Chile: 40 Years and the Truth – Fundación Henry Dunant

Este artículo fue publicado por Crystal Manafi en el sitio de internet www.ilovechile.cl a propósito de la mesa redonda realizada por la Fundación Henry Dunant América Latina el lunes pasado en el Museo de la Memoria y los Derechos Humanos, en Santiago de Chile. Crystal efectúa una Pasantía en la fundación a cargo de algunos proyectos relacionados con migraciones.

2013 will mark 40 years since the September 11 coup which brought Augusto Pinochet to power. A number of events are happening throughout Chile to mark the moment.

By Crystal Manafi (*)

SANTIAGO — This September marks the 40th year since the military coup that drastically changed Chile’s modern history. Various events and expositions are happening throughout the country, and on Monday night La Fundacion Henry Dunant América Latina organized the roundtable, “Chile 40 Years: Fight Against Forgetting and Memories of the Present”, which took place at the Museum of Memory and Human Rights in collaboration with the French Embassy’s Regional Delegation for Cooperation in the Southern Cone and Brazil.

The panel speakers consisted of Anne Perotin, French historian and researcher from the French National Center for Scientific Research; María Eugenia Horvitz, Vice-Dean of the Faculty of Philosophy and Humanities of Universidad de Chile; Alfredo Joignant, Political Science Professor of Universidad Diego Portales and former President of the Chilean Political Science Association; and, Nancy Nicholls, Professor at Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile.

The discussion revolved around the establishment of the truth based on history and recreation of a time period through truth and reconciliation commissions that not only took place after Chile’s return to democracy, but in other southern hemispheric countries as well. Special attention was given to the fact that a multidisciplined group of people participated in Chile’s truth commission and the elaboration of the Rettig Report which gave it a touch of objectivity and a focus on the proven facts and events.

Although one can debate on the philosophical question on what really is the truth and the relativism of truth, there was a consensus among the panel that there may be many credible and differing accounts to consider. On the other hand, you cannot deny empirical facts and events; we cannot deny that torture measures were employed and that many were killed – these truths can never be relative.

Nancy Nicholls pointed out that although witnesses’ and victims’ memories of events may be influenced by subjectivity, which is inevitable to some extent, but the multiple interpretations based on how different groups of people lived these experiences is also important to take into account to reconstruct the truth and history.

This creates a lot of gray areas – who is really responsible; the man who shoots or the man who orders the shooting? How does your everyday citizen become a torturer? And, isn’t one man’s terrorist another man’s freedom fighter? There is a need to not only find the truth that can be proven, but also take into account memories of the recent past to create a “horizon of truth”.

Chile has come a long way since the years of state systematic torture and murder, but to commemorate forty years since the military coup, this is a time more than ever to reflect on the history and on the memories of those who lived through that time. Do you prescribe to a horizon of truth or is there only one in this complex social paradigm?
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(*) Crystal Manafi es Licenciada en Estudios Internacionales y Español de la Millersville University of Pennsylvania. Mención en Gobierno y Asuntos Políticos, Especialización en Relaciones Internacionales, áreas de estudio en América y Medio Oriente y Asuntos Ambientales de la misma universidad. Tiene experiencia en diversas ONG como Amnistía Internacional, América Solidaria, National Council on U.S. – Arab Relations, y voluntariados en la Cruz Roja de EE.UU. y el Programa Inglés Abre Puertas en Chile.