Disappeared detainees in Chile (Desaparecidos), refers to the victims of

enforced disappearances An enforced disappearance (or forced disappearance) is the secret abduction or imprisonment of a person with the support or acquiescence of a State (polity), state followed by a refusal to acknowledge the person's fate or whereabouts with the i ...

perpetrated by the Chilean military during the political repression following the 1973 coup d'état led by

Augusto Pinochet Augusto José Ramón Pinochet Ugarte (25 November 1915 – 10 December 2006) was a Chilean military officer and politician who was the dictator of Military dictatorship of Chile, Chile from 1973 to 1990. From 1973 to 1981, he was the leader ...

. The term " disappeared detainees" is also used in other

Latin America Latin America is the cultural region of the Americas where Romance languages are predominantly spoken, primarily Spanish language, Spanish and Portuguese language, Portuguese. Latin America is defined according to cultural identity, not geogr ...

n countries. These enforced disappearances were used both to eliminate oppositional individuals and to "spread terror within society". According to the intergovernmental organization

International Criminal Court The International Criminal Court (ICC) is an intergovernmental organization and International court, international tribunal seated in The Hague, Netherlands. It is the first and only permanent international court with jurisdiction to prosecute ...

(ICC), “enforced disappearance of persons constitutes a crime against humanity".

History

The crimes of forced disappearance in Chile, were committed by various military formations of the Chilean Armed Forces and the Carabineers during the 1970s and 1980s –particularly the

Dirección de Inteligencia Nacional The Dirección de Inteligencia Nacional (DINA; ) was the secret police of Chile during the dictatorship of Augusto Pinochet. The DINA has been referred to as "Pinochet's Gestapo". Established in November 1973 as a Chilean Army intelligence unit ...

(DINA). The problem was officially recognized first in 1990.

Post-dictatorship investigations

In 1990, when democracy returned in Chile, the authorities established the National Truth and Reconciliation Commission, which documented over 3,200 victims –including dead and missing, left behind by the dictatorship. In 1991 the commission delivered the

Rettig Report The Rettig Report, officially The National Commission for Truth and Reconciliation Report (), is a 1991 report by a commission designated by Chilean President Patricio Aylwin (from the '' Concertación'') detailing human rights abuses resulting i ...

, which acknowledged "more than 3,200 victims, including dead and missing, left behind by the dictatorship". In 2023, the government of

Gabriel Boric Gabriel Boric Font (; born 11 February 1986) is a Chilean politician and the President of Chile since 2022. He previously served two four-year terms as a deputy in the Chamber of Deputies of Chile, Chamber of Deputies. Boric first gained prom ...

recognized the disappearance of 1469 persons, of whom only the fate of 307 has been so far established. The government issued a plan to investigate the whereabouts of the rest of the 1,162 disappeared victims. Together with reports from Amnesty International, the

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

-based

human rights Human rights are universally recognized Morality, moral principles or Social norm, norms that establish standards of human behavior and are often protected by both Municipal law, national and international laws. These rights are considered ...

investigation group ''Memoria Viva'' maintains a regularly updating with lists of disappeared detainees in

Chile Chile, officially the Republic of Chile, is a country in western South America. It is the southernmost country in the world and the closest to Antarctica, stretching along a narrow strip of land between the Andes, Andes Mountains and the Paci ...

References

External links

List of Disappeared detainees (desaparecidos) in Chile

(From ''Memoria Viva'') {{World topic, prefix= Forced disappearances in , title =

Forced disappearances An enforced disappearance (or forced disappearance) is the secret abduction or imprisonment of a person with the support or acquiescence of a State (polity), state followed by a refusal to acknowledge the person's fate or whereabouts with the i ...

by country , noredlinks=yes * Coup d'etat Dirección de Inteligencia Nacional