The exile magazine Chile-America and the transnational networks of denunciation and political resistance (1974-1983)

Abstract

In this article we analyze the participation of the Chilean magazine Chile-América in transnational human rights networks which in essence worked to denounce the crimes committed by the repression apparatus of the Chilean military dictatorship. Founded in September 1974 by members of the Democracia Cristiana, MAPU and Izquierda Cristiana, and composed of important names in Chilean politics exiled in Italy, such as Bernardo Leighton, Julio Silva Solar, Esteban Tomic and José Antonio Viera-Gallo, Chile-América from its headoffice in Rome worked with progressive political parties and associations and with national and international humanitarian organizations. In its pages, the magazine consistently published various reports, especially from Chilean and foreign political groups, as well as from the human rights commissions of transnational organizations, or even released its own dossiers reporting on practices of political violence during the Chilean dictatorship. Such work benefited of contacts both within and outside Chile. Therefore, based on the reports of abuse, we will center on the analysis of the connections established by the magazine's editors, as well as the political and human rights networks through which Chile-América took action.