On Friday the 9th of May our group made a trip to Villa Grimaldi. A former detention and torture center of the Pinochet regime.
Our guide, a former detainee and torture victim painted a very vivid picture of the experience at the Villa.
When someone was detained by the DINA (Pinochet's secret police) they were put in the back of a truck, blind-folded, hog-tied, and beaten. They were driven in through the service entrance of the villa, untied and forced out of the truck.
Upon arrival the DINA would perform what they referred to as the "Bienvenido" or welcoming. This consisted of surrounding the detainee and beating he or she to a state of unconsciousness, they were then doused with freezing cold water and taken to the first torture chamber.
In the first torture chamber the detainees were forced to strip; if this was not done quickly they were beaten again. The detainee was then strapped to the "Parilla" or grill, which was basically metal bed-frame to allow the conduction of electricity through the body. The detainee was then tortured anywhere from one to three hours.
The detainees where kept in cells large enough to hold a bed and nothing more. They were given less than ample food, and were allowed to use the bathroom once a day. Obviously the conditions were horrible. They were generally taken for torture once a day, which could have been at any time.
If the first torture chamber was not substantial, the detainee was taken to another room which had a chair in which the detainee was strapped too and tortured using a technique called the telephone. The torturer would stand behind the detainee and slap his ears with open hands, causing immense damage and pain to the ears. This room also contained a double parilla in which the detainee would be put on the bottom and a friend or loved one would be tortured above him.
Another form of torture used at Villa Grimaldi was water boarding, something our government claims is not torture.
Our guide told us something very personal about his experience in Villa Grimaldi. At one point he was brought into a room of other prisoners and left to wait there. He supported himself on the door because he was having a hard time standing. Another prisoner approached him and offered him a cigarette. Because of this gesture of kindness our guide knew that this other prisoner was a DINA informant, it was the only way to get cigarettes.
The other prisoner asked our guide about himself, so our guide only told him what the DINA knew about him. The informant knew there was more information and he said the following to our guide, "Look, they tortured me the same as you, and I said nothing. They raped my wife in front of me, and I said nothing. Then they tortured my six month old child in front of me, and I broke. What would you have done if it had been you?" Our guide said that after this he could not judge anyone who was an informant because of that very question.
