The Sebastián Acevedo Movement Against Torture (Movimiento contra la tortura Sebastián Acevedo; MCTSA) was a humanitarian organization for the defense of human rights that sought to defend people detained and tortured during the military dictatorship of Augusto Pinochet in Chile.
Sebastián Acevedo[]
Sebastián Acevedo was a Chilean worker. In 1983, his two sons, Galó and María, were kidnapped by the CNI (the secret police of the Pinochet regime). After desperately searching for his children and not finding them, he decided to douse himself with gasoline and set himself on fire, in protest at the arrest of his children. Before dying, he had spoken with the priest Enrique Moreno, who recorded Acevedo's last words on a tape recorder, which were "I want the CNI to return my children... God, forgive them and also forgive me for this sacrifice."
The movement[]
Acevedo's death would end up generating a national upheaval within Chile, as it would reveal the pain and anguish of those who experienced the disappearance of family members during the dictatorship. The same year as Acevedo's suicide, the priest José Aldunate founded the "Movement against torture Sebastián Acevedo", made up of religious and human rights defenders. In its first public act, some 70 members of the movement meet to denounce the existence of a CNI torture barracks on Borgoño street in Santiago, displaying a canvas with the phrase "¡HERE ARE TOTURING!"
Subsequently, the organization would continue to hold other demonstrations to denounce the torture and human rights abuses that were taking place in Chile. With the support of religious and human rights organizations, the organization was able to denounce several cases of torture and helped to make visible the human rights violations in Chile. The organization dissolved in 1990, when the country returned to democracy.