Torture

A document smuggled out of Chile and sent to the U.S. Committee for Justice in Latin America (USLA) details the condition of women political prisoners at a Santiago jail called "El Buen Pastor" (The Good Shepherd). The document lists the names of 36 women, including, such prominent figures as historian Lucy Lorscht, former senator and labor leader Amanda Altamirano, and actress Elsa Rudolphi.

Like other political prisoners in Chile, most of the women have had no charges brought against them, nor have they been questioned or assigned judges, not to speak of lawyers. One of the women, Viola Munoz, a sociologist and specialist in preschool ed-

1

of Women in Chile

ucation who had no political affiliation, was tried and sentenced to 20 years. Once sentenced, the prisoners are transferred to cells with common prisoners and practically cease to exist, no longer appearing on the lists of political prisoners.

Several young women were brought in from Tejas Verdes, one of the cruelest con. centration camps in Chile, with terrible vaginal infections, and at least three were pregnant. Since they had been raped innumerable times, they naturally did not know who had impregnated them. In desperation they demanded the right to abortion, but when they asked for a doctor, an ear specialist was sent who told them that "they should be

from the USLA Reporter

proud of what they bore in their bellies."

Women reaching the Buen Pastor jail have been subjected to the most brutal torturesseveral have had live mice and insects introduced into their vaginas, and many arrived with their hair pulled out by the handfuls, their nipples brown off or burnt, and their genitals destroyed by electricity.

One young woman reported being thrown at the conscripts in the "Buen Regiment" to be raped whether the soldiers wanted to or not. In another torture camp, they were blindfolded and tortured en masse, so they did not know what was happening-who was being tortured or raped, or whose turn came

next.

It was reported that prisoners in Tejas Verdes were often sent to a "recuperation camp" before they were handed over to a more permanent (public) jail, or sent back to be freshly tortured.

The document ends with an urgent plea to human rights and defense organizations to save the lives of these women, and of the thousands of other men and women, who are being subjected to the junta's barbarity in Chile.

Immediate action is needed to defend women and all other political prisoners in Chile. People are urged to 1) Send telegrams and letters to: General Sergio Arellano, Ministry of Defense, Santiago, Chile, demanding that these women be freed. 2) Send telegrams and letters to congressional represen. tatives and to Henry Kissinger informing them of the situation and demanding that U.S. aid to Chile and other dictatorial governments be ended. All letters and resolutions should specifically mention the women incarcerated at El Buen jail, but should also condemn the torture of all political prisoners and demand their release.

Please send copy of all messages to USLA, 156 Fifth Avenue, Room 703, New York, New York 10010. For the local USLA, call 371-4561.

NOTE THIS...

Cleveland's own Ralph Perk recently stated that he is totally opposed to abortion, and will support a Right to Life amendment if he is elected to the Senate.

His opponent for the Senate seat, John Glenn, said that he has an "open mind" on a Right to Life amendment, but that he does not believe in "imposing my (his) per-. sonal beliefs by law in matters to personal conscience and morals." He is personally opposed to abortion, and believes that some laws are necessary "to protect unborn children," but only after the first four months of pregnancy.

Ohio Right to Life Society co-chairman Dr. J. C. Willke, famous for his pictures of bloody fetuses, said that the society is "delighted"with Perk's "strong and unequivocal stand against abortion and in favor of the right to life of the unborn."

Dr. Willke said that he was impressed with

Perk's reply to a woman at the press conference who asked whether a woman doesn't have a right over her own body. Perk told her:

"I endorse a woman's right over her body, but this (the unborn child) is the body of another human being, and I will never endorse a woman's right to kill."

If men could get pregnant, abortion would be a sacrament.

In the July issue, we had a news article stating that the Cleveland Council of Catholic Women unanimously called for the rescission of the ERA. Just to show that that bit of reactionism wasn't peculiar to Cleveland, the executive committee of the National Council of Catholic Women has reaffirmed its opposition to the ERA in urging its member councils to fight against the amendment and to work to

rescind it in the states in which it has already been ratified.

Their reasons, if they even merit that name, are that women already enjoy equal protection in the Constitution under the 5th and 14th amendments, and that the ERA would destroy significant present laws that favor or protect women and would bring a "drastic and insidious" change endan gering family life.

If the ERA is ratified "the institution of marriage will indeed be altered...since the courts will have nothing to say about a husband's support of wife and children, and the long-standing tradition of our land will be destroyed," the committee said. Obviously they consider the amendment

a piece of pornography, as they put it on the same level as, obscenity, pledging to "make every effort to overcome this serious threat to our society."

page 3/What She Wants/September 1974