"During this most recent period (1990’s), torture, as a consequence of the exercise of power, has practically disappeared. Nevertheless, although it is no longer applied systematically, there have been denunciations of torture in military and police premises, which can be seen, to a large degree as a consequence of the inheritance of a technique and ideology applied with no checks or balances during over 16 years.
The continued existence of secret laws inherited from the dictatorship and the application of the amnesty law have created a climate of impunity. Furthermore, and as a backdrop, the violation of the right to life takes place in a social context deeply marked by the current economic model in which the market is the steadfast regulator of human relations, generating high levels of social exclusion. The aim is, to impose a concept of a never before seen materialistic being: human beings as users or products, as exchangeable, and forced to forget their recent history."
Excerpt from, Persona, Estado, Poder:
Estudios sobre salud mental, Vol.II, Chile 1990 - 1995, CODEPU.
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