The Chacabuco Salitrera

There were numerous salitres or sodium nitrate works built in Chile by the British. The sodium nitrate, also known as salt peter, was required to make gun powder. Chacabuco was one of the last to be built and operated in Chile. It closed operations in 1971 but was put into use as a concentration camp from 1973 to 1978 after General Pinochet ousted the government. It was the base where most of Chile's leftist intellectuals were encarcerated and many were killed. Today it is an historical monument and the location for an annual out-door theatre event. The area is not very well preserved as it was damaged by explosives when former prisoners returned to try to eradicate it from their memories. It also sufferred heavily from an earthquake several years ago. Today it has but one guard, a Seņor Zaldivar, who lives alone there in the desert. Ironically, he was himself a prisoner there during the coup.

The translations that appear below are not intended as a political comment on my part. They are simply translations of graffiti that appear in Chacabuco.

A sign at the entrance states the following:

Constructed between 1922 and 1924 it had 1,700 workers and a total population of 7,000 inhabitants. Annual production was 180,000 metric tonnes of the salt and 900 quintals of iodine. It used the "Shanks" process of production. It closed operations as a salt works in 1971 and was declared a historical monument.

It was common practice to pay the workers with round wooden "chits" that could only be used at the company store. This way workers could not amass savings and move away if they desired.

My spanish teacher, Eliana Olivares, and I are standing in the ruins of the original church that was built for the inhabitants during the mining of the salt peter. The building was burnt by the soldiers during the time when Chacabuco was used as a concentration camp. It provided a large meeting place for the inmates out of sight of the guards and thus had to go.

Incidentally, Eliana's mother grew up in Chacabuco during its days as a salt works.

This graffiti appears on a wall inside the ruins of the church. It reads as follows:

God, where were you when they burned your temple? Where were you when came the new Romans with their dirty hands?

The ? H.D.? family of Calama wrote their sentiments on a column inside the complex.

A place of much pain and agony by the dog, Pinochet.

This carving uses the natural shape of the tree to form the shape of a tortured man with his arms raised above his head. The words indicate it was done by Orlando Valdez, also known as Caliche, in 1974. Several other trees have carvings as well. Chacabuco held many artists and poets who were opposed to the military government of the time.

This church is carved out of the brick wall inside one of the empty buildings. It was a symbolic replacement for the one that was burnt down. This is surprizing as Chacabuco held mainly communist supporters who by definition were atheists. The inscription reads:

Church of Chacabuco, innocent like my mother, your stained glass windows are the sky and when the clouds pass over your back the sun makes its nest, and in the night, they sprinkle you with a dew of star dust. Its signed ... R. Rojas and Caliche