Torture Treatment Centers: South American Roots

the United States:
Torture Treatment Centers in
National Consortiumn
The South American Roots of a
Michael Nutkiewicz
the Universal
Assembly adopted and proclaimed
The United Nations General
10, 1948.
Article 5 states, "No
one
or
shall be subjected to torture
ofHuman Rights
on
December
inhuman
or
degrading treatment or punishment." Amnesty
to
cruel,
1961, and
decade later it launched
a
a
Declaration
International
was
founded in
of torture. It focused on
campaign for the abolition
the countries that were involved.
recording incidents of torture and "naming and shaming'"
language used by NGOs to speak about torture was legalistic,
blatant violation of human
rights.
The consequences of torture
survivors
not addressed. The rehabilitation of victims and
torture
was
was
indeed
on
not
was
appropriate for
the survivor, however,
a
were
possible in countries where
and they certainly were
practiced. Dictatorships denied that they employed torture,
heal the bodies that
not
going to
and
refugees who had
The vision for
victims started in
they had broken.
Rehabilitation
physicians did
not
specialized centers in the
large part
for
identifying victims.
in
Chicago, who had been tortured
I
thought they
were
only possible for dissidents
United States for the rehabilitation of torture
with South American torture survivors,
tools
yet have the conceptual
or even
was
fled to safer countries.
and 1970s. At this
who fled to this country in the 1960s
survivors-
as
The
as a
refugees, and asylum seekers
time, mental health professionals and
to understand the clinical
Irene
profile of torture
Martinez, a physician in Cook County Hospital
political prisoner during Argentina's Dirty Wars,
torture survivors because
they reminded me of me."
noted:
Another
pioneer in
this field
was
Dr. José
Quiroga,
a
cardiologist who had been
Allende. He worked pro bono
personal physician of Salvador
Southern California, at the time the
patients from the Los Angeles
physical problems
survivors
Quiroga recognized that psychological and
by the horrors
countries. He asked Ana Deutsch,
experienced in their home
the United States
during Argentina's Dirty Wars,
take
about ways in which survivors could
care
Family Clinic in
clinic in the country. The Clinic had many
Latino community. Dr.
triggered in
were
largest free
at the Venice
a
of war, persecution, and the torture
a
clinical
psychologist who fled
to
talks at the Clinic
if she could offer informal
of themselves and create
some
semblance
of
psychological well being
In 1980
Quiroga and Deutsch established
Angeles (PTVLA) - the first
years, it
was a
volunteer
in Los
the Program for Torture Victims
United States. For
torture treatment program in the
organization. Its mission was
to
provide medical
torture. The Venice Free Clinic
to victims of state-sponsored
medical
served
assessment.
as
Deutsch
PTVLA then offered social services to
expert witnesses in asylum
cases
before federal
for working with
began to establish protocols
both
physicians and mental health professionals
beginning to
address the
particular needs
1985 the
and psychological aid
provided the space needed for
asylum seekers, and the clinical staff
immigration
courts.
torture survivors.
in the United States and
Quiroga and
They linked with other
Europe who were also
for rehabilitation. On the East coast, psychiatrist
established
Richard Mollica and social worker Jim Lavelle
1981, and in
the first fourteen
a
center at
Harvard
University in
Minneapolis-St. Paul-based Center for Victims of Torture (CVT)
was
founded in the Midwest.
Outside of the offices of organizations such as Amnesty International and Human Rights
Watch, torture was a relatively invisible human rights issue in the United States in the 1980s.
Several
high-profile cases in US courts, however,
These cases revived the
Act of
nearly forgotten
Alien Tort Statute, also known
primarily
include the
with crimes such
as
piracy.
in
the Alien Tort Claims
violation of international law.
In the
protection of human rights.
