Chilean naval ship used as torture centre docks in Wellington
Chilean naval ship used as torture centre docks in Wellington
The Esmeralda is on a six month training exercise around the Pacific. Source: 1 NEWS
TUE, JUL 9
A Chilean naval ship used as a torture centre under Augusto Pinochet’s military dictatorship has docked in Wellington Harbour.
The Esmeralda is on a six month training exercise around the pacific and Wellington is the first stop.
The four-masted ship regularly tours the world and is often targeted by protestors.
In 2004, Chile’s navy admitted torture took place on board soon after the military coup in 1973.
https://www.tvnz.co.nz/one-news/world/chilean-naval-ship-used-torture-centre-docks-in-wellington
Wikipedia:
. . .
Torture centre
See also: Military dictatorship of Chile (1973–90)
Reports from Amnesty International, the US Senate and Chilean Truth and Reconciliation Commission[1] describe the ship as a kind of a floating jail and torture chamber for political prisoners of the Augusto Pinochet regime from 1973 to 1980. It is claimed that probably over a hundred persons were kept there at times and subjected to hideous treatment,[2] among them British priest Michael Woodward, who later died as a result of torture.[3]
Due to this dark part of its history, the international voyages of the Esmeralda are often highly controversial - especially at the time when Pinochet was still in power but even after the restoration of Chilean democracy. The ship's arrival in various ports is accompanied by protests and demonstrations by local political groups and Chilean exiles. Such protest actions were recorded, among other places, at London[citation needed], Amsterdam,[4][5] Dartmouth,[6] Pearl Harbor[citation needed], Quebec,[7] Vancouver and Victoria, British Columbia,[8] Wellington,[9] Piraeus and Haifa,[10] as well as at Santiago in Chile itself.[11]
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Esmeralda_(BE-43)
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This tall ship has a bloody, brutal history; La Esmeralda: The Chilean vessel was used as a torture chamber during Pinochet's rule, and an English priest died on board.
Stacie Jonas and Sarah Anderson
THE BALTIMORE SUN
JUNE 18, 2000
TALL SHIPS FROM around the world are scheduled to sail into Baltimore's Inner Harbor on Friday for what organizers are touting as an event to promote "cultural exchange and good will."
The ships will surely be a majestic sight. But behind the stately image of one of these ships, La Esmeralda, lies a terrifying history that should not be forgotten.
In 1973, in the aftermath of a bloody coup against the democratically elected government, the Chilean Navy made a special contribution to the new military junta led by Gen. Augusto Pinochet. They allowed La Esmeralda, a four-masted Chilean naval ship, to be used as a prison and torture chamber. According to testimony collected by Amnesty International and the Organization of American States, at least 110 political prisoners - 70 men and 40 women - were interrogated aboard the ship for more than two weeks without charges or trial.
The former mayor of Valparaiso, where the ship was stationed, described being tied to one of the ship's masts and subjected repeatedly to electric shock. "I couldn't sleep for six days because they woke me up every six minutes, night and day," he told Amnesty International. "We could hear how the others were tortured right where we were."
According to a Chilean lawyer held on board, military officials stripped and savagely beat the prisoners and shot them with high-pressure jets of water that produced "an unbearable pain in the head, ears, eyes, and lungs" At least one of those tortured on board La Esmeralda, a British-Chilean priest named Michael Woodward, died as a result. His body was thrown into an unmarked mass grave.
In the past, La Esmeralda has received angry receptions when it came to the United States:
In 1974, the Longshoreman's Union and other protesters succeeded in turning La Esmeralda away from the San Francisco port.
In 1976, when the ship traveled to Baltimore as part of Operation Sail's American Bicentennial celebration, local human rights activists greeted it with strong protests.
Undeterred, La Esmeralda returned in 1986 for the Bicentennial celebration of the Statue of Liberty. This time, the U.S. Senate passed a resolution condemning the ship's participation and called on Operation Sail to withdraw the invitation. Sen. Edward Kennedy, a Massachusetts Democrat, said that "the Statue of Liberty would weep at the sight of La Esmeralda entering the gateway of freedom at New York Harbor."
More:
https://www.baltimoresun.com/news/bs-xpm-2000-06-18-0006170165-story.html
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