As is the case with most state terror, the targeted killings served a dual purpose. First, they removed real obstacles to the project—the people most likely to fight back. Second, the fact that everyone witnessed the “troublemakers” being disappeared sent an unmistakable warning to those who might be thinking of resisting, thereby eliminating future obstacles. And it worked. “We were confused and anguished, docile and waiting to take orders … people regressed; they became more dependent and fearful,” recalled the Chilean psychiatrist Marco Antonio de la Parra.58 They were, in other words, in
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