Villa Grimaldi - Parque por la Paz

Villa Grimaldi – Parque por la Paz - darkometer rating : 5 - The site of a former clandestine detention and torture centre under the Pinochet dictatorship in Chile from 1973, and now one of the main memorials in Santiago commemorating this dark era of repression and brutality. It is more abstract and art-focused than documentary in nature, and more directed at an internal clientele of (relatives of) former victims and human rights activists, but also an important element in Santiago's dark tourism portfolio. > More background info > What there is to see > Location > Access and costs > Time required > Combinations with other dark destinations > Combinations with non-dark destinations > Photos More background info: The Villa Grimaldi was originally a private estate, at one point a restaurant even, but was taken over by the military, more specifically the secret police DINA, shortly after the Pinochet putsch in September 1973 and converted into one of the regime's main clandestine detention and torture centres (cf. Londres 38 and the Memorial Museum ). Officially the site was renamed "Cuartel Terranova" ('Newfoundland barracks') and it remained operational until 1978. Some 4500 political prisoners are believed to have passed through this grim institution – and well over 200 of them (were) "disappeared", i.e. most likely killed and their bodies disposed of. Apart from regular brutal beatings, various torture techniques were employed here, Nnominally this was to extract "information" from the detainees – though you can't help but thinking that much of the torture was more for the "fun" of the torturers. Frequently included was the so-called "grill". That meant: the use of an iron bedstead onto which the victim was tied naked, and then subjected to electric shocks, including directly to sensitive body parts such as the genitalia.