Chile: Govt starts investigating disappearances during Pinochet's regime

Chile's government on Wednesday (August 30) launched a programme to investigate what happened to more than 1,000 people who disappeared during the dictatorship of Augusto Pinochet. During a ceremony at the presidential palace, President Gabriel Boric said, "Justice has taken too long. The only way to build a future that is more free and respectful of life and human dignity is to know the whole truth."

According to a report by the news agency AFP, the programme - called Truth and Justice - will have a dedicated budget and staff. The report said that investigators will be tasked with reconstructing the victims' final days - from their arrest to their final destination.

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Detainees Gaby Rivera, the president of the Association of Relatives of Disappeared Detainees Gaby Rivera, said at the ceremony that no other government has had the political will required to help the affected families.

The 1973 coup and subsequent abuse

Augusto Pinochet seized power in a bloody coup on September 11, 1973. The coup was backed by the United States, and Pinochet would remain in power until 1990. Pinochet died in 2006 without ever being convicted for the crimes committed by his regime.

According to Chile's justice ministry, 40,175 people were executed, detained, and disappeared, or tortured as political prisoners during Pinochet's dictatorship. Government reports showed that 1,469 people were victims of forced disappearances. Of these, 1,092 were secretly detained and 377 were executed.

Before Truth and Justice was launched, the circumstances of those who were declared missing were not looked into. A major obstacle had been the recalcitrance from former soldiers, accused by next-of-kin of having forged a "pact of silence" to keep their crimes hidden.

(With inputs from agencies)

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