Chile: Face History Honestly : Democracy demands investigation and punishment in military’s crimes

In the 17 years of Gen. Augusto Pinochet’s dictatorship, many Chileans were killed or disappeared after being detained by the military government’s security forces. There never has been an open inquiry into those disturbing events; until Chile’s people know the truth there is no assurance such atrocities won’t happen again.

More than 1,000 disappearances have been documented between 1973 and at least 1990. Victims’ families justly demand an investigation to fix responsibility, and then punishment for the guilty.

However, in fairness it should be noted that President Patricio Aylwin--whose democratically elected civilian government came into power in 1990--must walk a political tightrope in confronting this issue. A Christian Democrat who opposed the Pinochet regime, Aylwin may be personally inclined to answer the hard questions asked by the relatives, human rights groups and left-wing parties. But at the same time he must appease the military and Pinochet, who remains influential in military circles, and their right-wing supporters. And Aylwin must assure public opinion that justice can be done without reopening old wounds and deepening political divisions as December’s elections approach.

Because he is aware that leaning too heavily on the military isn’t wise, Aylwin has proposed to form a commission of government and military representatives to study the cases of those missing. That is fine as long as the commission does not serve as a pretext to let the army off the hook. The Chilean armed forces must be on notice that they now answer to the civilian authorities elected by the people. Chileans will not be able to move forward with their revived democracy without facing their history honestly and directly.