All language subtitles for fhgfghfghfgh

It is 15 February, 2005,

5.15 pm.

We are in the Asociaci�n de Unidad
Argentina (AUNAR) building

- with...
- Roberto.

- Roberto?
- Mader.

A Brazilian film director

who is visiting
Latin American countries

to see first-hand the tragedy
that some people experienced

and had to bear:

The terrorist subversion.

In the 1970s, military regimes took
power in South America.

They claimed they were fighting
the rise of the left.

Successive coups left
a trail of intolerance,

abductions, murder and exile.

The different dictatorships
joined forces across their frontiers

in one of the worst cases

of state-sponsored terrorism
the world has seen:

Operation Condor.

One of AUNAR's aims

is the strict defence
of our national principles,

our glorious history,

our past, our leaders,

our symbols...

We are all honourable
people here,

with a nationalist outlook.

NA-TIO-NAL-IST!

I have a brother who disappeared,

a brother who fought
for the other side.

He was bright, the youngest.
Then one day he changed sides.

He talked to me about it.

He was basically motivated by

hatred of his father.

The idea was to break down the
hierarchy, the powers that be,

the establishment.

It was fanaticism and hatred.

And anything went.

... That's right. Sex.

- Free love.
- Free sex.

I don't think so.

That could be a caricature
created by the right.

Actually, I think we were
a group of very idealistic youths.

The social crisis was so clear

that defending the idea
of a better society

was nothing new.

Actually, I think young people

are good at separating
black from white.

Of course, youths in general

can be very Manicheistic.

And if they had to opt
between the establishment

and revolution -

there was Fidel in Cuba
and revolutionary movements

across most of Latin America -

then if they had to choose
between good and evil

they would choose good.

Greeting the crowd
beside our

Prime Minister is Commander-in-
Chief, Fidel Castro,

to the ecstatic applause

of the people here in Jos�
Marti revolutionary square.

Long live Cuba!

This was during the Cold War,

and subversion was an expression

for one of the groups entering
the other group's turf.

We already had clear examples
of what would happen,

like in Cuba, like what they

tried to export to Angola,
Congo, Ethiopia.

So, we were playing off

against other ideals;

it was already a matter of ideals.

President Jo�o Goulart
signed edicts on land reform

and the nationalisation
of oil refineries.

Addressing the rally,
he announced

the state regulation of rents.

Brizola's speeches were incendiary,

and what with President
Goulart's ambiguity,

maybe under the
influence of Peron,

I thought democracy
was under threat

and we prepared
to oppose a coup.

Attention Brazil!

Attention Minas Gerais!

The troops of the 2nd Army,

under General Kruel,

have surrounded
Guanabara palace.

Those of us who were against the coup
became spokespeople of a coup.

Colleagues of mine denied it,
but I said,, "it's a coup d'�tat",

literally a coup
enacted by the state.

We toppled a president.

Even if he was a vice president,
was still elected.

Porto Alegre.
Jo�o Goulart flees to Uruguay

followed by Leonel Brizola and other
members of the deposed government.

So we prepared,
this time with the intent of

"having them for lunch
before they had us for dinner."

A popular, democratic,
national, revolutionary government

that should follow a programme

to pave the way for socialism

as broadly and quickly as possible

and transform our society.

- Nationalism!
- Present!

The ruling classes
and, in this case,

their armed forces intended

to take action against Allende
and they did so.

They devised countless plots
against the Allende government.

This is how businessmen,

as of zero hours on Tuesday,

brought services across Chile
to a standstill.

Right-wing groups were

organised to start sabotaging

Allende's government

and they also started
working with the armed forces.

This is a corrupt,
decadent government.

Decadent and corrupt, filthy!

Disgusting communists,
get out of Chile!

The rich will never give
us anything

so everything we have is
thanks to our government.

Public transport strike

Tensions were rising.

The left wing had been very
active since the sixties.

They intended to
foster unrest

and pave the way for a
Marxist revolution.

Workers, soldiers,

sailors and military police:

Disobey the orders of the
officers that have seized power.

Because then...

they will have the right
to form their own army,

a people's army.

MIR didn't share Allende's

belief in peaceful means.

We believed that a violent
military offensive

could happen any moment

and we had to be prepared.

But we weren't prepared
well enough.

I will not turn back!

I will only leave la Moneda

when I have concluded the mandate
granted me by the people!

Since 10.30am,

they have been calling for
Salvador Allende to surrender.

The palace of la Moneda must
be evacuated by 11 am.

Pinochet voice:
At 11 am sharp, we will
attack la Moneda

because this "guy" will not
give himself up.

Workers of the nation:

I will give up my life for
the loyalty of the people,

but social process
cannot be halted

by crime,

or by force.

History is ours.

Long live Chile,

long live the people,
long live the workers!

