(Avenida José Arrieta 8200, La Reina)
(Extracted from the Rettig Report)
Villa Grimaldi was the DINA’s most important detention and torture center, known by its agents as Cuartel Terranova. It was used from mid-1974 onward, first as the headquarters of the Metropolitan Intelligence Brigade (MIB) and then as its operations center.
Villa Grimaldi is an extensive plot of land and its buildings, now demolished, were enlarged to accomodate the center’s additional functions. Apparently, the first prisoners arrived in mid-1974 although their volume did not become more regular until later that year. Around the summer of 1975, Villa Grimaldi became the MIB’s center of operations, in charge of internal repression in Santiago.
Operative teams had their quarters at Villa Grimaldi. They brought prisoners there for initial interrogation after arrest and devices specially designed for different forms of torture were kept there. Prisoners who were not subject to torture were also kept there, sometimes for long periods, awaiting possible new interrogations or a decision on their fate.
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As the number of prisoners increased, new structures were built to hold them. The conditions of these apparently differed depending on the state of the arrested individual and the effects the DINA wanted to produce in him or her. The Rettig Commission visited this site and, although the main buildings were demolished, the following description of Villa Grimaldi could be confirmed through studying the distribution of ruins and foundations:
Prisoners were kept in the following structures:
"The Tower." This was a tower-like structure with a water deposit. Inside it, ten narrow spaces were constructed, measuring about 70 x 70 centimeters and two meters high, where prisoners were held. There was a small door at the bottom, which could only be passed by getting down on all fours. In each one of these cells one or two persons were kept in permanent enclosure. The tower also contained a torture chamber. If there were two people in one cell, they had difficulty fitting themselves into the space and sleep was almost impossible. Apparently, people brought to the tower were detainees considered to be of some importance and whose stage of intense interrogation had finished. Many of those who went to the tower were never seen again.
For example, Ariel Mancilla, a key member of the Socialist Party, disappeared when, following torture, he was taken to the tower.
"Chile Houses". These were wooden structures designed for isolating individual prisoners. They consisted of vertical sections similar to closets in which the person had to remain standing in darkness for several days.
"Corvi Houses". These were small wooden rooms built inside a larger room. Each one contained a bunkbed. This was apparently where prisoners stayed while they were undergoing intense interrogation and torture.
During their stay at Villa Grimaldi, the prisoners were unable to clean themselves or change clothing. They had access to the toilet at fixed times only and the food was very poor and insufficient. All this, combined with the torture, produced a noticeable deterioration of the prisoners' health.
"The day begins with a breakfast of boiling tea in a small metal container and half a bread. Lunch is at midday, soup with potato skins floating around in it and pieces of carrots. Sometimes we eat the agents' leftovers, with olive pits, bits of fish and fishbones mixed in with it. Almost impossible to swallow. The screams and moans take your appetite away. But we're forced to do it. Meanwhile, they never stop calling people to the "parrilla" (the "grill" torture method), to endless interrogations... It is a world of contrasts. Guards play the guitar to the sound of the wailing, while in a corner, lying on the floor, Manuel Diaz, alias "El Tano" is dying, little by little..."
(excerpt from La Guerra Oculta: Detenidos-Desaparecidos, Capítulo 3. Recintos Secretos,
by Carmen Ortuzar and Marcela Otero, Revista Hoy, No. 445, jan.27 - feb.2, 1986.)
Within Villa Grimaldi there were rooms specifically designed for torture. Some agents applied different methods of torture and others, usually officials, conducted the interrogations. The latter sometimes also personally applied the torture. In some cases, during interrogations with or without torture, another person would take notes with a typewriter.
The most common torture method was electrical shock, consisting of a metal rack to which the naked prisoner was tied and then electrical current would be applied to different parts of his or her body, especially the most sensitive areas such as the lips or genitals or even on wounds or metallic prostheses. One particularly cruel variation of this method consisted in further pressuring the subject of interrogation by placing him on the bottom rack of a double bunk bed and torturing a family member or friend above him.
Another torture method often employed was hanging. The victim was hung from a bar, either by the wrists or by wrists and ankles. In both cases, the pain produced over time by the weight of the hanging body, was aggravated by applying electrical shocks, beatings, penetrating wounds and other types of aggravation.
Submerging the person’s head in a container of water - usually dirty - or some other liquid, was another torture method often used at Villa Grimaldi. The victim’s head would be held under water almost until the point of asphyxiation. A similar effect was obtained through the so-called "dry submarine", which consisted in placing a plastic bag around the person’s head to prevent him or her from breathing.
In addition to these methods, torture and mistreatment by all types of beatings was habitual at Villa Grimaldi. These ranged from extremely violent, producing serious injury, to unexpected blows to blindfolded detainees.
In Villa Grimaldi drugs were used to obtain declarations. For a while, hypnotizing prisoners was tried, but without results.
Villa Grimaldi had specially designed rooms used for torture. Some agents applied the torture methods and others, usually officers, conducted the interrogations, although the officers at times employed the torture instruments themselves. On some occasions during interrogations, with or without torture, another official took notes on a typewriter.
In addition to those methods already described, which were the most common, some agents occasionally employed other techniques. There are testimonies stating that on one occasion, in the case of the Gallardo family... boiling water or other liquid was thrown on various prisoners as a method of punishment and in anticipation of their eventual death.
Villa Grimaldi operated virtually non-stop. The operative teams came and went 24 hours a day, bringing in prisoners and torturing them around the clock.
The interior of Villa Grimaldi held an atmosphere of general degradation. In addition to the torture during interrogations, many of the officers, operating agents and guards beat and verbally abused the prisoners.
As the headquarters of the MIB, Villa Grimaldi also employed a team of agents who performed various jobs and gave administrative and logistic support to the center.
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