It’s summer in the southern
hemisphere, and a warm bright-
ness permeates the beginning of
the days. There is an insinuating
aroma of fresh fruit, especially
peaches and figs. Last December I
returned to Chile, my country, in
the fifth year of democratic rule as
Chileans were preparing for
Christmas holidays. On December
9, the Christian democrat Eduardo
Frei won the presidential elections,
assuring democratic stability.
A rhythm of festival is palpable
in the air, presaging the new year.
Both children and their parents
wear colorful garments, and the
city seems bedecked in multicol-
ored balloons. It’s summertime in
Santiago; however, for the previ-
Marjorie Agosin is a Chilean poet and professor of Spanish literature at Welles-
ley College. She is the author, most
recently, of Happiness (White Pine Press,
1994).
Translated from the Spanish by NACLA.
ous government’s victims and their
families, these Christmas holidays
signify rupture, absence and deser-
tion.
The most visible of these people
are women who have remained
widows, who have lost loved ones,
and whose fruitless search for the
disappeared has spanned almost 20
years. They remain steadfast, how-
ever, in the face of the pain. They
continue the struggle for human
rights, affirming that the years of
dictatorship must be remembered
so that history does not repeat
itself.
In this essay, I would like to
reflect upon the changes in the
lives of one group of women
whom I met in Chile during the
military dictatorship of General
Augusto Pinochet (1973 to 1989),
and revisited recently. This was a
group of women who in 1974
began to create the so-called
arpilleras, patchwork tapestries
which denounce human-rights vio-
lations in the country. Hardly any-
one makes these tapestries any-
more.
The precarious, almost aban-
doned situation of the arpilleristas
coincides with the state of absolute
silence with respect to human
rights in Chile today. With the
restoration of democratic rule in
1989 under President Patricio Ayl-
win, Chile entered a phase in
which the political mobilization of
women in diverse sectors came to
a stop. The suspension of the
arpillera workshops is simply a
microcosm of what has happened
to grassroots organizations more
generally. Not only human rights,
but also economic justice goes
largely undefended today. The
democratic government has created
an image of economic success and
prosperity, while Chileans who
live in extreme poverty in the
shantytowns have been forgotten.
Vol XXVII, No 6 MAY/JUNE 1994 11JOURNAL / CHILE
The history of the (
arpilleras runs par
the history of the
dictatorship. In 1974, a g
around 13 women began
into each other in th
places-morgues, hospit
torture centers. They dis
that they shared remarkably
stories: the detention of c
and husbands, and later th
pearance of their loved on
first arpilleristas-the focu
essay-were mostly midd
mothers in search of their c
This group inspired
the birth of other
groups in the zones
ringing Santiago. I
estimate that from
1976 until 1988, 32
workshops-whose
members varied in age
from 17 to 80-were
active in urban Santia-
go.
The large majority o:
women belonged to the low
dle class. They lived in tl
neighborhoods, where the
dren were community activ
leaders. This lower middle
already with few resource
its economic position pl
drastically with the adven
dictatorship. “After the cou
Violeta Morales, one
founders of the arpillera
shops, “my family lost
thing-a pension and two
jobs. Before we had a shop
never lacked for food. My
had jewelry and other va
that we had to sell. Thanks
we were able to get by for a
Although a small nun
arpilleristas were from th
middle class, class confli
social hierarchies dissolve
arpillera workshops bef
common adversity of pai
women’s central conce
political mobilization aroi
search for their missing c
and husbands.
Thilean
allel to
military
roup of
to run
– same
als and
covered
similar
:hildren
e disap-
es. The
s of this
le-aged
hildren.
The great force of social trans-
formation gestating in the urban
zones of Santiago motivated many
of these women to join the work-
shops. In addition to the arpillera
workshops, these women also par-
ticipated in the creation of commu-
nal kitchens and educational
groups. They invented strategies to
challenge the fear, feed their chil-
dren, and engage in a new form of
political activism and of struggle
against authoritarianism.
The Vicariate of Solidarity-an
organization created by the Arch-
order b
denoun
The
divided
ble for
immers
locatec
recur,
hunger,
family-
countr3
trees, a
mount
side–
despite
The precarious, almost abandoned
situation of the arpilleristas coincides
with the state of absolute silence with
respect to human rights in Chile today.
f these bishop of Santiago in 1974 to detenti
ier mid- defend against the constant viola- memor,
he poor tion of human rights-gave the the dis
ir chil- first group of women a place to caught
ists and gather. These 13 women, under the spaces
class- wing of the Vicariate, met every My v
s-saw week from 1974 to 1989 to tell began i]
ummet their stories by means of the unempli
t of the arpilleras. lessnes
p,” says The arpillera was born sponta- and 815
of the neously; there are no antecedents many o
work- in Chilean popular culture of mak- rememb
every- ing tapestries for political denunci- in a ro
factory ation. Using a domestic, essentially impres
and we female tradition of embroidery, the existed
mother women protested the destruction of with w
luables their lives and homes, economic themes
to this, scarcity, constant psychological spoke e
time.” tension, and the fruitless search for out bod
iber of family members. At first, their anything
e upper struggle was distinctly maternal: to Curiou
cts and reestablish family alliances years o1
d in the destroyed by the dictatorship, and bold sp
ore the to find their children. These were w
in. The women, however, developed a united
rn was broader political mission. Using and asp
und the worn remnants of fabric-even dialogu
hildren from their own closets-these Thro
women subverted the conventional women
y means of embroidery that
ced authoritarianism.
