Sickening recent history.

Chris Firth of Wakey.
recent  |  interesting  |  random  |  favorites  |  contacts  |  sets  |  tags:  
Sickening recent history.
Sickening recent history.

This may look like a rather poor railway photo but this view tells the tale of a horrendous recent historical period.

Step back in time to 1973 when Augusto Pinochet a Chilean Army general seized power and became the countries dictator and later president for the period right up to 1990.

After his rise to power, Pinochet persecuted leftists, socialists, political critics and in general communists resulting in the executions of thousands of people. the internment of as many as 80,000 people, and the torture of tens of thousands. His country headquarters was in the small town of San Jose de Maipo where this photo was taken. Our guide for the day advised that the ranch he lived on doubled as a torture centre. When those unfortunate to be taken there had been tortured, the survivors were put on this narrow gauge train, taken five miles up the railway line to a tunnel when they had to disembark before being gunned down. This process went on for many years and our guide mentioned that of the likely tens of thousands of dead his cousin was one.

Of course the official government records only detail much smaller number but it remains true that over the period tens of thousands of people with opposing political views disappeared never to be traced agin.

As for Pinochet, his popularity dwindles, he stepped down in 1990 but continued as commander in chief of the Chilean military until 1998. He was arrested in London that year as a result of the mounting humanitarian accusations and retuned to Chile where he was placed under house arrest. Despite being eventually deemed for to stand trial he passed away at home through natural causes in 2006 aged 89. As a result he never received any sentence for these atrocities. Maybe some of the reason for this leniency was due to American involvement when they backed the coup and supported the Pinochet regime.

For the record the locomotives here are designated J-3 and J-5 of the Puente Alto-El Volcan railway and were photographed at the small museum in San Jose de Maipo.

© All Rights Reserved
Taken on: March 18, 2024
Tags: Everybody's photos tagged with Augusto Pinochet Augusto Pinochet Everybody's photos tagged with Chile Chile Everybody's photos tagged with Dictator Dictator more » Everybody's photos tagged with San Jose de Maipo San Jose de Maipo Everybody's photos tagged with Puento Alto-El Volcan Railway Puento Alto-El Volcan Railway Everybody's photos tagged with J-3 J-3 Everybody's photos tagged with J-5 J-5 « less
Sets appears in:   • Non UK modern traction    • South America 2024    more » • Chile    • Rail Chile    « less
Groups appears in:   • Chile    • South American Travel    more » • Argentina, Chile and Uruguay    • Americas - The Continent / El Continente / O Continente    • World Trains    • International Railroad Photography Gallery    • Any Transport    • Railroad Traffic    • Railfan Atlas    • RAILROAD 1    « less
Camera: Sony ILCE-7RM3, f/8.0, 1/1250 sec, 32mm, ISO 1000 (more info) (hide info)
Camera: Sony ILCE-7RM3
Lens: FE 24-70mm F4 ZA OSS
Aperture: f/8.0
Exposure Time: 0.001 sec (1/1250)
Focal Length: 32mm
ISO: 1000
Exposure Bias: +0.3 EV
Flash: Off, Did not fire
Exposure Program: Aperture-priority AE
Exposure Mode: Auto
Metering Mode: Multi-segment
White Balance: Auto
Sharpness: Hard
Color Space: sRGB
Software: Adobe Photoshop 25.3 (Macintosh)
Show full info
Stats: 996 views / 15 comments