Authoritarian Regimes in Latin America
Democracy has always been fragile in the region, with many descents into authoritarianism since independence from Spain. But the 1970s and early 80s were marked by especially brutal authoritarian regimes that used torture, murder and the "disappearance" of political dissidents to control society. Chile is one of these countries, as we see in the movie Missing and in the reading by Elizabeth Hilbink. In this unit we will explore the role of the courts in contributing to the downfall of democracy in Chile, their conduct during the quarter century of dictatorship, and what they have done since the return to democracy.
The movie and the reading serve as an introduction to the next series of readings on transitional justice, which concern the attempts of courts to address the human rights violations of these authoritarian regimes.