ALLENDE IS DEAD
STATE OF SIEGE DECLARED

We are sure

that the vast
majority of Chileans

are willing to fight against

Marxism and root it out.

The parliament is in recess
until further notice.

That is all.

From the outset,

the left wing all over
the world strove to

portray him as a bad man.

Father had not slept for days,

and when he went to the first
ceremony

he wore dark glasses,
as was the custom then.

My father's eyes were painful
and bloodshot.

Then this photo was wired
across the globe!

"Here we are, the ultimate evil!"

Martial law will be enforced.

Anybody caught with
weapons or explosives

will be shot on sight

without being charged.

MILITARY FORCE TAKES POWER

Unfortunately, we had no choice.

If force was not used
by our side,

it would be used by the other.

National Stadium - Santiago, Chile

Even now as I come here,

it makes me feel...

...sad.

There were thousands of
people here.

They say there were 2000-3000
but there were actually 15,000.

They tortured us there,
they hit us,

they chained us.

They put the women in a group.

They didn't just torture them
and hit them,

they also violated them.

Here, they beat us with
rubber batons,

they put damp cloths on our backs
and hit us.

Many people died
here in the stadium.

They would knock on the gate
and read out lists of names.

They would be taken away
and never came back.

I have marks on my feet, look.

They hung me from here.

It's been 31 years
since I was here.

There must be many people who
don't want to come back

because it upsets you,
you start to remember it all.

Things that happened to you,

how they treated us...

and you relive it all again.

But we were still strong
and when we got out of prison

we started to fight
against the dictatorship.

I was exiled in Chile
during the military coup.

When it happened,

we sought refuge
at the Argentine embassy.

Some of us were arrested,

and those that were taken
to the national stadium

heard from different sources
that they were being tortured

by Brazilian officers.

The Brazilian police were
in the national stadium

helping the Chilean police.

They were looking for
Brazilians in exile

and were also sharing
their experience

in organising counter-resistance
operations in Brazil.

They established the first
contacts for exchanging information,

which later developed into

a more elaborate system
and Operation Condor.

There were two contexts at play.

One was the
political context

in Latin America
since the sixties,

with the huge influence of
a national security doctrine

spread by the US through the

Conference of American Army,

which helped push the
armed forces towards

the only possible course:

Saving the continent
from Communism.

Then, of course, the USA's
military power helped

as different dictatorships joined
forces across the Southern Cone.

Never had so much power
been concentrated in so many

Latin American countries.

It went to their heads

and they just wanted more.

Look at this one.

It's from Central America.

This one's from Persia, these
are from Argentina and Uruguay.

Have you been
collecting them long?

No, not long.
About 30 years.

That's a long time.

That's when I was made
a General.

How do you feel when you
look at the photos today?

I feel sorry for what happened.

But, quite simply...

I received orders as a
Lieutenant Colonel put in charge

of organising a national
intelligence department,

because there wasn't one.
I was summoned in 73

and asked to organise
the intelligence system."

V�de� made by the Ch�lean
Intell�gence Serv�ces

Ideological fanatics

face the staunch values

and spirit of sacrifice
of a group of men with

clear ideals and a mission

to neutralize and destroy
the guerrilla base.

There were terrorists in Chile
since 1972.

There were over 10,000
Cubans from the Cuban army.

1,500 Soviets had entered,
all from the Soviet army.

Then we heard that a guerrilla
army was being formed.

Members of a guerrilla

group have been arrested.

At that time, we really wanted
to fight back,

but we had to hide because
the repression was so great.

Around 500-600 activists
were annihilated

just in the first few years
of the military government.

Then I was arrested.

They took me to one
of the concentration camps.

Well, you have the pictures.

We were prisoners of war

and we had to behave with

a military discipline
we didn't have.

There were 35 military anthems.

They all had a number. If
they said "sing number 5"

you had to know which one
it was, because if you

got 5 mixed up with 23,

they beat you up.
It was terrible.

Of course, not everybody
marched in time.

Some people couldn't keep step

and they were beaten up,

because being a soldier
was seen as representing

the very best of the nation.

The best sons were soldiers.

I went through two war
councils at Pisagua

12 comrades from the
communist party were tried

and 2 were sentenced to death.

They were charged with
wanting to take over

12 strategic points in the city.

One of them was going to
take over the barracks,

another was going to
poison the water supply,

another was, you know,
ridiculous things like that.

Is this the war we're
talking about?

That's why I maintain it's
rubbish to say there was a war.

There was no real military
capacity for resistance,

for there to be two sides
in combat,

for generalized guerrilla
warfare across the country.

There simply wasn't.

At that time, there was a
serious threat in South America.

All the terrorist movements
were coordinated by Buenos Aires.

As a Christian, I would say
there was a war of subversion.

We didn't start it,
we didn't even want it

We were drawn into it,

we got involved in it,

and we had to bring peace to
this country.

This is the nature of
urban guerrilla warfare.

