Counter Memory in Chile's Atacama Desert(1973-Present)
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Stargazing on the Road to Oblivion?: Counter Memory in Chile’s Atacama Desert(1973-Present) University of Amsterdam MA Heritage and Memory Studies Thesis by Sara Helin-Long Supervisor: Rob van der Laarse Second Reader: Ihab Saloul Submission Date: 18-03-2019 Introduction 1 Historical Framework 5 1988 Plebiscite 5 Alexander Wilde’s Irruptions of Memory 6 The “Reconciliation President": Aylwin’s Official Responses 7 Eduardo Frei Ruiz-Tagle(1994-2000) and the 1998 Arrest of Augusto Pinochet 11 The official Story 12 Calama. 14 Chapter 1: Why Calama? The ‘Extra’ Factors 17 Actions of the Caravan of Death in Calama 17 A Precedent of Terror: The Resumes of the Caravan of Death 19 The Desert that Made Chile 22 Chapter 2: The Women of Calama 25 Between Two Silences: Military Obscuration and the Natural Landscape 25 Terrorscape 29 Political Woman 31 Archaeology as ‘Memory Activism’: Building a Counter Memory 34 Chapter 3: Patricio Guzmán’s Nostalgia for the Light 40 Visual Analysis 42 Narrative Analysis 46 Projection onto the Social Body of Chile and Re-imagination of the Official Story 47 Chapter 4: Constellation for the Fallen 50 The Campaign for the Constellation of the Fallen 51 Physical Commemoration and Memorializations 53 Aesthetics 55 Memory and Heritage: Localized Memory and the Official Story 56 Conclusion 59 Appendixes 64 Images 67 Bibliography 71 Position as a Research In 2015, I took a class called ‘Dirty Wars/Memory Wars in Chile and Argentina’. The reading and viewing assignments consisted of The House of the Spirits by Isabel Allende, An Open Secret by Carlos Gamerro and Ian Barnett, Salt in the Sand by Lessie Jo Frazier and Nostalgia for the Light directed by Patricio Guzmán. This class was my first extensive introduction to the dictatorship of Augusto Pinochet and the first time I learned about the history of the Women of Calama(through Guzmán’s film). Since then, the history of Chile has captured my attention and my academic work has largely focused on Chile—including my undergraduate thesis— and the artistic works produced after the end of the military dictatorship including novels, films, poetry and memory projects. Nostalgia for the Light sparked this interest, in part, because of reasons which become prominent throughout this thesis: the beauty and allure of the desert landscape. I have undoubtedly become attached to Chile and specifically to the case of Calama. Undoubtedly, they have greatly affected me and have influenced my academic career but nevertheless, I maintain a neutral position in this research. “Podrán cortar todas las flores, pero no podrán detener la primavera” - Pablo Neruda Introduction On September 11, 1973 in Santiago, Chile, the Chilean military staged a coup d’etat—supported by the U.S. government—resulting in the death of the democratically elected president, Salvador Allende(1970-73) and the dictatorship of Augusto Pinochet(1973-90). In the capital city of Santiago, there was an immediate and outright display of power and repression from the military. Military actions included bombing La Moneda,—which houses the Chilean government and where Salvador Allende gave his final address— the implementation of a curfew, a high presence of military officials and the detention of thousands of prisoners in sports stadiums, including musician Victor Jara who was killed on September 16, 1973. In order to solidify the power of and compliance to Pinochet, the military needed to demonstrate similar force in the remainder of the large, long country. On September 30, 1973, a few weeks after the initial assault in Santiago, Pinochet created a death squad appropriately named La Caravana de la Muerte[The Caravan of Death] which exclusively functioned outside of the capital city. On the premise of expediting the trials of political prisoners—whose arrests were solely based on the crime of direct or perceived association with the Allende presidency—the Caravan visited three provincial towns in the northern-located Atacama desert(Copiapó, Antofagasta, Calama), one in the northern-region of Coquimbo(La Serena) and one in the southern-region of Maule(Caquenes).1No trials were held. The political prisoners were instead taken into isolated locations, such as the Atacama desert, brutally executed, remains concealed and information about their whereabouts and well-being silenced thereby assigning them the designation of detenido-desaparecido[detained- disappeared]. The Caravan’s route of terror which stopped at the five aforementioned towns resulted in the death of 75 people over the course of 21 days(Appendix 1).2 The Caravan’s 14 members, led by General Sergio Arellano Stark, had two objectives: strike fear into the hearts of the civilian 1 Patricio Verdugo. Los zarpazos del puma. 1989, p. 13. 2 Patricia Verdugo. Pruebas a la vista: La Caravana de la muerte. 