The Case of Pinochet

 
"How can the repressors and the repressed live in the same country, sit at the same table? How can a country, traumatized by fear be healed, if that same fear continues doing its silent work? And how do we get to the truth if we have got used to lying? Can we keep the past alive without becoming its prisoners? And can we forget that past without it happening again in the future? Is it legitimate to sacrifice the truth to ensure peace? And what are the consequences for the community if it represses the voices of the past? Is it possible for a people to seek justice and equality if they live under the constant threat of military intervention? Given all this, how can we avoid violence? And in what sense are we all responsible for the suffering of others, of the great errors which led us to such a terrible confrontation? And, maybe the greatest dilemma of all: how can we confront all these questions without destroying national consensus, the basis for any democratic stability?"

Ariel Dorfman
Excerpt from La Muerte y la Doncella
LOM Ediciones, 1997

 

"'Neither Forget... Nor Forgive’

is the sacred scream that now unites the people of Latin America”

http://www.derechos.org/nizkor/impu/eng.htm