It's not a subject for parliament,
white flags.

Either he dies or I die.
There's no other option.

It's odd that
someone like me

should choose to take part
in a political group

that also supported
the armed struggle.

We were up against the army,
people who had guns,

so ultimately we had to

turn to the use of weapons
and the armed struggle.

IN BRAZIL, A GUERRILLA GROUP,
KIDNAPS THE AMERICAN AMBASSADOR

It wasn't easy.
It's not nice to handle a gun.

I first did it when

I was guarding the
American Ambassador.

Luckily, I didn't have to use it.

It was an extreme situation.

It helped show that
resistance without weapons

didn't work and actually
reinforced the status quo.

An effective resistance
was needed,

and it would
have to be armed.

People's behaviour was similar
in each country.

Everyone was acting the same.

That's when we realised that
there was a coordinating junta.

For many years, this revolutionary

coordinating junta organised

all the terrorist activities
in South America:

The Brazilians,

the Tupamaros from Uruguay,

Bolivia, MIR,
the communist party in Chile,

the ERP, the Montoneros
in Argentina,

they were all run by this junta.

This is what you're talking about:
The intelligence system.

Here's Spain,

Uruguay,

Ecuador,

and this was done in
Argentina in 1977.

It's got nothing to do
with operations.

- But was it called Condor?
- No, no.

It was never called Condor.

Third Regional Conference
of National Intelligence,

that was the title.

It was never Operation Condor

in the way Marxists portray it.
It was something quite different,

something that exists today,
something that has always existed:

A system to exchange information
between different countries.

We held meetings

with the chiefs of
national intelligence

from the countries involved.

The first was in Chile in 1975.

I remember a Uruguayan delegate
saying to me there,

"In tribute to the countries that
border on the Andes, let's

call it the Condor intelligence
system."

Not operation.

A system is very different
from an operation.

Operation means action,
system means information.

When Contreras said Operation Condor
was just an exchange of information,

he was talking
about the start,

when operations went
through military attach�s.

But at the meeting in November
1975, supported by Pinochet,

which was a state meeting

involving the military governments
from Argentina,

Brazil, Uruguay,
Paraguay and Bolivia,

there was a change of tack.

Now, it wasn't just information,

but the possibility to detain

opponents of the different
military regimes,

wherever they were,
and to swap prisoners.

Washington urgent,
Reuters news agency.

Former Chancellor and Minister of
Defence in Chile, Orlando Letelier

has died in an attack on his car.

Orlando always supported Allende

and he was Minister of Defence
during the military coup.

Orlando was arrested and
held as a prisoner of war,

then a year later

he was exiled.

He returned to the USA because
he realised he would be more

effective against the dictatorship
in the USA.

After this, Pinochet's cabinet

all signed a document stripping

Orlando of his nationality.

Then they killed him.

Orlando Letelier was
assassinated

by the Central
Intelligence Agency, the CIA

GENERAL PRATS AND WIFE
MURDERED

Gal. PRATS:
FORMER MILITARY COMMANDER
IN ALLENDE ' S GOVERNMENT,
WAS EXILED IN BUENOS AIRES
WHEN HE WAS KILLED

Now, 30 years after
the assassination,

we know exactly

what happened

We have a statement by the
person responsible for the deed,

Michael Townley,

stating that he and his wife
planted the bomb.

So it is quite clear what
happened, because

these people belonged to
Chile's intelligence service

and its overseas operations.

Townley was a CIA agent working
under cover in Chile.

The media have made him out to
be a Chilean (DINA) agent,

but he never was.

- Was he in contact with the CIA?

He supplied DINA with
electronic equipment.

I think there were double agents
who worked for DINA and

are known to have worked
for the CIA, too.

This clearly shows America's
involvement in Chile,

but you cannot attribute all
the crimes committed as part of

Operation Condor to the CIA.
I think that would work

in Contreras's favour,
exonerating him of blame

by saying it was all the
Americans' fault. It wasn't.

PRATS TRIAL REVEALS
DINA'S DEEPEST SECRETS

When the CIA documents
were declassified,

it was revealed that

the CIA's operations centre in
Santiago notified the USA

about the establishment of
Operation Condor and its mission

to kidnap and arrest opponents
of the military regimes.

Then Kissinger reacted,

saying he was concerned
about the excesses committed by

the military dictatorships.
He recommended that

they moderate their activities.

This recommendation was
disregarded by Pinochet

when Orlando Letelier was
assassinated in Washington.

- See this one? It's Brazilian.
- When from?

It's from 1976.

An envoy showed up one day.

- Seu amigo de Bras�lia.
- Quem?

- General Figueiredo.

Figueiredo was good
friends with Geisel.

You spoke of 1975,

year of the Chilean committee meeting.

Shortly afterwards,
Geisel was contacted

as far as I'm aware,
to take Condor to this new level

of eliminating opponents
who might have the capacity

to take back power because
of their individual standing.