Tort Statute. Dr. Joel
rights case involving the Alien
Filártiga and Dolly Filártiga sued and sought
Norberto Peña-Irala, for the 1976
torture and death
of
within 45 minutes. Joelito's
abduction and torture
damages from Américo
agank" ne
6r
Joelito (Joel's son and Dolly's sister) in ol
Paraguay. Peña-Irala was then the Inspector General of
whippings, beatings, and high levels of electrical
Originally, the law
twentieth century, however, it was
expanded to
Filártigav. Peña (1980) is the most well-known human
human
as
Police in Asunción.
Subjected to
shock, the seventeen-year-old Joelito died
were no
doubt in retaliation for his father's
rights work, including helping torture victims, and his criticism of
General Alfredo
Stroessner's regime. Dr. Filártiga had
himself been arrested and tortured several times.
Dolly fled
to the
United States and asked for
political asylum. She soon discovered that
Peña-Irala had entered the United States illegally. She
reported him to the Immigration and
Naturalization Service, and he was arrested.
In
1979, Dolly and her father filed a suit against him
in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District
Cnecrkiy
?
1789, which allows non-U.S. citizens
to bring lawsuits in
district federal courts for torts
(civil wrongs that result in
injury) committed
dealt
brought the subject to the general public. U.s:'Cov
o
Irala asked the court to dismiss the
of New York for the murder of Joelito. Peña-
complaint and allow him to return to Paraguay. The court
agreed with him because it did not see the law as pertaining to suits between individual people.
Peña-Irala
was
deported to Paraguay and was granted immunity by its government.
After an appeal, the case was heard without the presence of Peña-Irala. During the trial
Dr.Quiroga testified on the physiological consequences oftorture on Joelito, and Ana Deutsch
so
testified
on
the psychological
effects
of Joelito's
torture o n
health professionals
doctors and mental
important role
what
compensation for
w"
constrained, however,
happened is
by the
terms
entirely inadequate
Filártiga and Dolly
a
to
response
which
$10 million judgment.
highlighted the
rights legal proceedings
Filártiga's loss. It
only allows
for monetary
medical costs,
in addition to
and lost work incurred
Dr. Filártiga and Dolly.
Unsurprisingly, the
Filártiga family
never
received
of the
summed up the importance
District court, however,
that plaintiffs
in expectation of money
can,
in
a
symbolic
way,
vindicate
pursue
court-ordered award.
the
case
was
Dr.
The Court awarded
damages,
million each in punitive
approximately $5
which included funeral costs,
compensatory damages
case
that
Court siressed several times
Statute,
of the Alien Torts
asked for
The family had
compensation.
family. The
have in human
the
In its decision,
family.
the
of
favor
The Court found in
an
the
by
The U.S.
decree:
in its concluding
"It is not
Court
conviction that this
this suit, but out of the
torture and take
of the victims of
the enduring personal anguish
in the fulfillment of the
another 'small but important step
ageless
dream to free all
people from
brutal violence."Another
Héctor
high-profile
Gramajo,
American
nun
Minister
police
engaged in
had
military.
a
of Defense in
1989, she
At the time she
full-throated assault
kidnapped
that of Sister Dianna Ortiz (1958-2021)
Guatemala between 1987
against General
and 1990. Ortiz
was an
communities in the northwestern
who worked among Maya-Akateko
Guatemala. In November
and
case was
on
was
was
kidnapped, tortured, and raped
kidnapped, the
by the Guatemalan
Guatemalan government
dissidents. Just two months before her
ten Guatemalan student leaders
executed, and many of their bodies showed
from San Carlos
signs of torture.
highlands of
was
already
abduction, the police
University. They were all
Several days after her abduction and ordeal, a man with an American accent intervened in
her
interrogation and took Sister Ortiz out of the prison.
destination when she escaped from his
car.
Within
He
was
driving her to an unknown
forty-eight hours, she was back in the United
States.
Sister Ortiz filed
a case
which determined that when
in 1990 with the
Inter-American Commission
on
Human
Rights,
military and security personnel acting on behalf of the government
abducted her, Guatemala had violated the
American Convention
on
Human
Rights.
