34 CultureShock! Chile
man with high moral standing. Aylwin successfully walked
a fine line in dealing with the most important issue of his
presidency—human rights—while not offending or alienating
the military. His administration needed to maintain a strong
economic performance while boosting social expenditures.
With the return of democracy, many new voices were
clamouring to be heard. Aylwin was able to find channels
for these groups to express themselves without straining the
fledgling system.
Pinochet continued as Commander-in-Chief of the Army
until his term ended in 1998. Although he held considerable
influence and was often in the news, he did not control
the government. The 1980 constitution called for the
inclusion of nine designated senators, who are not elected,
but were named by the outgoing Pinochet government.
These appointed senators prevented the Concertación from
gaining a majority in the upper house. In 1998 Pinochet
became an appointed senator of the same Congress he
had shut down.Human Rights
When Pinochet stepped down from the presidency, he
vowed that he would not allow even one of his soldiers to
be tried for human rights violations. With the exception
of a few very important cases, this has been the case in
Chile. Some of the most publicised and shocking human
rights cases include El Caso de Los Quemados (two young
demonstrators who were burned alive, one of whom—
Carmen Gloria Quintana—survived), Los Degollados (four
activists who were found with their throats slashed), El
Caso Soria (a Spanish national who worked for the United
Nations and was assassinated), the assassination of Orlando
Letelier, the former Chilean Ambassador to the United
States under the Allende government, and his American
assistant in Washington, DC, and the assassination of former
Commander-in-Chief of the Army General Carlos Prats and
his wife in Buenos Aires.
Under President Aylwin a ‘Truth and Reconciliation
Commission’ was established to investigate human rights