But Geisel refused.

119 Chileans were
tortured and disappeared here.

Stop now!

In 1975

the government said that these
119 people killed each other.

THE GREAT LIE
THE CASE OF THE 119

Operation Colombo was like this:

Over several months, dispatches
were sent from Argentina saying

that guerrilla groups were
forming on the border

to invade Santiago.

For months in Chile,
a kind of psychosis set in

because a guerrilla army of

Chileans, Argentineans and
Uruguayans might suddenly invade.

Then, LEA magazine
in Buenos Aires

and O DIA newspaper
in Curitiba

printed stories saying
that extremist Chilean groups

were disputing power
and killing each other.

The headline read:
"They kill each other like rats."

There are witnesses and
proof that

these 119 people were arrested
and exterminated in Chile.

Years later, I found out that

the journalists who wrote the
stories were paid by DINA.

This is Operation Condor.

Disfigured bodies,
people tortured to death,

hidden, blown up,

bits of bone buried
in the mountain range.

After the coup d'�tat
in 1973 in Chile,

the whole Southern Cone
was under military rule.

Argentina was the only country

that let in political refugees.

Buenos Aires, Argentina

Argentina was coming out
of a dictatorship

so everybody was very upbeat.

I left my house, I left my
family, my neighbourhood,

and went to Argentina.

The Uruguayans that went to
Buenos Aires at that time

were being persecuted here.

It was about 11.30pm when
we heard knocks on the door.

Suddenly, the windows were smashed

and we watched, frozen on the
spot, as those men in plain

clothes broke in
with their big guns.

There were around 15 of them.

Simon's cot was on the double
bed that they threw me onto

and started to hit me,
demanding information.

I tried to get Simon. They said
I couldn't take him with me,

that we were going to a place
where he couldn't go,

that I shouldn't worry,
nothing would happen to him.

And I said something
I'll never forget:

"This war isn't against children."

So we got ready to leave

and our hands and legs
were tied up,

and we were blindfolded.

We went to a place where
we stayed for ten days.

As soon as we arrived
we were beaten up.

The screams will be heard
forever.

They mostly tortured at night.

Once, the person running the
operation

asked me if I knew him.

I said I didn't and he said he was
Major Ni�o Gavazo, an officer

from the Uruguayan army
whose methods were notorious.

At that moment, on some level,

I felt quite sure that

we would never get out alive,

because no officer from an army
operating in another country

would tell his victims his name.

SARA SURVIVED THOUGH SHE
WAS SEPARATED FROM HER 20-DAY-OLD SON

I think this was when
the world started to realise

what was actually going on
in the Southern Cone,

what this Operation Condor
was all about:

The practice of forced
disappearance and especially

the abduction of children.

This particularly perverse
practice conducted in Argentina

was truly unprecedented
the world over.

We never thought that in this
sinister place we would say:

"Bloody murderers!

You hanged them, you wanted to
bury them but you couldn't,

you threw them alive into the sea
but you couldn't,

you burned them with rubber
but you couldn't,

you buried them under the roads
but you couldn't

The day they told me

my older
son had disappeared,

- I was known
as Kika then -

I became "Hebe de Bonafini".

Bonafini is a mother who has
experienced a tragedy

and chosen to turn
pain into struggle.

Maybe the world will know me
for this.

Ever since they were taken,
I've had to find my own way.

First, because there was nobody
to do a habeas corpus.

Then, my son said, "why don't
you do it on any old paper,"

so we bought a sweetbread and
cut off a piece of the wrapping

and wrote our first habeas corpus.

I didn't know how to, and
no lawyers who would write one,

or even tell us how to.

And anyway, nobody had
seen anything,

you didn't have relatives or
friends any more, nobody,

because you were the
mother of a terrorist.

Murderers!
Where are the disappeared people?

They took them alive!
We want them alive,

The judges said my son had
run away with another woman.

The politicians said the
mothers were liars.

Malvin said nobody had
disappeared, that people had died.

But while they don't appear...

That's the quandary:
They disappeared,

they're neither alive nor dead,
they just disappeared.

As the dictatorship
in Argentina got more brutal

and the armed struggle
got disorganised,

many people came to Brazil.

When more and
more arrived,

we founded Clamor:

Jaime Wright, Jan Rocha and I.

She was caught in an

operation called "old shoes".

They went
after members

of the PVP party
in Montevideo.

Later, in a deal with the
Brazilian police, they went

to Porto Alegre, Brazil,

to arrest people who, according
to prisoners' statements,

also belonged to PVP
and were in that town...

They distributed
propaganda and
talked to people,

explaining that they
had to get organised

and speak out about the
crimes of the dictatorship.

Novombor, 1978
LILIAN AND UNIVERSINDO ARE
KIDNAPPED BY CONDOR FORCES
In PORTO ALEGRE, BRAZIL

There were vans with
armed people inside,

and they transferred us.

