Santiago, Chile, Nov 10, 2004 / 22:00 pm
The Archbishop of Santiago, Cardinal Francisco Errazuriz, encouraged Chileans this week to calmly accept and face the painful conclusions of the report by the National Commission on Political Imprisonment and Torture.
Reacting to news of the imminent publication of the report, Cardinal Errazuriz said the country is capable of examining its own history and that past events must be seen “as pieces of the truth, a painful truth.”
“We wish these events had not occurred in Chile, we suffer for those who were victims, and we suffer for the perpetrators,” he added, saying the country should learn from these events for the good of its future.
The National Commission on Political Imprisonment and Torture was established to uncover those who were deprived of their freedom and tortured for political reasons by agents of the State or by people in service of the State, between September 11, 1973, and March 10, 1990.