arpilleras tell the story of a
Chile in graphic and visi-
m. They contain figures
ed in the daily life of a dis-
society. Certain themes
such as disappearance,
torture, and the wounded
-a metaphor for a divided
y. Scenes of nature-leafy
huge sun, and the Andean
ains framing the country-
are also common because
the leitmotif of pain, there
is hope.
The arpillera is not an
adornment; neither is it
made to cover oneself or
to simply pass the time.
The weaving is made for
one purpose alone: to
denounce and expose. It
has the power to con-
demn the invisible tor-
tures and clandestine
ons. It brings us closer to
y. It recovers the names of
appeared, the places that
their attention, and the
which they inhabited.
york with the arpilleristas
n 1979, the time of greatest
oyment in the country. Job-
s reached 35% nationwide
%c in the shantytowns where
f the arpilleristas lived. I
,er meeting with the women
om in the Vicariate. I was
sed by the solidarity that
among them, and the care
‘hich they discussed the
of the arpilleras. They
loquently of blankets with-
ies to cover, and more than
g, of their immense solitude.
sly, in these most difficult
f the military dictatorship, a
)irit reigned. The women
tilling to make sacrifices,
by their common struggles
,irations. They engaged in
es and planned projects.
ugh these groups, the
acquired a deep sense of
NACIA REPORT ON THE AMERICAS 12JOURNAL / CHILE
politics. By means of the tapestries,
they undertook a collective dia-
logue grounded in social justice
and the commitment to transform
an authoritarian culture into a
democratic and cooperative one.
The impact of these women on the
struggle for democracy was enor-
mous. The arpilleristas were
among the principal aesthetic voic-
es in the struggle to awaken the
international communi-
ty to the horrors of the
Chilean political situa-
tion.
With the passage of
time, the activity of the
Chilean arpilleristas
took on an internation-
al dimension. Solidari-
ty groups in Europe
and the Americas
exhibited their work,
bought it, and more
than anything, support-
ed the women with
social campaigns on
their behalf. The
renown that this An arpillera
anonymous work about their
gained was almost magical, given
that it did not have consumer aspi-
rations, and was never promoted
by mass-marketing strategies. Peo-
ple around the world were gen-
uinely moved by the dignity of this
peaceful form of political protest
by women whose family lives and
economic situations had been tragi-
cally violated.
In 1983, the first group of arpil-
leristas also created a folkloric
group that tried to use dance to
recover an autochthonous culture,
and to subvert the dominant nation-
al identity. They invented the solo
cueca, a variation on the Chilean
national dance that is normally
danced in pairs. The arpillerista
dances it solo because her com-
pafiero has disappeared. This dance,
rooted in Chilean folkloric tradition,
is thus overturned by the image of a
woman dancing alone because the
body of her loved one is lost.
In the democratic opening of
1982, the arpilleristas forged
alliances with other groups against
the dictatorship, among them uni-
versity groups and popular
women’s organizations. All these
groups united to raise their voices
in protest against repression. With-
out doubt, this collective mobiliza-
tion precipitated the fall of the
Pinochet government.
showing a group of women demanding inf disappeared family members.
My return to Chile in the
first years of democratic
rule and then again last
December have left me in a state of
deep consternation. Despite the ini-
tial exhilaration of the 1988
plebiscite-in which 57% of
Chileans voted against the dictator-
ship-and the jubilation of those
exiles who returned, another Chile
has appeared. This Chile is a prod-
uct of neoliberal economics which
has geographically segregated peo-
ple. “The beautiful people” con-
centrate in the elite neighborhoods
of Santiago, while “the others” live
in the periphery-the invisible sec-
tors of the city.
In its first year, the Aylwin
Administration created an inves-
tigative commission to look into
the crimes committed by the mili-
tary government and the fate of the
disappeared. Its five-volume report
documents the disappearance of
more than 2,500 people. The report
caused a big commotion in the
country, and produced a state of
collective shock. The news media
managed, however, to diffuse the
guilt of the regime with reports of
the supposed terrorism that the
government confronted at the time.
And although the commission
acknowledged the culpability of
the Pinochet government, it did not
recommend the trial and
punishment of the guilty
parties.
What has happened to
the extraordinary historic,
artistic and symbolic
activity in the arpillera
workshops? The answer is
crushing and thoroughly
disheartening. With the
advent of democracy in
1989, the 32 existing
arpillera workshops
closed. Of the approxi-
mately 200 women who
made arpilleras in the
urban zones of Chile, only
ormation 13 truly active women
remain.
