Londres 38
-33.4443655, -70.6481865
Londres 38 is another memory site in Santiago where political prisoners were tortured and killed. During the dictatorship, the National Intelligence Directorate (DINA) used Londres 38 as a center for its operations. There is a plaque outside of the building which reads
“Secret Detention, Torture, Disappearance, and Killing Site. September 11, 1973 to 1975. In this place, 98 people- including two pregnant women- were disappeared, executed, or killed as a consequence of tortures. To hide these crimes, during the dictatorship the number 38 was replaced with 40. With mobilization and fighting it was obtained in 2005 and declared a historic monument. In 2008 the memorial was inaugurated, and since 2010 this site has been open to the community as a memory space.”
Graffiti below the door reads “Here they tortured my son.” The cobblestones on the street outside of Londres 38 have the names of individuals who were disappeared at the site in memory of the lives lost there. While we did not have the opportunity to go inside Londres 38 while in Chile, the site’s exterior offers plenty of recognition and memorial for the heinous activities that occurred behind the closed doors of Pinochet’s dictatorship. (http://www.londres38.cl/1937/w3-propertyvalue-35249.html)