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CHRONOLOGY - 1978
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JANUARY 4, 1978
Pinochet holds a National Consultation, "in defense
of the dignity of Chile," which takes place one week after it is first
announced, on December 27. The electorate is asked to reject the United
Nations' resolution condemning human rights violation in Chile. The voter
is asked whether he "supports the president in his defense of the dignity
of Chile and reaffirms the legitimacy of the government of the republic...
or whether, to the contrary, he supports the resolution of the United
Nations and its intention to impose our future destiny on us from abroad."
The final vote results were 75% yes, 20% no, and 5% annulled.
The Consultation vote is held with no guarantees of
fairness: among other things, voter registration lists had been destroyed
following the coup and, according to Americas Watch, the Consultation is
held in a climate of "extreme brutality and fear under a state of siege in
which civil liberties were radically restricted." Indeed, even the Air
Force, the Navy and the Comptroller General object to the balloting
procedure. Nevertheless, Pinochet interprets the results as a
legitimization of the regime's policies.
JANUARY 10, 1978
Fourteen Christian Democratic Party
(PDC) leaders are relegated to northern Chile for taking part in an
illegal meeting November 16, 1977. Relegations are carried out in a
climate of intense nationalism and anti-pluralism following the
Consultation.
MARCH 1, 1978
Photographs of Juan Williams Rose and
Alejandro Romeral Jara allegedly implicated in the murder of UP
minister Orlando Letelier and his secretary Ronnie Moffit are published in
Chilean newspapers. The following day, anonymous readers declare that
the Williams Rose photos are actually of Michael Townley, US citizen and
former member of Patria y Libertad, a rightist paramilitary group which
opposed the Popular Unity government. Later, the other photograph is
identified as being that of Army Captain Armando Fernández Larios, a DINA
member since 1975, who is a close collaborator of Arellano Stark.
Throughout March, the Letelier-Moffit murder case evolves, with the
designation of a special prosecutor to investigate the possible
falsification of passports for Townley et al. US Attorney General Eugene
Propper arrives in Chile toward the end of March.
APRIL 8, 1978
Michael Townley is expelled from
Chile. During this month, Gen. Manuel Contreras, in charge of the DINA
at the time of the Letelier-Moffit murders, voluntarily resigns from the
Army.
APRIL 19, 1978
An Amnesty Law is declared.
The Decree Law drafted by Justice Minister Mónica Madariaga, pardons all
individuals who committed crimes between September 11, 1973 and March 10,
1978, that is, throughout the state of siege period. This law includes
authors of crimes, their accomplices and those who covered up crime. In
effect, it shields from prosecution all those who committed human rights
violations throughout the five-year period. It also benefits some
political prisoners, sentenced throughout that period, and who are granted
amnesty. Interior Minister Sergio Fernández, appointed April 14, describes
it as "the beginning of national reconciliation." The law specifically
excludes those eventually found responsible for the 1976 Letelier-Moffit
murders.
MAY 22, 1978
Relatives of the disappeared stage a
hunger strike to pressure the regime to reveal the whereabouts of
their loved ones, missing from the moment they were arrested by security
forces. The strike takes place in locations belonging to the Catholic
Church and lasts a total of 17 days. In response, Interior Minister Sergio
Fernández says, "We were and we are almost in a process of war. In any war
people disappear and nobody asks for, nor does anybody give,
explanations."
JULY 8, 1978
The Washington Post suggests that
Pinochet is involved in the Letelier-Moffit murder.
JULY 24, 1978
Gen. Gustavo Leigh is demoted.
General Augusto Pinochet, and the other two Junta members, Generals Jose
Toribio Merino and César Mendoza accuse him of "backtracking on numerous
occasions on the principles that inspired the September 11 movement," in
reference to the military coup. Indeed, Leigh had strongly opposed the
National Consultation the previous year. His demotion is sparked off by an
interview with an Italian journal in which he openly expresses his
discrepancies with the absolutely totalitarian nature of the regime. He
goes as far as to say that he supports the existence of leftist political
parties "in the same manner as the Swedish do," adding that the Chilean
experience proved "ideas cannot be abolished through decree laws." Leigh
is replaced by Gen. Fernando Matthei, who had been Health Minister until
then.
AUGUST 1, 1978
The U.S. courts request the
extradition of Manuel Contreras, Pedro Espinoza and Fernández Larios,
believing them to be involved in the murder of Letelier and Moffit.
SEPTEMBER 1978
The Vicaria de la Solidaridad (Vicaria)
announces the existence of 613 proven cases of disappearances after
arrest by security forces. The report, which took one year to
draft, is submitted to Cardinal Raúl Silva Henríquez.
OCTOBER 19, 1978
Seven labor confederations
representing 550 trade unions are forced to close by the regime.
NOVEMBER 9, 1978
The Episcopate Permanent Committee
issues a harsh declaration on human rights and the disappeared in
Chile. Those that are disappeared, said the declaration, "must be
presumed to have been detained by the government's security forces... we
have reached the conclusion that the government will not conduct an
in-depth investigation into what happened." The declaration added, "We are
sorry to say that we have also reached the conclusion that many, if not
all the disappeared, have died outside the bounds of the law."
NOVEMBER 22, 1978
The Vicaria inaugurates an international
symposium on human rights despite strong pressure from the regime to
suspend it.
NOVEMBER 26, 1978
The Regional Inter-American Workers'
Organization, ORIT, approves a boycott of port exports to Chile to
protest the regime's October 19 decision to close down seven trade union
confederations. The original proponent of the boycott was the AFL-CIO in
the United States.
NOVEMBER 30 1978
The remains of 15 disappeared are discovered in
Lonquén. The Vicaria publicly announces the discovery of an illegal
burial ground in an abandoned limestone mine in Lonquén which has been
used to conceal the bodies of 15 people who had disappeared since the
onset of the military regime in 1973.
DECEMBER 10, 1978
The United Nations awards a human
rights prize to the Vicaria. Cardinal Raúl Silva Henríquez travels to
New York to receive the award from Kurt Waldheim. On the same date, the
Cardinal makes a surprise announcement, requesting that the director of
the Vicaria, priest Cristián Precht, resign from his post. According to
Precht, the request for his resignation was due to the Vicaría's growing
power: "There was only so much the government could tolerate, and we went
too far."
DECEMBER 10, 1978
The Chilean Human Rights Commission
is created, giving rise to the grassroots organizations, "comités de
base," whose work concentrates on the defense and promotion of human
rights. The Commission also recognizes unemployment, homelessness and poor
housing as well as lack of health care and under-nourishment as human
rights violations.
DECEMBER 19, 1978
Human remains belonging to
disappeared people are found in Cuesta Barriga. An ad-hoc committee,
led by Bishop Jorge Hourton and Vicaría attorney Jorge Molina, makes the
announcement. The coroner's office, the Legal Medical Institute (IML),
claims the bodies have been removed from a cemetery, an action described
as "a profanation" by IML director Claudio Molina. However, an unexpected
witness comes forward to reveal that immediately following the September
1973 coup, he and six other detained individuals were removed from the
Curacaví police headquarters and taken to a hut by Cuesta Barriga where
they were shot. The bodies found by the Vicaria corresponded to two of the
five who were killed there. Those who died were Edmundo Manso and Jorge
Toros, whose remains were returned to their families, and Justo Mendoza
Santibáñez, Nicolás Gárate and Jorge Gómez whose bodies were never found.
One of the two survivors, José Barrera, reappeared six months after the
incident, on March 13, 1974, at a police station but is arrested, never to
be seen again. The other went underground, and reappeared only to tell his
story.
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