The Inferno: A Story of Terror and Survival in Chile

by Luz Arce, Stacy Alba Skar

Overview

As a member of Salvador Allende's Personal Guards (GAP), Luz Arce worked with leaders of the Socialist Party during the Popular Unity Government from 1971 to1973. In the months following the coup, Arce served as a militant with others from the Left who opposed the military junta led by Augusto Pinochet, which controlled the country from 1973 to1990. Along with thousands of others in Chile, Arce was detained and tortured by Chile's military intelligence service, the DINA, in their attempt to eliminate alternative voices and ideologies in the country. Arce's testimonial offers the harrowing story of the abuse she suffered and witnessed as a survivor of detention camps, such as the infamous Villa Grimaldi.
But when faced with threats made to her family, including her young son, and with the possibility that she could be murdered as thousands of others had been, Arce began to collaborate with the Chilean military in their repression of national resistance groups and outlawed political parties. Her testimonial thus also offers a unique perspective from within the repressive structures as she tells of her work as a DINA agent whose identifications even lead to the capture of some of her former friends and compañeros.
During Chile's return to democracy in the early 1990s, Arce experienced two fundamental changes in her life that led to the writing of her story. The first was a deep spiritual renewal through her contacts with the Catholic Church whose Vicariate of Solidarity had fought for human rights in the country during the dictatorship. The second was her decision to participate within the legal system to identify and bring to justice those members of the military who were responsible for the crimes committed from 1973 to1990. Luz Arce's book invites readers to rethink the definition of testimonial narrative in Latin America through the unique perspective of a survivor-witness-confessor.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780299195540
Publisher:	University of Wisconsin Press
Publication date:	06/30/2004
Series:	Living in Latin America
Edition description:	1
Pages:	402
Sales rank:	696,599
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 9.00(h) x 1.10(d)

About the Author

Luz Arce is a freelance writer living in Santiago, Chile.

