The Pinochet Era

The government of Chile admits that it used torture against political opponents and violated human rights after the coup that ousted Allende and brought military dictatorship under Pinochet.

[T]he National Commission on Political Imprisonment and Torture appointed by Chilean President Ricardo Lagos found that 94 percent of the people detained in the aftermath of the coup reported having been tortured. One of the most common methods of torture, reported in more than a third of the cases, was the application of electrical shocks.

Of the 3,400 women who testified, nearly all said that they had suffered sexual torture. More than 300 said that they were raped, including 11 who were pregnant when detained. Many of these women said they had never reported their experiences before.

The worst period of torture was immediately after the military coup in September 1973. ...

Another 5,266 people were tortured from January 1974 until August 1977, a period during which secret military intelligence agencies ... took over the repression of left-wing dissidents from other military units.

Latin America, 20th Century