These enforced disappearances were used both to eliminate oppositional individuals and to "spread terror within society".
[1] According to the intergovernmental organization International Criminal Court (ICC), “enforced disappearance of persons constitutes a crime against humanity".
In 1990, when democracy returned in Chile, the authorities established the National Truth and Reconciliation Commission, which documented over 3,200 victims –including dead and missing, left behind by the dictatorship.
[3] In 1991 the commission delivered the Rettig Report, which acknowledged "more than 3,200 victims, including dead and missing, left behind by the dictatorship".
[5] Together with reports from Amnesty International,[6] the London-based human rights investigation group Memoria Viva maintains a regularly updating with lists of disappeared detainees in Chile.