Table of Contents

	A Note on This Translation	xi
	Acknowledgments	xiii
	Prologue	xv
	Preliminary Thoughts	xix
Part 1
1.
	Early Experiences	3
	In the GAP (Group of Personal Friends of the President)	5
	Socialist Militant	8
	GEA (Special Support Groups)	10
2.
	September 11, 1973	15
3.
	Clandestine Life	24
	A Personal Choice	25
	Contact on Italia Avenue	28
	Party Work	29
	Ricardo Ruz Zanartu	32
4.
	At the Yucatan Detention Center	35
5.
	Tejas Verdes	41
6.
	Military Hospital (Hosmil)	47
	Other Prisoners at the Hosmil	52
	Conversation with the Assistant Director	55
	The Chaplain and the Eucharist	57
7.
	Nightmare in the Bathroom	59
	Rodolfo, Air Force Soldier	61
	End of the First Detention	63
8.
	Freedom under Surveillance	65
9.
	Second Detention	73
	My Grandfather	76
	Private Rodolfo Under Interrogation	82
	In the Tower at Villa Grimaldi	85
10.
	Back to the Yucatan Detention Center	89
	Ricardo Lawrence Mires	92
	Collaboration	95
	Further and Further	105
11.
	Nightmares	107
	Marcelo Moren Brito	110
	At the Yucatan Detention Center Again	112
	A Companero from the Party	113
	Mario Aguilera Salazar	114
12.
	Another Detention Center	117
	You Are Luz, I Will Be Sombra	119
	Osvaldo Romo	124
	Cuatro Alamos	128
	The Unborn One	129
Part 2
13.
	Ollague Detention Center	133
14.
	Traitor and Whore	142
	Palmira Almuna Guzman, "Pepa"	146
	Lieutenant "Pablo"	147
15.
	My Lung Infection and My Last Meeting with My Brother	151
	Thoughts at Ollague	152
	Hunger for Bread	154
	Seeing My Family	154
	Female Personnel at Ollague	155
16.
	Lumi Videla Moya	158
	Sergio Perez Molina	164
17.
	The Day Miguel Died	166
	Alejandra's Suicide Attempt	168
	Captain Ferrer, Alias "Max Lenou"	169
18.
	The Terranova/Villa Nova Grimaldi Detention Center	173
	Another Christmas Present	176
	Christmas 1974	177
	New Year's Eve at Terranova	178
	Investigation	183
19.
	My Son and Family Court	185
	Creating the Vampiro Group	186
	Rolf Wenderoth Pozo	187
20.
	A Companero: "Joel"	195
	Bill Beausire Alonso	196
	Hugo Martinez, Alias "Tano"	197
	The Eight from Valparaiso	199
	Lautaro Videla's Arrest	201
	Marcelo Moren Brito's Nephew	202
	The Press Conference	202
	The Little House Next to the Tower	203
21.
	Major Wenderoth's Trip	204
	General Bonilla's Death	206
	Alfredo Rojas's Arrest	207
	Delia	208
	Ariel Mancilla	210
	Pedro Espinoza's Trip	210
22.
	The Cigarette Case	212
	Leonardo Schneider, Alias "El Barba"	217
23.
	DINA Employee	219
	"Marcos's" Escape	220
	The Arrests of Ricardo Lagos, Exequiel Ponce, and Carlos Lorca Tobar	221
	At the San Borja Towers	222
	The 119	223
	An Incident with Fuentes Morrison	224
	Battle on Malloco Street	225
24.
	Christmas at Terranova	229
	Patricio	230
	Hasbun and Contreras	234
	Testimony before the United Nations	234
25.
	Analyst at the Department of Intelligence	236
	Edgardo Enriquez Espinoza	238
	OAS Meeting in Chile	239
	Carmelo Soria	240
	The DINA behind Criminal Acts	240
	My Son's Visit with His Father	241
26.
	National Intelligence School	244
27.
	After the National Intelligence School	253
	"Chaty," Army Second Lieutenant	254
	Uruguayan Identity	255
	Change from the DINA to the CNI	257
28.
	Colonel Contreras	259
29.
	Contreras's Promotion to General	264
	Contreras Is Replaced	267
	Michael Townley	269
	Farewell Reception at the General's House	270
	Incident with Colonel Pantoja	272
	Rolf Wenderoth's Resignation	273
	Interval in San Antonio	275
30.
	The CNI Investigates the DINA	277
	Another Meeting with Pantoja	278
	Colonel Suau	279
	The Trial and the Incident with Colonel Concha	281
Part 3
31.
	In the CNI's Computer Unit	287
	Peace and Instability	289
	Letter of Resignation	294
	Fragments of an Identity	297
32.
	Operation Celeste	300
	An Incident at the Munchen Restaurant	303
	Dolly's Place	304
	Visitors from Chile	307
	Trip to Santiago	310
	Back to Montevideo	311
	Return to Chile	313
	Ricardo Ruz's Death	314
33.
	Meeting Juan Manuel	316
	In Hiding Again	319
	Pain and Happiness in My Family	319
	Conversion and Father Gerardo	321
	Father Jose Luis	324
34.
	Declaration before the National Truth and Reconciliation Commission	326
	Carlos Fresno	330
	Meeting with Erika and Viviana	332
35.
	In Europe	336
	Above All a Christian	337
	On Hatred and Reencounters	338
	Gloria Olivares	340
	The Chilean Bureau of Investigation	341
36.
	In the Courts	343
	Encounter with Rolf Wenderoth Pozo	344
	Encounters with Gerardo Urrich and Manuel Carevic	346
	Basclay Zapata, Alias "El Troglo"	348
	Fernando Lauriani	350
37.
	Miguel Krassnoff Martchenko	354
	Face-to-Face with Marcelo Moren Brito	355
	Encounter with Ricardo Lawrence Mires	357
	Other Court Proceedings	358
38.
	Maria Alicia, Alias "Carola," Alejandra, and Luz	360
	Dobra Lusic Nadal	363
	"I Did Not Do This for Me Alone"	364
	From Slavery to Freedom	365
	How Can I Hate Someone Who Could Someday Be My Brother?	366
39.
	The Iron Fist	371
	Index	373

Editorial Reviews

"Powerful reading. . . . A devastating book . . . [which] itself became part of an important controversy within Chile at the time of its appearance, about whether former leftists and secret police collaborators should be welcomed or rejected in society, and by whom."--Steve Stern, author of Peru's Indian Peoples and the Challenge of Spanish Conquest

"The Inferno is a searing and haunting memoir of one woman's journey through the hell of Pinochet's torture chambers and secret police."--Peter Winn, Tufts University

"Arce's testimony . . . draws from her direct proximity to and experiences of the machinery of violent death."--Patrick Timmons, Latin American Research Review

From the Publisher