The Case of Pinochet

National Truth and Reconciliation Commission:

The Justice Ministry's decree--"to clarify the whole truth on the most serious violations of human rights"--created the eight-member Commission headed by attorney Raul Rettig and immediately sparked apprehension within the Armed Forces and their supporters. Altogether the Commission had collected, after accounting for duplication and errors, more than 3,400 cases to investigate. Its case-by-case catalogue of human rights violations, political analysis of the circumstances that resulted in those crimes, as well as recommendations for safeguarding human rights in the future are contained in the three-volume, 2,000-page document, which has come to be known as the Rettig Report.

At least 2,025 persons, the report found, suffered serious human rights violations resulting in death at the hands of agents of the state. Of these deaths, 957 correspond to disappearances. The Commission also found that another 90 persons were killed by civilians for political motives, and 164 more had died as a result of "political violence." That the latter category included military personnel was much disputed by human rights advocates who adhere to the traditional definition of human rights as safeguarded by the state and violated only by agents of the state.

To view the Government’s 1991 Report, click http://www.derechoschile.com/english/resour.htm

For analysis of the Chilean National Commission on Truth and Reconciliation, see Cynthia Brown's Report of the Chilean National Commission on Truth and Reconciliation, 90 AMJIL 182.