Chile’s Boric Seeks Access to Tortured Victims’ Secret Testimonies

Chilean President Gabriel Boric has proposed a new bill that would allow courts and other state bodies to access secret testimonies of thousands tortured under the Pinochet dictatorship. This move, announced on International Day of the Victims of Enforced Disappearances, aims to support judges investigating the whereabouts of over a thousand people who disappeared during the regime (1973-1990). The proposed bill would grant access to the Valech Report, a document compiled by a commission headed by Bishop Sergio Valech, which contains detailed accounts of torture by Pinochet’s regime. The report, however, remains under a 50-year confidentiality clause. Boric emphasizes that the information will remain confidential and only be accessible to courts and state agencies involved in the search for missing persons, a program initiated by his administration a year ago. The Pinochet dictatorship left behind a legacy of at least 3,200 murdered opponents, with 1,469 cases of enforced disappearance. While the remains of 307 victims have been found and identified, the whereabouts of 1,162 remain unknown. Families of the disappeared have called on the Armed Forces to break their “pact of silence” and cooperate with the government’s search efforts, emphasizing the systemic nature of the disappearances and the need for transparency from the military.