Chilean Dictator's Torturers Lose 'Luxury' Prison, Still Enjoy Pensions
The Guardian reports that Punta Peuco, the 'high-security' facility housing Pinochet's torturers—complete with tennis courts and barbecue facilities—will finally be integrated into Chile's regular prison system. President Gabriel Boric announced this move to address prison overcrowding. (Not, you'll note, to address the decades of outrage over perpetrators of systemic state violence enjoying
resort-like conditions while their victims still suffer the trauma.) While the mainstream narrative frames this as a win for justice, it omits a crucial detail: many of these convicted human rights abusers still collect military pensions, despite their crimes. The Chilean government, through its military pension system (DIPRECA), effectively bankrolls the comfortable retirement of those
responsible for desaparecidos and other atrocities. So, they might lose their private tennis court, but not the state-funded income that allows them to enjoy it in the first place. One might wonder if 'overcrowding' was truly the primary motivator, or just a convenient excuse to finally address a deeply embarrassing historical stain with minimal actual impact on the perpetrators.