[cw: sexual torture]

An otherwise unremarkable house on Calle Irán, in south-east Santiago, Chile’s capital, has a sombre history. The two-storey building was used to detain, torture and exterminate political opponents under the dictatorship of Augusto Pinochet (1973-1990). The widespread use of sexual violence against detainees, blindfolded at all times, prompted its macabre name of Venda Sexy (Sexy Blindfold), allegedly coined by perpetrators.

Women were particularly targeted for sexual abuse, suffering rape, forced pregnancies, abortions and sexual slur. A German Shepherd dog called Volodia was trained to rape inmates. Female and male prisoners were also subjected to beatings, hangings, electric shocks, Russian roulette, asphyxia and deprivation of sleep, among other torture methods. Prisoners called the secret detention centre La Discothèque due to Pinochet’s agents blasting loud music at all times.

According to the association of survivors, at least 85 political prisoners were held here between 1974 and 1977. More than a quarter of them (23) were killed and made disappear. They were among the 41,470 victims of political detention, torture, forced disappearance and extra-judicial execution perpetrated by Pinochet’s regime across 1,168 detention centres — crimes that in many cases, as Amnesty International notes, are still waiting for truth, justice and reparation to be served.

https://www.opendemocracy.net/en/democraciaabierta/sale-of-venda-sexy-torture-centre-highlights-chiles-struggle-for-historical-memory-regarding-sexual-violence/