Medical Group Exposes Torture in Greece and Chile
The topic of "Medical Group Exposes Torture in Greece and Chile" delves into the dark histories of state-sponsored torture during the military regimes in both countries during the 1970s. In Greece, following a military coup in 1967, a regime led by Colonel George Papadopoulos utilized systematic torture against political dissidents in an effort to maintain control, often justifying their actions as necessary to combat perceived communist threats. Similarly, after the 1973 coup in Chile by General Augusto Pinochet, widespread torture became a common method for interrogating political prisoners, with military tribunals often accepting confessions obtained through such means.
Both regimes were supported by the U.S. government, which viewed them as bulwarks against communism, complicating international efforts to address human rights violations. The involvement of a Danish medical group in the early 1970s played a crucial role in exposing these atrocities, as their respected status helped challenge the regimes' claims of isolated incidents and political bias. The findings of this group increased global awareness, contributing to the eventual decline of the military dictatorship in Greece and pressuring the Pinochet regime in Chile, although the latter did not see immediate changes in its torture practices. This topic highlights the critical intersection of medical ethics, human rights advocacy, and political resistance in contexts of severe oppression.
Medical Group Exposes Torture in Greece and Chile
Date 1974
A team of Danish medical experts helped to substantiate allegations of the widespread use of torture by military dictatorships in Greece and Chile. The medical group contributed to the process that eliminated torture as an accepted method of behavior in Greece and that limited the practice of torture in Chile.
Locale Denmark; Greece; Chile
Key Figures
Salvador Allende (1908-1973), president of Chile, 1970-1973Constantine II (b. 1940), king of Greece, r. 1964-1967, deposed in exile in 1973Richard M. Nixon (1913-1994), president of the United States, 1969-1974George Papadopoulos (1919-1999), leader of the 1967 coup in Greece who became the junta’s prime minister, 1967-1973Augusto Pinochet Ugarte (1915-2006), commander of the Chilean army and leader of the coup who became head of the armed forces and dictator of Chile, 1973-1990
Summary of Event
Although separated by thousands of miles and located in different hemispheres, the nations of Chile and Greece shared many common features in 1974. Both nations were ruled by brutal military regimes that had come to power by forcibly overthrowing constitutionally elected governments. Both nations’ military governments were supported by U.S. president Richard M. Nixon as bulwarks against communism. In addition, citizens in both countries were systematically subject to torture if they dared to voice any criticism of the military government or express any thought deemed “subversive.”
On the morning of April 21, 1967, the people of Greece awoke to discover that their elected government had been overthrown by a swift military coup led by Colonel George Papadopoulos. Using the excuse that a communist conspiracy to seize power was about to unfold, the new military dictatorship quickly attacked not only the communists but also all individuals who opposed their rule. Even King Constantine II, a confirmed anticommunist, was forced to flee Greece after falling out with the military junta under Papadopoulos. Resting on only a narrow base of support, the military quickly turned to fierce repression as the means to prolong its rule. In the more than seven years that the regime ruled Greece, torture was honed to a fine art.
In much the same manner, on September 11, 1973, the constitutionally elected Chilean government of Salvador Allende was ousted in a swift and violent military coup led by General Augusto Pinochet Ugarte. Claiming that Socialist president Allende’s Marxist program was a prelude to a communist revolution, the leaders of the coup ended a long-standing tradition of democratic government and nonintervention by the Chilean armed forces in political affairs. In the aftermath of the coup, thousands were killed and as many as forty thousand Chileans were arrested. Political parties, the Congress, trade unions, and any other organizations that opposed Pinochet were soon outlawed. To maintain his regime in the face of massive resistance, Pinochet’s government turned to torture as an accepted procedure during the interrogation of political prisoners.
Because neither the Greek nor the Chilean military government was subject to any type of democratic checks while both enjoyed the backing of President Nixon and the United States, it was extremely difficult to bring pressure on them to respect human rights. Utilizing twentieth century technology, the dictatorship in Greece developed torture into a sadistic art form euphemistically termed “scientific techniques of interrogation.” Rather than feeling embarrassment over such methods, the Greek regime let its methods become public knowledge, understanding that this alerted all potential members of the resistance to the fate that awaited them should they be arrested.
In many cases, individuals who merely mildly criticized the government were arrested, tortured, and released as a warning to others. Even assisting the families of political prisoners and deportees had to be done secretly, since so much as a financial donation to the wrong hungry family was a crime. The suppression of open opponents of the military was not surprising, but the fact that such minor infractions of the new order as owning a book written by Karl Marx or saying that Plato was a homosexual could land one in jail was a testament to the rigidity of the regime. Once in custody, political prisoners were subject to unspeakable cruelties designed to break their spirit and force them to implicate others.
In these circumstances, the job of attempting to make the Greek junta recognize human rights was extremely difficult. International pressure was dismissed as communist-orchestrated, and human rights violations were portrayed as exaggerations. When political prisoners with obvious injuries were produced by impartial investigations, the official response was inevitably the same: that the injuries had been suffered during the course of arrest when the accused resisted lawful authorities. Every documented case of torture that could not be factually disproved or blamed on the victim’s own resistance was dismissed as a rare exception.
In Chile, the Pinochet government had been established in an atmosphere of bitter social and political conflict that had resulted in an almost complete disregard for the rights of political prisoners. Not only was torture widespread, but confessions obtained by these methods were considered admissible evidence in trials held by military tribunals. Torture was more than merely an individual option for members of the armed forces dealing with supporters of the ousted Allende government. Among the most noted torturers were the intelligence services, which were responsible to Pinochet and the ruling junta alone.