They put me and my children
in a van and made us lie down.

It was much
worse than death

because there were my children,

lying in a truck,
surrounded by machine guns.

And I said to them,
"I have to save my children."

Then I said them

that there was going to be an
important meeting that Friday

with important members
from my organization

They conferred together
and finally they said,

"OK, we'll go back
to Porto Alegre."

That was the most terrible
part for me:

Being separated from my children.

CAMILO AND FRANCESCA WRE TAKEN TO
MONTEVIDEO AND LILIAN AND UNIVERSINDO
TO PORTO ALEGRE

When they reached Montevideo,

the children were transferred
to an apartment

that the company had in the centre

and they stayed there until they
were handed to their grandparents.

Then we went to my house
Where they set up a trap.

They drew all the curtains
and stayed indoors.

It was clear that
something odd was happening

because they didn't phone
and they didn't appear.

My first idea was to get
some witnesses

that had some impunity,
who could operate there

with a degree of imunity.

So I called
Luis Claudio Cunha,

who was the editor-in-chief of
Veja magazine in Porto Alegre.

On 17 November, 1978,

I was phoned by someone
speaking Spanish.

He said a couple and two children
had disappeared from their flat

We went to the flat
and rang the bell.

The door opened

and a terrified-looking
girl appeared.

Then two men appeared,
each holding a huge pistol.

They put us inside
a darkened room.

I sensed there were
other Uruguayans there.

When I spoke in Portuguese,

saying we were journalists,
they got nervous.

When the chief of
the operation returned,

he said it was just a
problem of illegal foreigners

smuggling, etc.

We went back again
to the police station,

Hours went by then finally
we returned to Uruguay.

On the Monday, we went
to the police

to get the official version.

The different police forces
said they knew nothing.

As they were denying something
we had seen with our own eyes,

we realised it was more serious
than it appeared.

That's when we started to treat
it as a case of kidnapping.

From then on, the police denied
everything we investigated,

and each lie gave us more motive
to investigate further.

Then, the police started
investigating us

rather than
what had happened at the flat.

Then, immediately

the Brazilian press
joined ranks.

A kidnap group was set up

of 25-30 journalists
and photographers

who would meet up in groups

and exchange ideas and information,

and kept up the pressure
in most of the newspapers

while Lilian was being detained.

One of the men holding a gun
in the flat was familiar to me

because I've worked in
sport for a long time.

It was Didi Pedalada.

We soon found out he joined
the police

after he stopped
playing football.

This was how we identified one
of the people involved

as a Brazilian policeman.

It showed that people
arrested in Uruguay

were brought to Brazil
with the authorities' blessing,

and it proved the
Brazil/Uruguay connection.

We had no idea that this was
part of a larger plan,

an agreement between the
armed forces.

And that it had the approval
of the two central governments.

In November 1978,

a great Solidarity Campaign
was held in Brazil.

And the whole world

prevented Lilian Celiberti
and Universindo Rodrigues

from joining the list
of people who disappeared.

The Lilian Celiberti and
Universindo Diaz case

was the first time we exposed
an operation of theirs.

They couldn't deny it
and we saved both their lives.

So this was an unsuccessful
operation.

But it was Operation Condor.

AFTER MONTHS MISSING, LILIAN AND UNIVERSINDO
ARE SHOWN TO THE PRESS AND DECLARED OFFICIAL
PRISIONERS AT PUNTA RIELES PRISON.

When I was Leader of the
House for Pres. Figueiredo,

a girl was arrested, Lilibeli?
- Lilian Celiberti.

So Brossard went to the court
and complained.

Then I asked the General Director
of the Federal Police for information

and he said it wasn't true,
they'd been arrested on the border.

So I went to court, etc.

Years later I realised that

I was the one who had unintentionally
belied information that was a lie.

Lilian Ceriberti stays
at Punta Rieles Prison until 1983

Two years have passed

and D. Lilian has to explain
what's happened

to her grandchildren
when they ask,

"Granny, why's mummy in prison?

Granny, why did the Uruguayan
soldiers arrest her in Brazil?"

If you understand
Operation Condor as a

permanent interaction of
exchange of information,

and further, the imprisonment
of people in one country

that flee to another, like Brazil,

then it existed,
as in the Liliberti case.

They were arrested in Brazil
and sent to Uruguay.

So if they were arrested,

it's because it had progressed
from exchanging information

to exchanging people.

This made the fight against
communism continent-wide.

We cannot lose faith

until Lilian and
Universindo are free.

This is the meeting
with my daughter Francesca

on her birthday
after I left prison.

For years, I had to struggle

with the reunion with
a teenage son

I hardly knew

and who hardly knew me.

I was reunited with them
when I got out of prison.

There were things I had lost,

like my children's childhood.

