The Investigative Brigade: Hunting Human Rights Criminals in Post-Pinochet Chile

by Pascale Bonnefoy, Russ Davidson (Translator)

During the seventeen-year Pinochet dictatorship, more than three thousand Chileans were murdered or disappeared without a trace. In 1991, a year after the brutal military regime ended, the new civilian government tasked the nation's detective force to investigate these crimes. Chilean journalist Pascale Bonnefoy tells the dramatic story of the detectives who hunted down and attempted to bring human rights violators to account. Led by a tiny group called Department V, the effort took place in the context of a frail transition to democracy and while the force itself was undergoing profound reforms. With Pinochet still in charge of the army, a center-left government tested how far it could go to bring criminals to justice without risking military backlash.

To uncover this story, Bonnefoy gained the trust of detectives assigned to the cases and drew on their direct testimony. She excavated investigative files, witness testimony, and previously secret documents that helped her chronicle the dedicated brigade's dangerous mission. While substantial justice and institutional change took another decade to kick in, the detectives' work made it possible. Still unfolding, the post-Pinochet example is admired by many working for transitional justice around the globe.

336 pages, Kindle Edition

Published August 25, 2022

Reviews

[June García · Rating 5 out of 5]

Impresionante el trabajo de Pascale Bonnefoy. La cantidad y calidad de su investigación es alucinante, hasta un poco abrumadora. Demasiados datos, demasiadas fuentes, demasiada historia y demasiado dolor, no sé cómo lo hizo para ordenar y armar este libro. La temática me pareció una arista muy interesante y poco explorada en relación a la dictadura y los derechos humanos.

[Robin Kirk · Rating 3 out of 5]

This translation is a close-in examination of the Chilean effort to bring human rights criminals to justice. Thickly detailed, Bonnefoy’s story shows the slogging, determined work of investigators, a good thing. More and more in my own thinking about human rights, I am focused on the individuals through whose work these lofty principles take human shape. Bonnefoy is a journalist and professor of journalism who does a great hob narrowing in on these fighters.

[Franco Pollarolo · Rating 3 out of 5]

Muy envolvente, da cuenta de una transición oculta de las policías, de asociación ilícita y criminal a una asociación civil y democrática.