Villa Grimaldi was one of Chile’s main clandestine torture and detention centres during the military dictatorship under General Augusto Pinochet. The large property was located at No.8200 (now No.8401) José Arrieta Avenue in the Peñalolén neighbourhood of Santiago. The property was originally built to be a home.

The day after the coup d’état on 11th September 1973, Villa Grimaldi was raided. The building was confiscated from its owner at the time, who was also the brother of the Chilean Ambassador to Italy during President Salvador Allende’s government.

In 1974, the Dirección de Inteligencia Nacional (Directorate of National Intelligence, DINA) turned the house and the premises into a clandestine detention centre, known as Villa Grimaldi and “Cuartel Terranova.” The secret prison housed the DINA’s Metropolitan Intelligence Brigade, which was tasked with conducting repressive operations in the Chilean capital of Santiago.

The infrastructure and the premises of the property were transformed into a place for the systematic torture of prisoners, with purpose-built enclosures and devices for confinement and torture.

The testimonies of hundreds of survivors helped to reveal the configuration of the site. One feature particularly stood out: a four-storey structure at the far end of the premises known as “the tower”. On the first floor, there was a torture room, whilst the floor above housed a guardpost and a water tank. Moreover, the name “Casas Corvi” was given to the eight cubicles, similar to wardrobes, where victims would remain standing up alone and in the dark for days at a time. The so-called “Casas Chile” were small, three-by-six-foot rooms, where interrogation under torture was carried out. Female prisoners were held captive in a nearby area known as “la celda de mujeres” (“the women’s cell”).

According to estimates published by the Chilean government, around 4,500 people were held captive in this detention centre between 1973 and 1978. Of these 4,500 prisoners, 226 were disappeared and 18 were executed inside the premises. All communication was cut off between the prisoners and the outside world, given that visits from relatives or lawyers were prohibited. On an exceptional basis, some visits from international humanitarian organisations were allowed. However, before the NGOs arrived, the premises were prepared and many of the detainees were hidden.

During the initial months of its operations, the place was mainly used to detain militants from the Movimiento de Izquierda Revolucionaria (Revolutionary Left Movement, MIR) and the Chilean Socialist Party (Partido Socialista de Chile, PS). In 1976, militants or associates of the Chilean Communist Party (Partido Comunista de Chile) were also taken to the site.

An emblematic case is the capture and the disappearance of the doctor and socialist MP, Carlos Lorca Tobar in June 1975.

Even though Pinochet dissolved the DINA in 1977, the torture centre continued its systematic operations until 1978. On 7th August 1980, the National Information Centre (Central Nacional de Informaciones, CIN) bought Villa Grimaldi, so that it could be used as an office for administrative tasks. In 1987, the building was sold to a construction firm, which demolished the entire property. All that remains today are the red, outside wall, the iron gate, and the remnants and paving of a swimming pool.

The 1991 report by the Chilean National Commission for Truth and Reconciliation (Comisión Nacional de Verdad y Reconciliación), also known as the Rettig Commission, mentions that between 200 and 300 foreigners of various nationalities were detained at Villa Grimaldi. Subsequent investigations have led to revised estimates that around 600 foreigners passed through this torture centre, the majority of whom came from other Latin American countries. At least five victims of the repressive coordination known as Operation Condor were held captive at Villa Grimaldi before they disappeared, including Jorge Fuentes Alarcón and Manuel Tamayo Martínez.

Once democracy was restored, the Permanent Assembly for Human Rights of Peñalolén and La Reina (Asamblea Permanente por los Derechos Humanos de Peñalolén y La Reina) was established, with the support of former detainees, victims’ relatives and other militants. The Assembly fought to stop the permanent “erasure” of Villa Grimaldi and started a public campaign, demanding state intervention to recover the site.

In the end, the Ministry of Housing and Urban Planning adopted an executive order presented by MPs, who were committed to recovering the site. The Ministry confiscated the property to prevent a housing development from being built there.

On 10th December 1994, after the site had been successfully seized, it opened its doors to the public. On 22nd March 1997, the “Villa Grimaldi Park for Peace” (“Parque por la Paz Villa Grimaldi”) was inaugurated as a National Monument for remembering the victims who had been imprisoned at this site.