As a member of this society,
I feel I have

a debt to pay, especially
to my children.

Because ultimately,

they had to spend five
years without a mother.

And the military who
did this didn't spend

a single day behind bars.

Santiago, Chile

"They started to rip off my blouse.

They inserted electrodes
into my vagina

and started to give me shocks
with another portable electrode."

This is the testimony of
Dr. Sheila Cassidy

at the UN
Human Rights
Commission in Geneva.

This is where one of the

[most sinister centres of the
military regime operated,

known as Cuartel Terranova.

Most of the prisoners

who went through
its doors disappeared.

This was a place of death.
It all starts here.

To the extent that people didn't
even know it existed.

So when you were here,

the authorities didn't
know you were under arrest.

When we were told

a person was in "Villa Grimaldi",
we knew they would disappear.

Here at the back, we can
see the tower.

Downstairs there, they used
the "pau de arara"

and locked people up
in a kind of cage

covered with a wooden lid.

"We were like animals.

We could only crouch.

They only let us out
once a day, normally at night.

For us to relieve ourselves.

Those who couldn't wait
would defecate right there,

and would stay locked up
along with their excrement.

It was an absolute nightmare
to be kept in a box like that."

The aim was to break your will,

to crush your convictions,

to turn you into a collaborator,

to make you change sides.

Or at least to turn you
into a thing.

My father was brought here
on 12 May, 1976,

in the middle of the night.

Then, we were paid a call

by DINA agents,

who threatened us.

They told us to stop looking
for him

because we had caused
enough bother,

and if we carried on,
the same thing would happen to us.

As the agents were leaving,

they told us we would
never find him.

These words marked me,

and they haunt me to this day,
because they came true,

just like they said.

We will never know what
would have happened if we

hadn't stopped
looking for him.

For life, for peace!
Tell us where they are!

Manuel Contreras
was in command

at DINA, the Chilean
Intelligence Service,

.
A repressive agency

that operated for many years.

If I ever had the chance
to ask Contreras a question,

I'd ask him if he'd
dare tell me

where my father ended up.

I have no idea. I don't know.

She has undergone
years of training.

Of course, she learnt to

to represent as true
things that were actually lies.

And because she believed they
were true, she convinced everyone.

But he knows his fate,

and sooner or later he'll

pay for the death of my father

and many other countrymen.

Ladies and gentlemen...

Here, at the office of
the sub-secretary of security,

we present five terrorists

We will broadcast their statements
on TV and radio Tupi

As I could not accept
things as they were,

I engaged with elements
involved in "terrorism"

we call on our youth...

to join President M�dici's
government projects

To help save this nation and raise it
On the international stage.

S�O PAULO, BRAZIL

We discovered that

some of the regimes
in Latin America

were having parents disappear
then deporting children.

This was a violation of
all basic human rights.

There was a couple,
both Uruguayans,

who escaped to Argentina
with their two children.

They were arrested by
the Argentine security police

during a shoot-out.

The children were put in a bath

and were found by
the police when they broke in.

One day, we got a letter
from a Uruguayan, Angelica,

saying her daughter
had got married,

gone to Argentina,
and had two children.

She heard that her daughter
and son-in-law had died,

but had no news
of her grandchildren.

I've searched for them for 3 years.
They're all I have left

- What about their parents?

I have no news of them. I hope
everyone can help me find them.

We published the photos,

explaining that the children
had disappeared

and asking for information.

Two months later
we got a letter

from a social worker

saying, "I read an article in Clamor,

and I think I saw those two children"

in Valpara�so, Chile. "

There was the carrousel.

There was a carrousel
over there, too.

In the summer they put
them there, too,

but they're smaller. Back
then, they seemed much bigger.

It was a funfair.

I have a few memories
from that time.

My parents thrown onto the ground,
a soldier pointing

a gun, which we could see as
we lay beside mother.

My little sister in her arms,
me holding her hand.

She was eighteen months old.
I was almost four.

They tell me we didn't let go,
we were always holding hands.

Yes, he looked after me.

Apparently, some people
came along

in a very fine car
and left us here.

We were very well dressed.

It wasn't as if we were abandoned,
children of beggars, etc.

They left us here in the morning.
The afternoon drew on,

and when dusk fell,
just like now,

the owner of the funfair
got worried.

He saw us and
called the police.

THE POLICE TAKE THE
CHILDREN TO AN ORPHANAGE

THE LARRABEITS DECIDE
TO ADOPT THE CHILDREN

At the hospital where my
husband worked,

there was a social worker.

She was in charge
of the case of

a brother and sister who were
in a children's home,

who had no parents.

So we went to Anatole and asked

if he wanted to stay

and he said yes.

She was very young, that's why
she didn't-

and she was chubby.
- I used to destroy my dummies.

We were about to leave, and
he suddenly didn't want to stay.

"Mother, father, no, let's go!"

