The Fifty-Year Struggle for Human Rights: The South American Context and the Chilean Transition

This chapter examines South America’s coups between the 1960s and 1980s, focusing on Plan Cóndor and the coordination of human rights violations, particularly enforced disappearances. It explores why sexual violence against women during these dictatorships was initially overlooked and has only recently gained attention. The chapter analyses the tension transitional regimes faced between consolidating democracy and avoiding an authoritarian relapse while aspiring to break from the past. It discusses how debates on impunity dominated the transition and highlights the role of truth commissions in accountability. Focusing on Chile, it reflects on the fiftieth anniversary of the coup, detailing human rights abuses under Pinochet and how Chile addressed these crimes during its transition through memory, truth, and justice.