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Carmen Gloria Quintana\u2014who, as a teenager, opposed the violent regime of Chilean dictator Augusto Pinochet\u2014still bears the scars as a result of her activism.<\/p>\n
Quintana was only 18 on July 2,1986 when she was set on fire, scarring 65 percent of her body. On March 18 she spoke in Berkeley about the lasting effects that Pinochet\u2019s regime had not only in her life but on Chile as well.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt was an emotional shock for my family,\u201d Quintana said of the incident during her visit to the Bay Area. \u201cMy youngest sister was 10 years old and my oldest sister was 19; we were all kids and adolescents. My parents immediately saw this as a fight.\u201d<\/p>\n
Quintana wasn\u2019t the only victim that day in 1986.<\/p>\n
Rodrigo Rojas, a 19-year-old American photographer, was visiting Chile to get in touch with his heritage. While attending a protest, Rojas and Quintana were held by police, doused with gasoline, set on fire and left for dead in a ditch on the outskirts of Santiago, Chile, according to Quintana.<\/p>\n
Rojas died a couple of days later from the injuries.<\/p>\n
According to Quintana, none of the officers involved suffered repercussions, unlike the 15 witnesses who came forward.<\/p>\n
After the incident, Quintana was offered refuge in other countries and ended up leaving to Canada with her whole family in September 1986.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe Chileans in Quebec organized, raised funds and protested,\u201d Quintana said. \u201cThere was a lot of solidarity. My parents were given a furnished house for us to live in.\u201d<\/p>\n
About 35,000 people suffered during the Pinochet regime, according to a 1991 report by the Rettig Commission, which was created in 1990 by then president of Chile Patricio Aylwin.<\/p>\n
Chile was hardly the only country in Latin America facing political strife in the 70s and 80s. Some countries such as El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras and Nicaragua endured civil war and economic crisis. Quintana attributes the turmoil of those countries to \u201cbig companies that extract natural resources from Latin America, that don\u2019t have any ethics, don\u2019t take into account the environment.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThere is no policy that protects nature,\u201d Quintana said. \u201cThe violation of human rights, the violations of indigenous groups by the judicial system, is classist. That\u2019s the reason there is no change.\u201d<\/p>\n
Quintana\u2019s visit to the Bay Area\u2014where she attended the cantata performance \u201cLa Vida Vence a la Muerte \/ Life Triumphs Over Death,\u201d which is based on her life\u2014coincided with U.C. Berkeley\u2019s Haas School of Business\u2019 Latin America Conference on April 1. Chilean politician Felipe Kast, whose family has ties to the Pinochet regime, was invited to speak at the conference.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s disappointing that the university would invite that kind of person to make a conference in a university that promotes respect and human rights,\u201d Quintana said.<\/p>\n
Quintana returned to Chile after recuperating from her injuries in the late 1980s, yet she believes that Chile is a country that has yet to heal the wound of Pinochet\u2019s regime.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere are libraries with Pinochet\u2019s name on it\u2014streets, statues. The murderers are dying [with] impunity,\u201d Quintana said. \u201cThere\u2019s a long way to go before we can talk about reconciliation.\u201d<\/p>\n
Chilean judge Mario Carroza revisited the incident that killed Rojas and permanently disfigured Quintana. In 2015, Carroza ordered the arrest of seven officers, including Lt. Julio Casta\u00f1er. One of the perpetrating officers, Fernando Guzm\u00e1n, told Carroza that Casta\u00f1er ordered Quintana and Rojas to be set on fire.<\/p>\n
According to Quintana, the victims of the Pinochet regime would like to move forward, but for that to happen there needs to be a discourse.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere\u2019s a part of the Chilean population that says that it is the past, \u2018Why should we remember?\u2019 \u2018Why should we reopen old wounds?\u2019 But until this day, there is a reality that has been denied,\u201d Quintana said. \u201cUs, as victims, don\u2019t want vengeance; what we want is truth, justice and reparation with a glimpse of a future.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
[su_slider source=”media: 29886,29887″ limit=”30″ link=”image” target=”blank” width=”700″ height=”460″ autoplay=”0″ speed=”500″][su_slider source=”media: 29856,29857″ limit=”30″ link=”image” target=”blank” width=”700″ height=”460″ autoplay=”0″ speed=”500″][su_menu][\/su_slider] Carmen Gloria Quintana\u2014who, as a teenager, opposed the violent regime of Chilean dictator Augusto Pinochet\u2014still bears the scars as a result of her activism. Quintana was only 18 on July 2,1986 when she was set on […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":35,"featured_media":29887,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"newspack_popups_has_disabled_popups":false,"newspack_featured_image_position":"","newspack_post_subtitle":"","newspack_article_summary_title":"Overview:","newspack_article_summary":"","newspack_hide_updated_date":false,"newspack_show_updated_date":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[3929],"tags":[8941,8943,8919,4225,8705,8939,8927,8933,8929,8937,8935,8925,8719,8715,8923,8921,8931],"coauthors":[],"class_list":["post-29885","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news-en","tag-augusto-pinochet-en","tag-berkeley-en","tag-carmen-gloria-quintana","tag-chile-en","tag-felipe-kast","tag-fernando-guzman","tag-la-vida-vence-a-la-muerte","tag-latin-america-conference","tag-life-triumphs-over-death","tag-lt-julio-castaner","tag-mario-carroza","tag-patricio-aylwin","tag-pinochet-en","tag-pinochet-regime","tag-rettig-commission","tag-rodrigo-rojas","tag-u-c-berkeleys-haas-school-of-business","entry"],"yoast_head":"\n