2023 marks the 50th anniversary of the coup that overthrew President Salvador Allende and plunged Chile into a relentless and violent dictatorship for 17 years. Today, the survivors of human rights violations and the relatives of the more than 3,000 disappeared and executed political prisoners continue to fight, not only for justice, but also for the recognition of what they experienced. Illegal arrests, torture and disappearances continue to be denied by a large part of the population. The perpetrators have not wanted to reveal where the disappeared are: there is a pact of silence that is maintained until today. Furthermore, justice has been slow and lax, further exacerbating the grief of survivors and their families.
How to talk about violence, torture, and survival without revictimizing? How can you talk about traumatic events without reliving the pain, the hopelessness? This project shows a space where atrocities were committed, a clandestine military operations center in the Coquimbo region: Casa Piedra (Stone House). It is not yet known how many people were arrested and brought to this place. Survivors recount how they spent most of their time blindfolded, not knowing where they were or if they would return home. With great difficulty they identify in which rooms they were held and where they were interrogated and tortured. This project portrays the brave survivors, many of whom tell their story for the first time, with the aim that what happened in Chile is not forgotten, that it is not denied and that it is never repeated.