The
Commission "recommended" that the
Guatemalan government investigate and take measures
against individuals who had violated Sister Ortiz's human
rights. In addition, it recommended
that
adequate monetary compensation should be given to her.
In
1991, Sister Ortiz utilized another piece ofU.S.
Victims Protection Act of 1991
to pursue her
legislation, namely, The Torture
claim in the U.S. District Court for the District of
Massachusetts against Gramajo, who was
studying for an advanced degree
University. This Act allows plaintiffs to bring civil suits in U.S. courts
Ortiz
won
the case, and the court awarded her $47.5 million in
able to collect.
Harvard
against individuals. Sister
damages, which she was never
Gramajo had completed his degree and returned to Guatemala. During the trial,
Sister Ortiz shed
arm
at
light on the role that the American government had taken to support, train, and
the Guatemalan
military." Most notorious was the School of the Americas, a military
training facility in Fort Benning, Georgia. Established in 1946, it is estimated that the School of
the Americas trained
63,000 military personnel from twenty-one countries. Gramajo had trained
there in 1967. In the
1990s, the Pentagon revealed that torture, among other interrogation
methods,
was
part and parcel of the training
at the
School of the Americas. Like
cases
involving
TULu was
Posk
the Alien Tort Statute, however, plaintiffs using the Torture Victims Protection Act have been
unsuccessful in suing the United States government for its role in torture.
The Refugce Act of 1980 created the U.S. Federal Refugee Resettlement Program whose
mission was the resettlement of refugees. Torture, however, was not considered a subject or
M o r
problem in and of itself. Eventually, in 1998, Congress passed the Torture Victims Relief Act,
acknowledging
that many
refugees
and
asylees entering the country had experienced torture.
At
the time, the United States Department of Health and Human Services estimated that 35 percent
of all
that
had been tortured. More recent research indicates
political refugees
percent of refugees
appropriated funds
are
"either primary
to centers
that worked
Funding has been appropriated
terror" when it
was
made
or
secondary survivors of torture."" Congress
torture.
specifically with victims of state-sponsored
every year since the bill
public that the
the
Ana Deutsch's first small step into the
centers are
there
funded
are
by the
thirty-four
Most programs offer
refugees
and
area
who fled to this
of rehabilitation in
even
asylum
during the "war on
seekers
States is
are
seeking entry to
directly related to
country. From Dr. Quiroga and
1980, the movement has grown.
torture treatment programs in
Office of Refugee Resettlement
Administration for Children
passed,
origin of these centers in the United
experience of South American professionals
Currently (2021)
was
United States itself was party to torture. The funds
limited to victims of state-sponsored torture among
the United States. As noted, the
many as 44
as
(ORR),
a
twenty-two
states.
The
division of the
and Families in the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.
evaluation and treatment,
psychological evaluation and counseling, medical
short-term assistance with food and other essential needs, expert witness services for asylum
cases,
public
education and
training of health
care
providers, and advocacy and legislative work.
The National Capacity Building Project, hosted by the Center for Victims of Torture in St. Paul,
hu?
Minnesota, is a rich resource that promotes
understanding among health professionals
greater
concerning the problems refugees and immigrants
may
suffer
as a
result of prior traumatic
experiences.
Survivors have described the
human
rights abuses. And physicians who work with survivors have
documented their findings,
which have been utilized in
positions,
the
shocking array of torture methods for agencies that monitor
asylum cases as proof of torture. Abuses such as beatings, long
rape and sexual humiliation, and variations of the
medieval "rack"
1970s, a relatively new phenomena called "stealth
are
Stres
still used. But in
torture," emerged in Central and South
America. These methods also result in terror and
pain but do not to leave marks, making it more
difficult for human rights monitors to
gather evidence.
Political scientist Darius Rejali,
one
of the world's experts
on
the history of torture,
explains the importance of knowing about these horrific methods: "If global monitoring of
torture is to succeed in eliminating these clean tortures, citizens need to understand clearly what
these techniques are, where they come from, and what they do.