Now, with the passage of nearly
21 years since the beginning of the
dictatorship, these women have
aged. They confided in me that
they have lost the desire to “get
dressed in the morning,” to manage
their lives, to be grandmothers.
“The dictatorship,” says Violeta
Morales, “took the possibility of
life away from us.” Nonetheless,
these 13 regularly meet and main-
tain among themselves the bonds
of solidarity that have uncondition-
ally united them since the first
deplorable years of the Pinochet
regime. The miracle of free-market
economics hasn’t touched them.
The Vicariate of Solidarity
closed its workshops in 1991, indi-
cating in numerous newspaper arti-
cles that it had concluded its work
in defense of human rights in this
new phase of democracy and rec-
onciliation. The women say that
other international bodies-among
Vol XXVII, No 6 MAY/JUNE 1994
0
0
2
0
13JOURNAL / CHILE
them the World Council of
Churches and Amnesty Interna-
tional-have also withdrawn their
support. The arpilleristas have
been left feeling disillusioned, con-
fused, and morally abandoned. The
women associate democracy with
the image of a country molded
from indifference and pain.
I saw the women arrive at the
workshops tired and with worn-out
shoes. They told me that their eco-
nomic difficulties had grown
worse because of inflation as well
as the lack of arpillera sales.
Today, the production of
arpilleras is sporadic.
The women only make
the tapestries when they
have orders from foreign
countries. In Chile, the
sale of arpilleras is non-
existent.
The end of the Vicari-
ate’s support is sympto-
matic of the general state
of silence in the face of
what has occurred–a
kind of complicity with
the years of dictatorship.
The Vicariate’s decision
was also a capitulation to An
the systematic imposition of the
cultural values linked to market
capitalism-the exaltation of indi-
vidual success, order and national
security. Curiously, many of these
values are carry-overs from the
authoritarian model of the previous
regime.
It’s easy to see why the 32 work-
shops located in the city’s periph-
ery disappeared. The women found
it almost impossible to continue
with communal kitchens and
arpillera workshops when not only
economic aid, but also moral sup-
port has vanished. Those arpil-
leristas who did not lose children,
but dedicated themselves to the
workshops as a way to attack
hunger, can no longer afford the
cost of public transport, or the time
to organize themselves. Life in
Chile for those people concealed in
the invisibility of extreme poverty
is ever more precarious.
hy have these women
who began the arpillera
workshops in 1974 con-
tinued with the work? What makes
them different from the rest who
have quit making the tapestries?
Perhaps the answer resides in the
fact that these women are deter-
mined that their fruitless search of
almost two decades will not be in
vain. They carry on to demand a
certain justice that would vindicate
arpillera depicting a human-rights demonstrat
the work of their family members.
As many told me, the disappeared
children gave their lives for others,
and “now no one speaks for them.”
The arpilleristas feel the absence
of the women who once belonged
to the other workshops. They
understand, however, that survival,
need for employment, and the
absence of solidarity made the
workshops disappear. In the scale
of priorities, the weaving of
arpilleras became secondary. The
13 remaining women, anchored in
a collective pain, work from a
sense of responsibility. They are
repositories of the nation’s memo-
ry, which is essentially feminine.
The women spoke about the
importance of continuing to talk
about the deceased, to remember
them, to build plazas and cities with
their names, and to embroider their
lives in the arpilleras. The creation
of arpilleras is woven into the fab-
ric of their lives. But on my recent
visit, I saw the women more soli-
tary, stamped by the mark of indif-
ference. Very few people know that
they continue to make arpilleras.
The work is ever more difficult.
They have to struggle to get the fab-
rics, to pay for public transporta-
tion, and to find a place to meet.
The vigorous arpillerista move-
ment that occupied such a visible
space in the 1970s and 1980s
seems non-existent today. But not
even the neoliberal eco-
nomic policies of the last
five years can eliminate
these women entirely.
While they live, their
presence is historic; they
are the conscience of the
country. With their
gloomy appearance and
dark clothing-as if they
wore their mourning
both outside and
inside-these women
continue to create
arpilleras. On some of
the tapestries the follow-
ion, ing is written: freedom,
bread and justice. The women
leave their weekly meetings to
return to their homes in the shanty-
towns, where light and water are
scarce. Democracy has not
improved their standard of living,
and has subjected them to the deep
oblivion of a nation that prefers
not to speak about its past.
As I bid farewell to the women,
they give me new arpilleras
inscribed with the same question:
“Where are they?” As they have
since I first met them, the women
ask me to talk with others about
their work. They reiterate that it is
necessary to talk about the dead
and to reconstruct the past. We are
in a “democratic” society, howev-
er, and only silence envelopes us.
The scent of fresh fruit assures us
of the continuity of life, but only
for some.
Menu
