Torture ship visits Sydney

On June 16, a group of human rights campaigners and former political prisoners in Chile rallied at the Cowper Wharf in Woolloomooloo to protest the arrival of the Chilean Navy training ship Esmeralda. The ship served as a floating torture prison for political prisoners under General Augusto Pinochet's 1973-90 military regime.

In a June 16 media release, spokesperson for Memoria Viva (Living Memory) Sydney Marta Olea said, "At times, more than 100 people were kept on board, subjected to hideous treatment — beatings, water boarding, electrocution, mock execution, and rape. Their crime was opposition to the regime.

"Chile's contempt for human rights and international law remain obvious while the crimes committed on the Esmeralda and throughout Chile's dictatorship go unpunished."

For more information, visit <http://www.chile-esmeralda.com>.

From GLW issue 714