2000, p. 2. !1 of !74 population and instill a ‘hard line’ of ruthlessness into the military.3 To realize these goals, its 14 members did not hesitate to massacre and disappear defenseless political prisoners. As a result of the Caravan’s terror-instilling actions, Pinochet assured compliance to his new hardline politics and clearly conveyed the message that coexistence with the oppositional, left political parties would not be tolerated.4 The focus of this thesis is the death squad’s final stop, Calama, the 26 executed men and their female relatives— that would come to be known as Las Mujeres de Calama[The Women of Calama]— who immediately after the men’s disappearance began searching the Atacama desert for information about their whereabouts and eventually, searched for their remains, as well.5 The case of Calama and its inspired productions of memory, including Patricio Guzmán’s documentary film Nostalgia for the Light, Paula Allen photo-documentary project Flowers in the Desert and physical memorializations have been evaluated in parts but have not yet been assessed together in one text. My hope in addressing and analyzing multiple aspects of this case, the historical significance and the artistic memory works, is to demonstrate how one subversive, localized act of counter memory— the Women of Calama searching in the desert landscape— ensured that the memory of the 26 victims of Calama and the agents of terror—the brutal actions of the death squad and the military dictatorship— are not lost within the silences of Chile’s official story of the dictatorship. In this analysis, location is crucial because the landscape where the massacre occurred naturally facilitates silence and oblivion due to its topographical characteristics— immensity, monochromatic terrain and beauty— therefore complicating its ability to facilitate remembrance or commemoration of what took place within its boundaries. 3 Verdugo; 2000, 5. 4 Jorge Escalante. La misión era matar: El juicio a la caravana Pinochet-Arellano. 2000. 5 There are discrepancies surrounding which towns were targeted by the Caravan of Death and subsequently on the number of people massacred. Variations on the information include an increased number of victims in the south to a total of 26(from 4) in the towns of Rancagua, Curicó, Talca, Linares, Concepción, Temuco, Valdivia, Puerto Montt and Caquenes. The increased number is most likely due to time of publication and the emergence of new data however the reason for discrepancy is not clearly evident. I use the information found in the texts of Patricia Verdugo(Los zarpazos del puma and La Caravana de la muerte). !2 of !74 The vast, barren, isolated and yet beautiful landscape of the Atacama desert, however, is not merely an environment which witnessed the massacre of 56 people by the Caravan of Death(in the towns of Copiapó, Antofagasta and Calama) or a facilitator of silence but also provides an enchanting physical background and narrative setting for the actions of the Women of Calama and the subsequent related memory works. Moreover, the desert is of great social, historical and political importance to Chile therefore it will become an active character in the following analysis. Through the actions of the Women, the case of Calama not only overcame its susceptibility to oblivion but also revealed gaps in the official narratives of the dictatorship which resulted in a re-imagination of the official story to include the 26 men, the Women of Calama themselves and the brutalities committed by the dictatorship. In regard to academic research, my initial interest in the case of Calama centered around my belief that it provided an example of how physical commemoration can signal successful incorporation of a countermemory into official memoryscapes. This notion was strengthened by Atacama desert’s tendency toward oblivion. In Brian S. Osborne’s Landscapes, Memory, Monuments and Commemoration:Putting Identity in its Place, the author articulates the capability of monuments to “focus attention on specific places and events and are central to this endeavor of constructing symbolic landscape of power”.6 Without dismissing the importance of monuments, throughout the following analysis I will propose that the construction of physical monuments to the 26 men in the desert landscape is not what brought attention to this case or the site. Rather, the Women of Calama and the landscape itself withstood the outward forces of oblivion and facilitated new productions of memory in the Atacama desert. In combination, the Women of Calama and the Atacama desert make it possible to re-imagine the official story of Pinochet’s dictatorship to include the ‘other’ story: those harmed, brutalized, murdered, and disappeared during the dictatorship. Additionally, I have specifically chosen Calama as the case study because of its association with the Caravan of Death whose repressive and brutal actions against Pinochet’s political opposition set an incredible precedent of terror and established Pinochet’s power throughout his 17-year long dictatorship. This thesis hopes to expand upon the 6 Brian S.