Textile Details

'Encadenamiento / Women Chained to Parliament Gates' Anonymous. (Photo: Martin Melaugh)

This arpillera depicts a protest by a group of 59 members of the Association of the Families of the Detained-Disappeared, who chained themselves to the gates in front of the former Congress building in April 18th 1979. They acted to draw attention to and denounce the actions of the Pinochet regime, particularly the disappearance of their loved ones. With their lives in turmoil, they are denouncing the actions of the dictatorship in the public sphere and immortalizing these actions with needle and thread in their workshops run by Vicaría de la Solidaridad. For this act of civil disobedience, each of the protesters were detained for five days. The group began by marching from different points around Santiago, until they met outside the building which previously housed Chile's National Congress. The Congress had been dissolved within days of the 1973 military coup, with the Junta (military council) taking its place and the Ministry of Justice occupying the building instead. The action was carefully coordinated, with protesters contacting journalists who observed physical intimidation and rough handling from the carabineros (military police). They chanted “For peace, for life, tell us where they are!” (New York Times), standing strong until their chains were cut and they were detained.

The AFDD had previously used chaining to some success. Magdalena Navarrete Faraldo, who was enchained both to Congress, and at CEPAL(United Nations Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean) in 1978, described how she and other members 'were all very afraid, but […]she knew she wasn't alone and that her struggle was not individual'. The group was first formed by family members searching in detention camps and prisons for their loved ones.

Only months prior to the enchaining at the Former Congress, the remains of 15 men who had been disappeared in a town outside of Santiago were found in the nearby lime kilns of Lonquén. This discovery marked a turning point for families of the disappeared, as it was the first evidence of their deaths. When asked how they found the strength to keep going, their replies emphasise not just the depth of their suffering but also their resilience: “We've been hit by so many blows in life. We might as well be out on the frontlines now because many of us have nothing more to lose.” (Agosín, 2008)

(HM0325)

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