Being able to talk intelligently
about these techniques is not simply a cognitive ability that promotes better research on torture
but a necessary civic skill. Citizens who cannot speak competently about cruelty are unable to
protect themselves against tyranny and injustice."
The psychological symptoms exhibited by torture survivors include those associated with
other traumas: PTSD, depression, anxiety disorders, and often physical pain. But the torture
survivor- especially if the victim was a political activist - is a victim in a deeply existential way.
Although torture is unreliable as a method of eliciting information, it is successful in tearing
down basic human relationships, especially those that depend upon trust. The torturer knows that
activists on
whether unwillingly the
the outside will wonder whether their compatriot "broke;" or
toda
prisoner said something that might help the police or military. The helplessness and
powerlessness of the victims is complete. "T will take you to the verge of death as many times as
IWant to. But here you are going to talk and if it means that you will die. that is OK." said South
African secunty officer Jeftrey Benzien to prisoner PeterJacobs. Thus, the torture survivor lives
with deep shame and guilt in addition to fear. Torture survivor Héctor Aristizabal from Medellin,
Colombia., describes the twisted relationship of "dependence" and the dynamic between prisoner
and torturer: "When you're in that room, that isolated place where no help can reach you, where
you
can no
with
longer count on family or friends or human decency, one person is
entirely focused
on me,
you. He
was
controlling me, watching me, listening to my breath, keeping me alive
while holding over me the power of life and death. And I had never in my life paid such close
attention to anyone. I was alert to him and to his every response, trying to predict his every move
with all my
senses,
until
pain overwhelmed everything, and
I lost my very
identity.
In that
moment of utter surrender, when everyone else had abandoned me, when my own body and
mind betrayed me, only he was there."
Further. the torture victim is betrayed by the very institution that was established to
protect him: the nation state and its representatives. "Torture challenges the very idea of law
itself." write Winston Nagan and Lucie Atkins, because it violates the fundamental expectations
we have about civil society and the state, namely, that transparency, accountability, and
responsibility
are
the
cornerstones
of a
working nation-state." Trust in a basic human institution
is broken. Thus, superimposed on the expected psychological and medical consequences of
torture, there is a political dimension that is invisible when torture is regarded mainly as a
psychiatric problem. Some clinicians who work with survivors have suggested that in light of the
existential and political dimensions of torture, a new diagnosis termed "torture syndrome" be
added to the
Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (the DSM).
"
10
The political dimension, which is intertwined with of the "torture syndrome," is hidden o
from the general public for many reasons and in many ways. The State that tortures is interested
in deniability, and often describes torture as "a localized set of events," removed from policy
This is how the 2014 U.S. Senate Report documenting CIA torture of alleged terrorists during
the "war against terror" characterized accusations that the United States was engaged in torture.
The Committee agreed that torture did not work; it accused the CIA of false claims about the
Loo
efficacy of torture; it agreed that the CIA underplayed the brutality of the interrogation methods
it used, and it acknowledged that the CIA hid information from Congress. As groundbreaking
and useful as the Report is, however, there were serious limits on how it characterized the United
States's role in torture. For example, it did not examine the complicity of officials in the
executive and judicial branches of government, placing the blame on officers in the field.
Further, the Report did not make any policy recommendations to reform the ClA to ensure that
torture will not remain part of the agency's playbook."
Ana Deutsch, co-founder of the Program for Torture Victims has noted: "The wounds
inflicted by the dictatorships upon the societies of those countries have remained open. Years
later, there are still incidents that reopen the wounds and lead to new investigations and trials that
seek to punish the perpetrators and persons responsible for human rights violations. This is how
cases were opened against Pinochet in Chile [1998], as well as the Trials for Historic Truth in
Argentina |2005). They prevented forgetfulness and even ifthey did not necessarily lead to the
punshinent ofthose held responsible, they opened a path that resulted in the repeal ofthe
afurectioned laws
and
pemmitted trying those who violated human rights during the
dictatorship."l3 The Inter-American Court of Human Rights was established in 1978 to examine
human rights abuses and redress through reparations the suffering of survivors. At this point,
most pending cases do not have their origin in the brutal period of 1970s -
1990s. The cases of
Garcia Lucero and Others v. Chile was not adjudicated until 2013, and it was the first judgement
from the Pinochet era.4 The effort to bring states and their representatives to justice continues,
although
the process is very slow.
