El Ciudadano
Original article: Justicia reconoce tortura y violencia sexual contra mujer mapuche en dictadura
Court Acknowledges Torture and Sexual Violence Against Mapuche Woman During Dictatorship
The Santiago Court of Appeals has increased the compensation amount to $110 million for S.R.M.C., a Mapuche woman who, at just 19 years old, was detained and subjected to torture and sexual violence by state agents during the military dictatorship that began in October 1973 in the Lafkenche community of San José de Mariquina.
This ruling marks a significant milestone in addressing reparations for Mapuche victims of Augusto Pinochet’s regime. The Third Chamber of the appellate court—led by Judge Graciela Gómez Quitral, along with Judge Sergio Córdova Alarcón and lawyer Rafael Plaza Reveco—confirmed the previous ruling by the 26th Civil Court of Santiago but made a substantial modification: they increased the compensation amount after determining the original sum was inadequate given the severity of the damage documented.
The appellate court established that evidence allows for the conclusion that «both the duration of the deprivation of liberty and the conditions in which it was experienced, along with the type of cruel and inhumane treatment she endured, constituted a series of afflictions faced by a nineteen-year-old girl.» This resulted in «a traumatic experience with severe physical and psychological consequences that she has endured throughout her life.»
It noted that these abuses «severely interrupted her life plans, creating a situation that is difficult to overcome over time, considering her age and level of development at the time of the unlawful acts.»
The court ruling stated that, to determine the compensation amount, it should be considered «the condition of the person who suffered these acts, particularly in this case, her ethnic background and age.» The judges emphasized that the victim «was not legally considered an adult according to the statutes of the time» and was «in a formative stage.»
The legal ruling pointed out that these circumstances allow for «greater reproach for the acts giving rise to responsibility, considering the vulnerability of the victim and the abuse of power exhibited by the perpetrators for which the state must take responsibility.» Consequently, the appellate court deemed the originally established amounts insufficient and rejected the government’s request to lower the compensation.
«I lived with a constant fear of being sexually abused and shot»
S.R.M.C.’s testimony before the court starkly describes what it meant for a 19-year-old to witness how her quiet life in the Lafkenche community of San José de Mariquina crumbled following the coup d’état and the persecution of Mapuche families.
On the morning of October 31, 1973, the community was raided house by house, in search of alleged weapons and the «dangerous extremists,» individuals purportedly linked to leftist political parties.
When they entered her home, the violence was immediate; as they bound each family member and took the men away, they beat her, immobilized her face down, and left her locked in her own house, supervised by an officer. Upon returning, the military committed acts of sexual violence against her. «This was the first of many times I was abused and violated deeply,» she recounted.
During this time, the agents kept her imprisoned in her own home, harassing and threatening her daily.
«I lived with a constant fear of being sexually abused and shot; state agents abused me multiple times, seizing every opportunity they had to grope me while flaunting the authority they possessed, continuing to violate me under the threat of death,» she narrated.
On some occasions, the officers would drag her out at dawn and force her to run through a military training area with obstacles, all while aiming firearms at her.
«I had to navigate those obstacles while being targeted by a gun, enduring the cold, anxiety, humiliation, and the fear of execution as I ran. Months went by in which I was violated every day; days that stretched into an eternity,» she expressed.
The torture and sexual violence she suffered at the hands of state agents during the dictatorship left profound physical and psychological scars on S.R.M.C. that persist to this day, preventing her from leading a normal life.
This ruling, which confirms the initial verdict but raises the compensation amount, establishes a precedent for other Mapuche victims of the dictatorship to seek judicial redress.
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