafer died in prison in 2010. Several hundred families once lived at the settlement about 350 kilometers (217 mi) south of Santiago. Today the population numbers closer to 100, many of whom are descendants of the original German settlers. Businesses at Villa Baviera, or Bavarian Village, have tried in recent years to attract visitors to the area's picturesque green fields and views of snow-capped mountains. In the expropriation, property owners will be compensated under terms still to be determined by experts, Gajardo said. The government aims to complete the expropriation before President Gabriel Boric leaves office in March. The justice minister said the community consists of about 90 land parcels but did not specify the number of businesses or residents. PAINFUL PAST Dozens of physically and mentally traumatizedmembers of Colonia Dignidad eventuallyrelocatedto Germany, and the site's history drew international attention in the 2015 film "Colonia." Plans for the expropriation underscore the challenges for governments in coming to terms with complicated histories in places that have overlapping layers of rights abuses. Chile's National Institute of Human Rights in a recent report said those who were tortured by Pinochet's forces as well as the people who suffered under Schaefer's control were equally victims of Colonia Dignidad. Jose Patricio Schmidt, who grew up in Colonia Dignidad and still lives there, said residents had existed in a bubble, unaware of the dictatorship's abuses. "Schaefer would gather us together to read the Bible in a place about a kilometer from where people were tortured, and we knew nothing," he said in an interview at a memorial site in the community that pays tribute to the torture victims. Tens of thousands of people were arrested and tortured throughout Chile during Pinochet's rule, and 1,469 people were victims of forced disappearance. Some have criticized the government's move to take away property from current Villa Baviera community members, especially those who were themselves victims of abuse. Juergen Szurgeleis in an interview said he tried as a boy to escape forced labor and abuse at Colonia Dignidad. "Is it my fault for being born here?" he said. "And now they want to take away my land and leave me in the street?" Yet a former political prisoner at Colonia Dignidad, Luis Jaque, said he struggles to see how the community, which includes a German restaurant and a hotel catering to tourists, can carry on without recognizing the horrors of the past. "It's not reconcilable, at least not for me," he said. (Reporting by Nicolás Cortés in Villa Baviera and Santiago; Writing by Leila Miller and Fabián Cambero; Editing by Daina Beth Solomon and Cynthia Osterman)
Straits Times
15 hours ago
- Politics
- Straits Times
Chile's government to expropriate land tied to Pinochet-era torture
Find out what's new on ST website and app. VILLA BAVIERA - Chile plans to expropriate a settlement founded by a German cult leader where torture took place during former dictator Augusto Pinochet's military regime as the government takes another step to shine a light on a dark period of the past. The enclave, originally called Colonia Dignidad and renamed Villa Baviera, was founded in 1961 by Paul Schafer, a former Nazi medic turned evangelical preacher who kept the isolated community under tight control and was later jailed for sexually abusing children. During Pinochet's 1973-1990 dictatorship, Colonia Dignidad also bore witness to another kind of abuse: the torture of political prisoners by military forces in a secret prison at the site. Schafer collaborated with Pinochet's secret police and in exchange was shielded for years from prosecution for his own crimes. The dictatorship viewed the secretive, fortified and remote community as an ideal site to detain and torture dissidents away from public view. The government now wants to turn the 290-acre (117-hectare) community into a memorial, Justice Minister Jaime Gajardo said at an event this month. The aim is to make it "a place that allows all Chileans to enter freely to learn about what happened there," Gajardo said. "Nothing justifies violating human rights as they were violated during the military dictatorship." Schafer died in prison in 2010. Several hundred families once lived at the settlement about 350 kilometers (217 mi) south of Santiago. Today the population numbers closer to 100, many of whom are descendants of the original German settlers. Businesses at Villa Baviera, or Bavarian Village, have tried in recent years to attract visitors to the area's picturesque green fields and views of snow-capped mountains. In the expropriation, property owners will be compensated under terms still to be determined by experts, Gajardo said. The government aims to complete the expropriation before President Gabriel Boric leaves office in March. The justice minister said the community consists of about 90 land parcels but did not specify the number of businesses or residents. PAINFUL PAST Dozens of physically and mentally traumatized members of Colonia Dignidad eventually relocated to Germany, and the site's history drew international attention in the 2015 film "Colonia." Plans for the expropriation underscore the challenges for governments in coming to terms with complicated histories in places that have overlapping layers of rights abuses. Chile's National Institute of Human Rights in a recent report said those who were tortured by Pinochet's forces as well as the people who suffered under Schaefer's control were equally victims of Colonia Dignidad. Jose Patricio Schmidt, who grew up in Colonia Dignidad and still lives there, said residents had existed in a bubble, unaware of the dictatorship's abuses. "Schaefer would gather us together to read the Bible in a place about a kilometer from where people were tortured, and we knew nothing," he said in an interview at a memorial site in the community that pays tribute to the torture victims. Tens of thousands of people were arrested and tortured throughout Chile during Pinochet's rule, and 1,469 people were victims of forced disappearance. Some have criticized the government's move to take away property from current Villa Baviera community members, especially those who were themselves victims of abuse. Juergen Szurgeleis in an interview said he tried as a boy to escape forced labor and abuse at Colonia Dignidad. "Is it my fault for being born here?" he said. "And now they want to take away my land and leave me in the street?" Yet a former political prisoner at Colonia Dignidad, Luis Jaque, said he struggles to see how the community, which includes a German restaurant and a hotel catering to tourists, can carry on without recognizing the horrors of the past. "It's not reconcilable, at least not for me," he said. REUTERS
The Guardian
a day ago
- Politics
- The Guardian
Homeland security denies reports that Ice ‘secretly deported' Pennsylvania grandfather
