Torture Map of Chile

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Torture Map of Chile

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Chile's government is drawing a map of 515 torture centers throughout Chile used by Pinochet's violent, sustained crusade against the left during his 17-year reign, which is nice of them. About 2 decades 2 late, but all the same, it's part of a larger effort including a spiffy diagram, published in La Nación. A Memory Museum planned for 2009.

Indeed, the project promises to shock many Chileans who may not be aware that buildings they pass every day on their way to work were torture centers. With luck the plaques will be placed as prominently as the one on the National Stadium, an enormous structure to where people were rounded up and many periodically escorted to these snail-shell shaped buildings where electrocution was administered so excessively by Chilean torturers that the Brazilian technicians, who brought the machinery, were taken aback. One prisoner writes how he felt his head was no longer large enough for his brains, his mouth no longer large enough for his tongue. Army vehicles parked nearby cranked up Beatles and Rolling Stones to drown out the victims' screams; there was a school right across the street. For more great anecdotes, heat up some popcorn and watch Estadio National.

In addition to the little plaque, the Pope kissed the National Stadium's ground during His 1987 Chile visit. I hope this new mapping project finally settles the question: if a torture center gets a kiss from the Pope, does it also get a little plaque? Understandable dilemmas like these must have been what kept this mapping project held back for so many years.

Anyway, I wonder: is there a way to integrate this Santiago, Chile torture map with Google maps? Do you think they'll do it?