The Pinochet Project
The Pinochet Project: A Nation’s Search for Truth. The stories featured on this page are the products of a year-long investigation into what it means to live in a post-dictatorship society. I set out to write a thesis, which I did, but the stories were so compelling that I had to supplement the academic analysis with some human voices. Click the headline above to read more about the project.
The Open Wound: “Memoria como una ruptura”
Luis Navarro, the “Photographer of the Dead,” is one of Chile’s most well-known human rights photographers. He made his name by documenting the human rights abuses perpetrated by the State under General Pinochet. His was one of the most poignant stories I encountered. Although a celebrated photographer, Luis is tortured by his memories and unfulfilled dream of being known as an artist who created beauty in his lifetime, rather than a photojournalist who documented death. See “The Open Wound” to read the full story of Luis’s life and his role in fighting back against the dictatorship during the 1970s, 80s, and 90s.
A Controversial Columnist: “Memoria como salvación”
Published in La Nación, 2009
Hermogenes Perez de Soto. Radical and right-wing in a disarmingly cultured and charming way, de Soto was perhaps the most entertaining character I had the opportunity to interview. He represents a minority of conservative Pinochet-supporters who continue to voice their opinions in Chile and discount the victims of human rights violations. This controversial columnist is one of the most debated, revered, and loathed voices in Chile. Memory as Salvation is the story of those who supported Pinochet during his regime.
Other articles included produced during the course of the project both in and out of Chile:
The National Stadium: Una Memoria Nacional
Amnesty International Chile: Human Rights in Chile Today
The Santiago Times-Reporting on Memory
A Day at Chile’s National Military Academy
Museum of Memory and Human Rights
