Government has recovered and handed over 20 Memorial Sites

The recovery of memorial sites is one of the important tasks that the Government and National Assets Ministry have carried out alongside victim groups and the relatives of those who suffered human rights violations during the civil-military dictatorship in Chile.

The aim of these sites is not only to rescue historical memory, but also to repair and contribute to future generations building a much healthier democracy.

In this sense, since 2022 we have recovered and delivered 20 Memorial Sites to different groups. We also continue to make progress towards handing over the Irán 3037 Memorial Site (former Venda Sexy) to the Asociación de Memoria y Derechos Humanos Venda Sexy (Venda Sexy Memory and Human Rights Association).

The former Rocas Detention and Torture Center in Santo Domingo in the Valparaíso Region has already been handed over to the Fundación por la Memoria San Antonio (San Antonio Memory Foundation) via a provisional occupation permit.

In Santiago, the former Santa Lucía Clinic has already been granted a short-term concession to the Asociación Sitio de Memoria Ex Clínica Santa Lucía (Former Santa Lucía Clinic Memorial Site Association), and in Valdivia the concession for free short-term use of the former Isla Teja Prison Memorial Site will soon be granted to the Former Political Prisoners of Valdivia group.

Details of Memorial Sites administered by the Government

Irán 3037, former Venda Sexy

The facility operated between June 1974 and March 1975, with operations concentrated between August and October 1974. Actions there focused on the arrest of university students from the Movimiento de Izquierda Revolucionario (Revolutionary Left Movement, MIR) and the Partido Socialista (Socialist Party). It was a detention center where detainees were brought to later be murdered and/or disappeared. Agents pushed the capacity to punish and inflict harm to the limit, and carried out various types of sexual torture. The National Assets Ministry completed the expropriation of the property with support from Housing and Urban Services (SERVIU). The ministry has provided permanent security at the building, and also undertaken the repair of some of its facilities to ensure the responsible handover of the memorial site, which is planned for late 2024.

Hornos de Lonquén (Ovens of Lonquén)

Following an anonymous complaint to the Vicariate of Solidarity, on November 30, 1978, the first discovery of missing detainees from the civil-military dictatorship in Chile was made at Hornos de Lonquén (Ovens of Lonquén). The remains of 15 rural workers who were executed on October 8, 1973, were discovered there. The site where the ovens were located was declared a historical site and acquired by the National Assets Ministry in 2004. Management of the site will be handed over to the Corporación Hornos de Lonquén (Hornos de Lonquén Corporation) in the coming months.

Colonia Dignidad

A symbol of human rights violations in Chile. The former German enclave led by Paul Schäfer is a site where children suffered all kinds of abuse. During the dictatorship it was a place where opponents of the regime were tortured and disappeared. A joint commission is currently working to rescue the place, in order to develop it as a memorial site. The commission, which was operating before the current administration took office, was given a new lease of life by our government, resuming sessions in 2023. The joint commission has worked on rescuing the former colony as a memorial site. Chile is represented on the commission by the Foreign Affairs, Justice, Culture and National Assets ministries.

Fosa de Pisagua (Pisagua Grave)

Due to its geographical location, this isolated costal town surrounded by desert fulfilled the strategic goal of hiding the horrors that took place there. On September 18, 1973, the first 50 prisoners from Valparaíso disembarked from the Maipo merchant ship. During the military dictatorship, Pisagua harbored more than 800 prisoners, 24 of whom were executed and buried illegally, without their families being informed of their fate. The National Assets Ministry has taken over its administration, which was in the hands of the Municipality of Huara, and is receiving requests for concessions from human rights organizations.

Former Isla Teja Prison

This prison, located on Isla Teja, housed the largest number of political prisoners in the Los Ríos Region between the 1973 coup d'etat and 1989. Testimonies indicate that the prison was a new building opened in 1973, where men and women were kept separate. During their time in the facility, political prisoners were not allowed to see their families or to work. This situation changed over time, with visits later being permitted on Saturdays and the opportunity to work in a carpentry shop. Following emergency works to repair the site, the concession for free short-term use of the former Isla Teja Prison Memorial Site will soon be granted to the Former Political Prisoners of Valdivia group.

Rocas de Santo Domingo

Adjacent to the wetlands located at the southern mouth of the Maipo River is the former Rocas de Santo Domingo detention center. Inside the facility, however, only the ruins of a holiday complex remain, which included cabins, dining rooms, bathrooms and washrooms. After the military coup, the compound was used by the Chilean secret police (DINA) as a concentration camp and training space for its clandestine agents. The former Rocas de Santo Domingo Detention and Torture Center has already been granted a provisional use permit for the Fundación por la Memoria San Antonio (San Antonio Memory Foundation).

Former Santa Lucía Clinic

Before the coup, this house was the regional headquarters of the Movimiento de Acción Popular Unitaria (Popular Unitary Action Movement, MAPU). Following the overthrow of President Salvador Allende's government, the house was raided, expropriated and then renamed by the DINA as the "Santa Lucía Clinic", a space that actually housed a clandestine medical center to prolong the lives of kidnapped and tortured people. After carrying out emergency works, it was transferred to the Asociación Sitio de Memoria Ex Clínica Santa Lucía (Former Santa Lucía Clinic Memorial Site Association).

House of Human Rights, Colón 636, Punta Arenas

A building used as a torture facility, also known as the Beaulier Residence, it has had various uses throughout its history. It was the residence of the architect Antonio Beaulier Bourbois until 1946, headquarters of the Red Cross between 1950 and 1954, a temporary naval hospital, a torture center and headquarters of the Military Intelligence Service (SIM) from 1973 to 1976. It is currently a House of Human Rights. It became a National Monument in late 2015 as a record of the human rights violations committed in the region. Then in February 2020, it was set on fire, an event that exposed the level of denial that exists in Chile. The National Assets Ministry is currently working on an emergency plan to prevent further deterioration, together with other ministries.