El Rio Yeso Alto and the Dark Political Legacy of Augusto Pinochet

       I have to say this might have been the best NRA day trip during our stay in Chile...

     In San Jose de Maipo, the two rivers we paddled regularly were Rio Maipo and Rio Yeso (one of the three main tributaries to el Rio Maipo). There were three main sections that we kayak: Maipo Bajo (Lower Maipo: class III), Maipo Alto (Upper Maipo: class IV-V), Yeso (class V). I actually never got to experience the intensity of Upper Maipo or Yeso. They were big: big rapids, big holes and big consequences. Nonetheless, the river were beautiful and I had no idea the level of its beauty until we took Lorenzo's 4WD Mitsubishi pick-up truck and drove up to Upper Yeso. Yet, what was even more surprising was the first-hand experience of Augusto Pinochet's concentration camp of which the fearful Chilean dictator built during his repressive 17-year rule.

Lorenzo driving his badass Mitsubishi Trojan (on the way to Upper Yeso).
Beautiful landscape reflected in his mirror.

The rocky & sandy terrain indigenous to the Maipo Region. This was part of Upper Yeso.

    The drive to Upper Yeso wasn't the most comfortable ride I had ever had but it was compensated by the gorgeous landscape surrounding us. To be fair, we were not looking for a comfortable ride anyway. We were rather looking more for HARDCORE DIRT ROAD DRIVING! Without a truck, the journey would have been rough and cranky. Fortunately, with a 4WD truck and with Lorenzo driving skill, it felt like racing which was very manly and exciting! 

The scenery around Upper Yeso

     This kind of terrain here was very new and exotic to me - gigantic snowy rocky mountains & hills,  shallow & crystal-clear creek. I was completely blown away by its scale in all directions. What was usually seen on TV or on the calender photos was unrealistically thrown at my face. It felt unreal but undeniable.

Upper Yeso River with gorgeous mountains in the background

Upper Yeso waterfall (30-35 ft)

Our English teacher, Kara, was super excited just being out in the
nature and taking lots of photos with her new Nikon

Our Spanish teacher, Lorenzo looking at the distant mountain, thinking, 
"I must have climbed it before...when I was 10"

NRA student: Clay and Hunt ...as the background

Me completely in awe of the mountains

Travelers waiting for buses or hitch-hiking opportunity

Snow-white mountain and a cross

Random shot

Ridiculous mountains!

     Upper Yeso is not just famous for its beautiful scenery but also the staggering political ruins...

    I did a little research after I came back to the U.S. about these ruins.

    According to Wikipedia: After a CIA-backed coup d'état on September 11, 1973, the newly promoted Commander-in-Chief of the Chilean Army, Augusto Pinochet overthrew preseident Salvador Allende's socialist government and was voted by the military junta of Chile to be the president...(1)

    This is an express version of the whole story. It has the beginning and the end but nothing in between in terms of "how" it actually happened. 

  

     Dating back the early 70s', fearing South America became a "red sandwich" between Cuba and Chile, Nixon administration, by all means, used some of the most extreme measures in its foreign policy to destabilize then Chilean president, Allende's socialist government through "secret payments, distortions, and cover-ups."  (2)

    Initially, Pinochet's role in this top-classified international political plot was quite vague. In fact, his relation with the U.S. embassy in Santiago was not particularly close. During the coup, Pinochet was not the leading figures in the military junta which included Air force General, Gustavo Leigh, Navy General, José Toribio merino and Director General of the Carabiniers Cézar Mendoza. 

Chilean General and Dictator:
Augusto José Ramón Pinochet Ugarte (1915-2006)

The original Chilean government junta. From right to left:
Air force General: Gustavo Leigh, Army General: Augusto Pinochet,
Navy General: José Toribio merino and Director General of the Carabiniers: Cézar Mendoza.

    Within 24 hours after the coup, Pinochet held a secret rendezvous with the U.S. military attaché, Colonel Carlos Urrutia, explaining the junta's plans and asked for official recognition of his regime by the U.S.. Two weeks later, Nixon extended the desired diplomatic recognition. (2)

    The U.S.'s attitude toward Pinochet's government remained cool publicly. After a few meetings with the high government officials in the White House, Pinochet's regime was supported by the U.S. and an abundant economic and military aids started to flow into Chile. (2)

    At the beginning of his rule, Pinochet's government was harsh and brutal against its political opponent. In a government report that had more than 30,000 people's testimonies indicated that at least 3,000 people were killed, 29,000 people were tortured including children and women. Up to 80,000 were interned. About two-third of the cases in the report happened in 1973 alone. (1) (3)

   Pinochet's government had build many political prisons all over the country and the one I visited was near the Upper Yeso. I'm not too sure about the relative size of the facility here. There are about 20 of these half-pipe shaped prisons in the area.

Prison ruins

NRA student, Clay and Hunt checking out the prison.

Not sure if there was any writings from the political outcast back
in the days. However, what was recognizable as modern writing was "equipo cerveza."
 It means"beer squad" in Spanish. jajaja

Random objects lying on the ground. It was hard to discern if they
were left by the prisoners or the homeless. Most likely the later one.

    Despite the countless political criticisms against Pinochet, he's economic reforms was termed "Miracles of Chile" by the free market Noble Prize winning economist Milton Freidman. The reform had three main goals: economic liberalization, privatization of state owned companies, and stabilization of inflation. With U.S. economic support, Pinochet's government held up the economic down slide and secured an economic foundation for Chile's future. 

    After 17 years of dictatorship, Pinochet transferred his power to a democratically elected government in 1990. He remained as Commander-in-Chief until 1998 and became a senator-for-life. Within two years of his retirement, hundreds and hundreds of court cases against his political violence against human rights ignited like wild fire. In addition, extensive investigation into his personal finance revealed financial corruption, "...including the discovery of millions of dollars in state funds held in numerous secret overseas accounts, among them several at the former Riggs Bank in Washington. As recently as October, Chilean investigators announced the discovery of 10 tons of gold, worth an estimated $160 million, in Pinochet's name in a Hong Kong bank." (3)

In one of the cells in the prison. The free and beautiful mountains at the look out
of one of the cell windows was an ironic contrast to the dark political dungeon.

      Pinochet passed away on September 10, 2006 in a military hospital in Santiago at an ago of 91, leaving hundreds of court cases that had sought to bring him to justice. 

(1)"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Augusto_Pinochet"

(2) "The dictator's Shadow: The Life Under Augusto Pinochet", Heraldo Muñoz 

(3) "A chilean Dictator's Dark Legacy", The washington Post, 2006