LAW: Secrets, Lies, and the Case of Victor Jara

In the context of the Chilean dictatorship, Almudena Bernabeu examines how systems of secrets and lies impacted victims' rights to truth, justice, reparations, and non-repetition.

Dictatorial regimes are fueled by arrogance and by the ability to deny that their power will ever end. Under such a regime, a vast array of social actors — armed forces, intelligence services, religious institutions, the business sector, and mass media — will rely on a system of secrets and lies after the real (or apparent) end of the dictatorship.