"After one day in the hold of the Lebu prison-ship, I realized that the discipline was Prussian. We got up before six in the morning. We had to go up ten by ten to bathe, in front of a jet of water from a fire hose. We would wet ourselves with the terribly cold water, soap ourselves quickly and move away from the water jet. We dried ourselves and went back down to the hold. At 7:45, the meanest of the Marine Infantry officers would show up. It was either Morera or Yuseff or Lopez or Moya, who would amuse themselves by making us suffer:
'Nobody is on holiday here, you know. You have to take your bath and line up properly. ...'
'One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight'... until ...'198 and last, lieutenant.'
Every day at 8 in the morning, we would call out our numbers and sing the National Anthem. The same thing was repeated at 6 p.m. seven days a week."
(Testimony by Sadi Renato Joui Joui in
Chacabuco y Otros Lugares De Detención. LOM Ediciones, Stgo. 1994)
Location:
The Valparaiso port, aboard the ships "Esmeralda," "Maipo," and "Lebu." "The Lebu" and "Maipo" ships, owned by the maritime transport company Compañia Sudamericana de Vapores, operated as the Navy’s detention centers. The shipping company informed the Rettig commission that the "Maipo" was transferred to the Navy as of September 11, 1973 at 10:00 am. Navy personnel controlled the ship from that moment on and subsequently, on September 15 at 23:00 hours, sailed to Pisagua. The "Maipo" was replaced by the "Lebu," expropriated that same day, as a prison-ship.
Duration:
September 11, 1973 to until 1974.
Prisoners:
Each ship had a capacity to confine hundreds of prisoners in its hold. The International Committee of the Red Cross reported in November 1973 that there were 324 political prisoners aboard the "Lebu."
The Esmeralda training ship, used as a prison in 1973. In the 44 years since the Esmeralda was brought to Chile from Spain, it has been used to train Navy cadets and has sailed extensively, docking at more than 300 ports throughout the world. During the dictatorship in Chile, the Esmeralda was the subject of protests at many international cities for its role as a prison camp.
(Photo: Las Ultimas Noticias)
Conditions: (from the Rettig report)
Some of the ship's prisoners had bunkbeds, but the vast majority resided in the ship's hold in extremely harsh conditions and lacking in hygiene and minimal services. With regards to the "Lebu," the International Red Cross confirmed the following facts after its visit of October 1, 1973: the prisoners were isolated from the outside world, their families were unaware they were held there, the food was insufficient and of poor quality and the conditions were generally poor. Torture and other abuses were practiced on the "Lebu."
On the "Esmeralda," a specialized Navy unit set itself up on the ship with the objective of interrogating the ship’s prisoners as well as those brought from other Navy detention centers. These interrogation sessions generally included torture and mistreatment.
Other detention centers in the region:
At the El Belloto Air-Naval Base, in the War Academy and its dependencies, particularly in the "Silva Palma Garrison," interrogations were conducted which also included torture and mistreatment.
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