Chile - Cile Photo by Eddie Adams Political Rights, Truth and
Reconciliation "I no longer took notice of fear, much in the way
a surgeon becomes accustomed to the sight of blood." José
Zalaquett began his career as a founder of the modern human
rights movement worldwide, campaigning while a law student for
Salvador Allende. Upon Allende’s election as president of Chile
in 1970, Zalaquett served a two-year term as cabinet minister,
which he left for a post at the university. Shortly thereafter
in 1973, General Augusto Pinochet launched a bloody coup which
forcibly ousted the elected government. Thousands were arrested,
imprisoned, tortured, and killed. Many more went into exile. In
the aftermath, the Catholic Church, one of the only entities
remaining with a degree of political space, approached Zalaquett
to create a Committee for Peace to help the victims of the coup.
Under Zalaquett’s leadership, the committee, later known as the
Vicaría de la Solidaridad, was the foremost human rights
organization operating