Within days of the coup that brought the military to power, torture seemed to have become an official policy, a fact indicated by the uniformity of torture incidents reported by released political prisoners. Further, the International Red Cross noted a large number of military detention camps to which they were denied access in the first months after Allende’s overthrow.
At first, Chilean military officials denied that torture was taking place. Later, they claimed it occurred only in isolated incidents involving individual soldiers mainly at the time of arrest. Although local excesses on individual or local initiative did take place, it seems clear that there was a consistent policy of torture that was approved at the highest levels of the military command structure. As evidence of torture reached the outside world, the Chilean government sought to minimize these reports by arguing that the accusations were politically motivated.
Thus, in both Greece and Chile, a systematic program of torture was carried out by the military governments in power with little regard for outside condemnation. This made the task of helping the thousands of political prisoners in these nations extremely difficult. Amnesty International intervened in both situations with impartial commissions composed of internationally respected jurists and others. Given the cynicism of both military regimes when it came to human rights, this approach had less impact than desired.
To outside condemnations of human rights violations and denunciations of widespread torture, the response of both military dictatorships was strikingly similar. Both the Papadopoulos-controlled press in Greece and its counterpart in Pinochet’s Chile vigorously disputed the facts in every case in which political prisoners were said to be tortured. The two standard objections to charges of torture were that the accusers were politically motivated or that they had no medical expertise to determine whether injuries observed were the results of accidents or deliberate mistreatment.
It was at this point, in the spring of 1974, that a Danish medical group was organized that helped to increase the pressure on both regimes. The composition of the team answered both the major objections that had been raised to past investigations. The Danish medical group was composed of a number of highly respected medical personnel, which made it impossible for either the Greek junta or Pinochet’s dictatorship to argue credibly that the inspectors did not know the difference between a fall and a beating. In addition, the impartiality and moral integrity of the individuals made charges of political bias difficult to sell.
Significance
As part of long international campaigns to expose the torture policies of both the Greek and Chilean governments, the Danish medical group played a vital role. After public hearings in the parliament building in Copenhagen, world public opinion shifted to a more widespread awareness that what was happening in Greece and Chile was not a few minor infractions of human rights. Rather, it was revealed that systematic torture was being utilized as a matter of governmental policy in both dictatorships.
The impact of these findings was most clearly felt in Greece. The military government in Athens, although unconcerned about human rights, was sensitive to its increasing isolation from the rest of Europe. This was particularly a problem for the Greek dictatorship, as ongoing tensions with neighboring Turkey made European acceptance a practical matter of concern.
In addition, the Danish medical findings struck a chord with the increasingly discontented Greek population. The large number of Danish tourists who traditionally vacationed in Greece increased the findings’ importance. Tourists stayed away in significant numbers or voiced their objections to the Greek government privately during their visits. The fact that King Constantine’s wife was a Danish princess made it difficult for the Greek junta to paint outspoken Danes as “tools of Moscow.” The Danish medical group thus contributed to the process that ended the military dictatorship in Greece in the summer of 1974 and eliminated torture as an accepted method of behavior there.
In Chile, the results were not so immediately dramatic. All the same, the Danish investigations played a vital part in isolating the Pinochet regime from Europe. Because the late president Salvador Allende had been a leader of the Socialist Party who governed with the support of the Chilean communists, many conservative Europeans had at first greeted reports of torture with skepticism.
Many international campaigns were organized by European communist parties to gain freedom for political prisoners in Chile. Although these efforts played a vital part in raising awareness among the general public, the participation of the left strengthened conservative suspicions. These doubts were eroded greatly when the evidence compiled by the Danish medical group began to bolster the findings of politically neutral Amnesty International.
Although torture was not ended in Chile, a certain restraint appeared to have developed as a result of the exposé. The military dictatorship in Chile realized the damage these revelations were doing to the government’s image and attempted to limit the use of torture to specific cases.
Bibliography
Amnesty International. Chile: An Amnesty International Report. London: Author, 1974. A clear, concise documentation of the human rights violations taking place in Chile in the first months after the overthrow of Allende. Without reference features.
Clogg, Richard, and George Yannopoulos, eds. Greece Under Military Rule. New York: Basic Books, 1972. A collection of essays on topics ranging from politics to culture, this work is highly recommended even though it was compiled two years before the Greek junta fell. Offers reference notes, bibliography, and index.
Kaloudis, George Stergiou. Modern Greek Democracy: The End of a Long Journey? Lanham, Md.: University Press of America, 2000. Comprehensive analysis of the military regimes in power from 1967 to 1974.
O’Shaughnessy, Hugh. Pinochet: The Politics of Torture. New York: New York University Press, 2000. Fascinating account of the disturbing Pinochet regime. Index.
Uribe, Armando. The Black Book of American Intervention in Chile. Boston: Beacon Press, 1975. Written by a former member of the Allende government, this work details the involvement of the United States in the destruction of democracy in Chile. Includes reference notes and an index.
Valenzuela, J. Samuel, and Arturo Valenzuela. Military Rule in Chile. Baltimore: The Johns Hopkins University Press, 1986. This collection of essays covers a wide range of important areas and is useful for anyone interested in the Pinochet dictatorship. Offers reference notes and an index.
Verdugo, Patricia. Chile, Pinochet, and the Caravan of Death. Translated by Marcelo Montecino. Coral Gables, Fla.: North-South Center Press, 2001. Written by a journalist whose father was murdered by the Pinochet regime, this is a highly readable, well-researched book about the atrocities that occurred under Pinochet.