Confusion swirled around the fate of a Chilean resident of the US after the Department of Homeland Security called reports of his deportation to Guatemala a 'hoax'. On 18 July, the Morning Call newspaper of Allentown, Pennsylvania, reported that the family of the man, Luis Leon, said he was handcuffed after showing up at to immigration office on 20 June to report a lost green card. They said he was first sent to a detention facility in Minnesota, then to Guatemala, where they said a Chilean relative informed them he was in a hospital. The report said Leon was 82 years old and had come to the US after being granted political asylum in 1987 after being tortured under the regime of the Chilean dictator Augusto Pinochet. It said in his nearly 40 years living in the US he spent his career working in a leather manufacturing plant, raised a family and had since retired. DHS, however, denied in a statement that Leon had been deported and that there was no record of Leon having a green card appointment in Philadelphia on that date. The department also said that its only record of Leon entering the US 'was from 2015 from Chile under the visa waiver program'. The Guatemalan government also denied that Leon had been deported. In a statement, the Guatemalan Migration Institute said it coordinates with Ice on all deportations from the US and that no one matched Leon's name, age or citizenship, according to the Associated Press. The AP added that Guatemala agreed in February to receive people deported from the US who are from other Central American countries, but that its agreement does not extend to Chileans. On Monday, Morning Call published a new story reflecting DHS and Guatemala's claims, and noting that it 'repeatedly requested information from Ice during its reporting; an Ice spokesperson previously refused to confirm details, including whether or not Leon was even at the Philadelphia office, and said Monday that Ice investigators were not able to contact the family'. It added that Leon's granddaughter, Nataly, who refused to provide her last name, said she had visited Leon in a hospital in Guatemala City, where she claimed he was being treated for pneumonia. But the outlet also reported that a Chilean journalist, Jose Del Pino, said a doctor at the hospital in question had no record of him. Del Pino also reportedly provided a copy of an alleged death certificate to the Morning Call for a man with the same name and date of birth who died in Santiago, Chile, in 2019. It added that Del Pino said Chilean citizens all have national identification numbers, and none matches another person with that name and birthday. Late on Sunday her family issued a statement saying they would no longer speak to media and asked for privacy, and Leon's granddaughter did not respond to the Morning Call's further requests for comment on Monday. The Guardian has approached Ice, the Chilean embassy in the US, the municipality of Allentown and various immigration organizations for comment. An attorney at Campos Firm said multiple immigration attorneys had tried to contact the family asking to represent them, but could not reach them.
The Guardian
3 days ago
- Politics
- The Guardian
Ice secretly deported Pennsylvania grandfather, 82, after he lost green card
An 82-year-old man in Pennsylvania was secretly deported to Guatemala after visiting an immigration office last month to replace his lost green card, according to his family, who have not heard from him since and were initially told he was dead. According to Morning Call, which initially reported the story, long-time Allentown resident Luis Leon – who was granted political asylum in the US in 1987 after being tortured under the regime of the Chilean dictator Augusto Pinochet – lost his wallet containing the physical card that confirmed his legal residency. So he and wife booked an appointment to get it replaced. When he arrived at the office on 20 June, however, he was handcuffed by two Immigration and Customs Enforcement (Ice) officers, who led him away from his wife without explanation, she said. She herself was kept in the building for 10 hours until relatives picked her up. The family said they made efforts to find any information on his whereabouts but learned nothing. Then, sometime after Leon was detained, a woman purporting to be an immigration lawyer called the family, claiming she could help – but did not disclose how she knew about the case, or where Leon was. On 9 July, according to Leon's granddaughter, the same woman called them again, claiming Leon had died. A week later, however, they discovered from a relative in Chile that Leon was alive after all – but now in a hospital in Guatemala, a country to which he has no connection. According to Morning Call, the relative said Leon had first been sent to an immigration detention center in Minnesota before being deported to Guatemala – despite not appearing on any Ice detention deportation lists. A recent supreme court decision ruled the Trump administration could deport immigrants to other countries beside their country of origin. In his nearly 40 years living in the US, Leon spent his career working in a leather manufacturing plant, and raised a family. He had since retired. His condition at the hospital in Guatemala is unknown. He suffers from diabetes, high blood pressure and a heart condition, according to his family, who said they are planning to fly to Guatemala to see him. An Ice official told the Morning Call it was investigating the matter.
Wall Street Journal
01-07-2025
- Politics
- Wall Street Journal
‘Chile in Their Hearts' Review: The Perils of Activism
The events of 1973 in Chile—the violent military overthrow of Salvador Allende, the country's elected Marxist president, and the establishment of a 17-year dictatorship under Gen. Augusto Pinochet—rank among the 20th century's great political dramas. For the political left, the wound opened in Santiago 52 years ago still stings, inflamed by anger at the U.S. for trying to destabilize the Allende government before the coup and supporting Pinochet afterward. A subplot involves Charles Horman and Frank Teruggi, two young Americans who came south to experience the revolution-by-election known as 'the Chilean process.' Soldiers arrested and murdered Horman and Teruggi, then 31 and 24 respectively, shortly after the coup. Many on the left have long believed that pro-coup U.S. officials were complicit in their deaths. That suspicion reached the wider public via the Oscar-winning 1982 film 'Missing,' directed and co-written by Costa-Gavras, the Greek-French auteur. In the picture, Horman's father, played by Jack Lemmon, goes to Santiago in search of his son, only to realize that his son has been killed and that American diplomats are stonewalling him. The film strongly implies that Horman, a freelance journalist, had discovered U.S. involvement in the coup and had to be killed lest he report it. In 'Chile in Their Hearts,' John Dinges—a longtime reporter on Latin America for the Washington Post and other news organizations—renders his verdict on the U.S. role: a definitive 'not guilty.'