And he put his arms round my husband.

They gave me some clothes,
her bottle, stuff like that,

and we left with them.

When they came to our house,
they didn't have an accent.

We thought they were Chilean.

Chileans from another
part of the country.

But they never told us their
nationality. Never.

Dom Paulo said he wanted
Luis to go to Chile

to have a look around.

We went to Chile.

At 3pm we went to the house.

The husband and wife
were there.

We went in and
introduced ourselves.

They were both suspicious.

We explained we weren't going
to take away the children,

we were going to
tell their story.

I said, "you must meet
the children's grandmother,"

but the husband didn't want to.

He was tough.

He even said
he supported the regime.

Then they told us the whole story,

the whole thing:
What had happened,

who they were, where they were
from, what had happened.

We could never have imagined
such a thing.

We went back to S�o Paulo,
we called the grandmother, Angelica,

and said we'd found them.
A miracle!

Unfortunately, my grandmother
hadn't much idea about psychology.

As soon as she arrived,

she took me to one side and said,

"I'm your real grandmother

and these are your parents,"
and she shows me a photo,

and you used to live in Uruguay."
She told me this on a beach.

I think it's normal, even if
it hurts the adoptive parents.

We have to find a way

for them not to lose us, too.

The grandmother came along

saying, "Well, I'm off and

I'm going to take them with me."

But that's not what happened,

because they were already
attached to us.

My grandmother had every right
to come and fetch us.

We were all that was left of her
disappeared son and his wife.

But then the psychologists said
it would be a double loss.

It could destroy these
children again.

Or at least Anatole,
because I can't remember it.

So the two families decided

to stay in touch.

To travel once a year there
or for them to come to Chile.

It was a very difficult for Anatole
when he first came here

to Montevideo, to Uruguay,
to meet his family,

accompanied by his new parents.

- How old was my brother?
- 7 or 8.

Victoria 's Biological Uncle

I remember at the meals,
and your father trying to fit in,

respecting the fact that he had to

take a supporting role.

Anatole was meeting his family,

but he was there
if he needed him,

making it clear, in a way,

letting the family here
get to know him.

I'll never forget it,
because he was so kind.

A gentleman.

At that moment, they thought
they might lose them.

So they opened up to us

and said they couldn't imagine
their life without them,

which we didn't doubt.

They had a place to live
and it was best this way

I don't think we were wrong.
The proof's right here.

The kidnapping of children

took place most
systematically in Argentina.

It was also part of an idea that

those people who fought against

state terrorism

personified a satanic doctrine

and must be brainwashed.

They had to be re-educated in

western, supposedly Christian,

values. So it was legitimate

to steal these children

and raise them in other
ideological and moral contexts.

This is the photo that
travelled the world.

It was the only way we had
to look for Simon.

There was no other feature except
his hair and skin colour.

This photo was saved because I had
sent it to my relatives,

so they had it.

They were the ones who
spoke out

about the disappearance,
the kidnapping of Simon.

SARA M�NDEZ FINDS SIMON

25 years passed.

It's not easy to find a son,
even if he's your flesh and blood,

because he was 26.

That's how old he was
when we met.

I remember his first words:

"I've had a happy life so far.

I want you to be part of
my happiness."

He tells us there are

two victims here: I'm one

and the other is this woman
who's been searching for years.

Meanwhile, Simon was

learning all about his
new life history.

He was so upset and hurt
by the deception and lies.

I felt as if he had lost
one family,

but hadn't yet got us.

He didn't know us,
he didn't have a bond with us.

And we were also from very
different backgrounds.

They were a family of policemen,

people who'd taken part in that
dictatorship.

We were the victims.

These are photos of a mural
in Montevideo

that was painted spontaneously

when word came out that
Simon had reappeared.

He felt he had two names,
two histories,

two birthdays,
two lives.

Simon said to me from the outset,

"Call me Simon, it's OK.

I know it's a name that
means something to you."

From he outset, he asked us
not to reveal his identity.

I think that when he's ready

to reveal the truth publicly,

I'll know beforehand.

If this ever happens.
Because it doesn't always.

I wanted to find out who
my father had been.

Not just to find out what
had happened to him,

but if I was like him,

who he was to me,
what he wanted for me.

So really, there were very
different searches going on.

It was very important for me
to find out

what had happened to him.

As I started researching
my documentary on children,

it seemed important
for the film to reflect on

the search process,

to understand the courses taken,

how we deal with the
father figure,

which means activism becomes

a big part of our lives.

Every now and again, they ask
me to retell the story.

I always rework it, recreate it.

But there's also stuff I forget.

First, it was:

"What terrible things
they did to them,

or what terrible things
they might have done."

The fantasy of not knowing
creates a host of spectres,

like, maybe they raped my
mother,

how long did my father take
to die, stuff like that.

You go round in circles.
Not knowing is worse than knowing.