There is no doubt that individuals who participated in torture must be held criminally
accountable. Further, states that order or enable their official representatives or proxies to torture
must
be named,
have their
shamed, and brought
day in
court. But
to domestic and/or international courts. Victims must
for survivors, torture and subsequent
flight
forever
disrupted
An Angolan
destroyed the complex network of friends, family, and community.
statement to me
arriving in
a
in 2004
safe
knows me." The
encapsulates the utter sense of being alone that remains
country: "Where I
come
from, nobody wants
me.
Where I
also
and
survivor's
even
came
after
to, nobody
for their cases
uncertainty about their future (especially asylum seekers waiting
to be adjudicated), the stress of adjusting to a new society, and the focus on their traumatic past
adds to their
feelings of inadequacy,
victims often have
a
helplessness,
and
depression.
significantly greater rate of symptomatology than other groups
traumatized individuals.
significant
low self-esteem,
Although
number fall into
a
many survivors work and continue normal
Torture
of
activities,
a
cyclical pattern of pain, anxiety, depression, and withdrawal from
normal activities. These problems are not alleviated in courts of law. They require a deep
understanding of the
centers.
consequences of torture. This need is
the raison d'etre of torture
treatment
Torture is one of the most difficult subjects to talk about. Kate Millett has written: "The
knowledge of torture itsclf is a political act, just as silence or ignorance of it have political
COnsequence. To speak of the unspcakable is the beginning of action."
For survivors of torture,
the physical and emotional wounds will never heal completely. But as Ana Deutsch has
explained: "Although we cannot remove the memories, we can ensure that they do not crush the
Survivors. As long as survivors believe in hope, they can move forward with their lives."
Log
Fabri, M. Joyce, M., Black, M., & González, M. (2009). "Caring for torture survivors: The
Marjorie Kovler Center," n C. E. Stout (Ed.), The new humanitarians: inspiration, innovations.
Cand blucprints for visionaries, Vol. 1. Changing global health inequities (pp. 157-187).
See the judgement of the United States Court of Appeals, Second Circuit (1980) Dolly M.E.
Filártiga and Joel Filártiga v. Américo Norberto Peña-Irala htps://hrp.law.harvard.edu/wpcontent/uploads/2011/04/filartiga-v-pena-irala.pdf. For an analysis of the continuing relevance of
Filártiga in human rights cases, see Karen Holt, "Filártiga v. Peña-Irala After Ten Years: Major
Breakthrough or Legal Oddity?" in
https:/digitalcommons.law.uga.edu/cgilviewcontent.cgi?referer=https:/www.google.com/&https
redir=1&article=16271&context=giC
Dianna Ortiz and Patricia Davis, The Blindfold's Eyes: My Journey from Torture to Truth
(Maryknol1, NY: Orbis Books, 2002).
See the judgement of the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia (2015)
Amir Meshal v. Chris Higgenbotham, et. al.
https://www.cadc.uscourts.gov/internet/opinions.nsf/E8CAF3B08FAA9E8185257EE7004E2DO
2/Sfile/14-5194.pdf
Center for Victims of Torture,"Updating the Estimate of Refugees Resettled in the United
States who have Suffered Torture," (Sept. 2015).
hitp: ww.cvt.org/sites/cvt.org/files/SurvivorNumberMetaAnalysis_Sept2015_0.pdf.
Darius Rejali, Torture and Democracy (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2007), p. 3.
See Benzien's testimony to the Amnesty Committee of South Africa's Truth and Reconciliation
Conmission at https://www.justice.gov.za/trc/decisions/1999/99 benzien.html.He was granted
amnesty in 1987.