BY ROBYN MARSHALL
VILLA GRIMALDI, Santiago — Until the end of the 1980s, Villa Grimaldi was the centre of detention and torture of Chilean citizens during the US-backed dictatorship of General Augusto Pinochet, who seized power on September 11, 1973, in a bloody coup. Many of Chile's "disappeared" political prisoners died here.
Operated by the hated Chilean secret police, the Directorate of National Intelligence (DINA), some 4500 people were detained and tortured here; information gained was responsible for the assassination or disappearance of at least 226 people.
After of long campaign by supporters of the victims of the Pinochet regime, friends and relatives of the disappeared were granted funds at the beginning of the 1990s by the new Chilean government to restore the site to commemorate its victims, to transform it from a symbol of pain into a place of peace and hope. On March 24, 1997, the Park of Peace was inaugurated.
Villa Grimaldi is situated on the edge of Santiago city, in once beautiful countryside. We visited Villa Grimaldi, the Park of Peace, and were greeted by several women, who voluntarily staff the administrative office to keep alive the history of the site and memory of the suffering of friends and relatives, who died in the fight for a better society. Friends of the Park have planted trees and rebuilt the fountains so that one can sit and meditate, as well as remember those now absent.
Villa Grimaldi has a long history in the life of Chile's intellectual and political activists. The land, originally owned by Juan Egana and his family, was the meeting place for the Creole intellectuals, who established the ideological base for the struggle for independence from Spain. New artistic, educational, scientific and political ideas were debated in heated discussions here.
From 1892, the land belonged to the family of Jose Arrieta. The cultural tradition was continued with meetings of music and literature that lasted until 1940, when the land was sold to Emilio Vasallo, who turned the house into a restaurant. Vasallo was instrumental in encouraging the tradition of it being a meeting place for intellectuals and artists. The restaurant's grounds had many beautiful plants, statues, fountains and mosaics to make it appear like an Italian villa, hence the name Villa Grimaldi.
In September 1973, the vista was transformed by the arrival of military vehicles and army personnel. The Commando of Army Telecommunications was situated a little distance from the villa. Here, Pinochet had his quarters, from where he directed the bloody crushing of Chilean democracy from a safe, secure and pleasant site.
At the end of 1973, Vasallo was forced to handover the property to DINA, or his daughter would be tortured. From December 1 that year, Villa Grimaldi was the secret centre of detention and torture. The secret police thought it was clever to convert this place, once the centre of intellectual and artistic life, into the place where Chile's best, bravest and most committed intellectuals were destroyed.
Villa Grimaldi stands in stark contrast to the Santiago footfall stadium — made famous in the Hollywood movie Missing — where more than 3000 people were held prisoner and tortured, in the first days of the coup. The stadium was where military torturers broke all the fingers of guitarist and singer Victor Jara, later murdering him. There is not one memento or tiny plaque there to commemorate that horrendous slaughter. It is as if nothing ever happened.
At Villa Grimaldi, we were shown a tree from which one of the soldiers, who felt sorry for the Chileans he held prisoner, was hanged as an example to the rest of the soldiers. There is a fountain at the spot where prisoners were beaten, paving stones where prisoners were held in cells and a wall of names of the 226 who were executed.
A wooden tower, where prisoners were also beaten and tortured, has been rebuilt. Victims were hidden in a small space under the floor inside the tower when representatives from the International Red Cross or human rights organisations came to visit. It was barely 1 metre high. The original wooden tower was burned down by DINA. In addition, the swimming pool in which prisoners were also hidden, under a canvas cloth, has also been preserved.
The Villa Grimaldi Park for Peace Corporation is fighting a lawsuit against the government to gain ownership of the park, as it was originally stolen from its owners by DINA.
September 11 will mark the 30th anniversary the overthrow of the democratically elected left-wing president Salvador Allende in a CIA-backed coup. Today, the victims of that atrocity are still demonstrating outside the presidential palace to demand reparations and compensation for their suffering.
The present government of Chile may be content to obliterate the past, but the people of Santiago won't let this happen.
To contact the women and men at Villa Grimaldi, or to enquire how to donate to the campaign to regain ownership of Villa Grimaldi, email <villagrimaldi@hotmail.com>.
From Green Left Weekly, July 30, 2003.
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