Then, I moved on to:

["How could these people do such
a thing if they had children?"

I've also been angry at them.

[What life could they expect
if they carried on like that,

especially as they were parents?

Then I went on to:

"These people are admirable

because they stood by their
convictions to their death.

And they were parents, and they
were fierce and bold."

Our children also sang
and were happy

and had hopes and dreams.

But they kept their
defiance for the struggle!

The most important thing
this president has done

is to hail our children
as his companions.

He said, "your children are my
companions and you are my mothers."

I think this is the greatest
reparation.

Money is no substitute for that.

Lieutenant General
Jorge Rafael Videla,

sentenced to life imprisonment.

Clearly, Argentina has been
through its ups and downs.

First, as soon as democracy
came back, there was the,

trial of the junta and the
arrest of the leaders.

Then, different laws were passed.

At the end of the day, 'Full Stop'
and 'Hierarchicall Duty'

laws the politicians
made for their own benefit

Not only they pardon themselves,

but the military, the judges, etc

A little bit each,
Well now it's ok

MARCH 2000

PINOCHET IS EXTRADITED
TO CHILE ON HEALTH GROUNDS

IN GHILE, PINOCHET FACES NEW
CHARGES

People are already apologising,

reconstructing this lost history,

talking about what happened,
recognising it.

Something we never thought
would happen did happen,

like putting Pinochet on trial.

That was unbelievable, a dream!

Father Christmas, thanks for coming.

Pinochio's in jail
and the everyone's happy.

The crux of the matter,
for Operation Condor

and all the Pinochet cases,
from a legal perspective,

is the enforcement
of international treaties,

the respect for international
conventions on torture.

I would end by saying:

Pinochet himself is to blame for
his own indictment,

because on 20 September, 1973,

he passed Edict/Law no. 5,
which justified the war councils,

saying, "from now on,
a state of siege

is deemed to mean
a state of civil war."

By saying this, the law
enforced the Geneva conventions,

which, in article 3 of
all 5 conventions, say

that no crime committed
against prisoners of war

can ever be subject to amnesty.

The chance to indict Pinochet,

30 years on, and

in compliance with common law,

is thanks to the Geneva conventions

about crimes against humanity.

I think Latin America's
progressed,

but some countries have
progressed more than Brazil.

In Uruguay people
are being arrested.

The commander of ESMA in
Argentina was forced

forced to apologise to the
Argentine people

for his part in the repression
during the military regime.

In Brazil, the perpetrators
granted

themselves amnesty in 1979,

and nothing much
has been done since then.

So the wounds don't heal.

We don't examine files,

we don't find
people who disappeared,

we don't know what happened
to the Araguaia guerrillas.

The wounds haven't healed.

Brazil hasn't turned
over a new leaf.

We did turn over a new leaf,
but it wasn't accepted.

When I defended the amnesty
on Figueiredo's behalf,

he said something
very interesting:

"Passarinho,
you will speak for us.

Don't apologise.

We won't apologise for
anything

because it would imply regret

I don't want them to
regret what they did.

I only want them to forget.

To turn over a new leaf
in Brazil's history."

I wrote a speech
for Marcos Freire:

"Let us forget those
who died."

But they haven't forgotten.

The families of people who died
or disappeared had 2 options.

They could either take vengeance
.
Using weapons

or they could choose
the course of justice,

deaf, dumb, impenetrable.

When, out of seven thousand
appeals only one was accepted,

when they said, "your husband
ran off with another woman,"

they didn't give up.

As a result, the peace achieved

is not a legacy of anything;

it is the outcome of the
choice for justice,

of not taking revenge into
one's own hands.

Of course there have been
tricky moments.

I'm not bothered if they
convict one more or one less.

If I were guilty,
I'd be in trouble.

There are 228 suits against me
but they've never proved anything.

Coward! Coward!

I would do it
all over again

because all we did was to
enforce the law.

As we were directly answerable
to the President of the Republic,

we had to follow the edict/law

which dictated
what we had to do.

DECEMBER 2006
PINOCHET DIES WITHOUT
STANDING TRIAL

Listen, brother,
to what I say,

says a suffering mother.

People who disappeared,
where are they?

Please, Pinochio, you must

answer in court.

We're rappers and we exist

with the blood spilt
across Latin America.

Gradually, we started to
see the dirt under the carpet

and Argentina and the
rest of Latin America

started to accept the true horror
of our past.

Because it's part of our
life and our history

and it's something we will
all have to live with.

As I, you and society at large

start to live with this horror
with more equanimity,

we can build something new

and say, well, this what we are,
this is what happened;

part of it is crap
and part isn't.

But the crap is part of us, too.

People always ask
why I do interviews,

why I go under the spotlight.

I do it because

I want to let people
know what happened,

because some people in Chile still
say this operation never existed.

But here I am, it happened
to me and my brother.

It happened,
and it happened to us.