46 years after the Military Coup, the Carabineros Police Station of Potrerillos functioned as a center for political imprisonment and torture from September 1973, with detentions concentrated from that date until the beginning of 1974.

Brief detentions, lasting one night, were characteristic, but they were repeated with some frequency (more than once a month) until the time of the first dismissals in the mines of the area. From the moment of their arrest, prisoners were subjected to mistreatment and violent beatings.

In the facility, they were kept in the courtyard or in the cells, deprived of food and shelter, sometimes blindfolded, hooded, and held incommunicado. They were frequently taken to the basement of the facility, where they were subjected to interrogations.

The prisoners, hooded or with their faces uncovered, were tortured through beatings with blunt objects on the face, ears, and genitals, the application of electric shocks to the entire body, and mock executions.

Women, in particular, were subjected to sexual humiliation and rape; some men also suffered the same type of assaults. At that time, Major Luis Alarcón Gacitúa was the Commissioner and has been identified as a criminal and accomplice for the abuses committed there.

Source: Potrerillos 100 Años de Historia - 11 09 2019