Human Rights Violations in Latin America: Reparation and Rehabilitation

291 Pages·2022·3.9 MB·English

by  Elizabeth Lira, Marcela Cornejo, Germán Morales

Peace Psychology Book Series
Series Editor: Daniel J. Christie
Elizabeth Lira
Marcela Cornejo
Germán Morales   Editors
Human Rights
Violations in
Latin America
Reparation and Rehabilitation
Peace Psychology Book Series
Series Editor
Daniel J. Christie, Marion, OH, USA
The scope of threats to human security at the dawn of the 21st century is daunting.
Terrorism, weapons of mass destruction, nuclear proliferation, failed states,
ideological struggles, growing resource scarcities, disparities in wealth and health,
globalizing trends, violations of human rights, and the continued use of force to
advance individual, group and national interests, are all complex problems. At the
same time, we are witnessing countervailing trends in the growing recognition and
endorsement of nonviolent means of resolving differences, the importance of
reconciliation processes in human relations, the promotion of cultures of peace, and
the building of societal structures and global institutions that promote peace, human
rights and environmental sustainability. During the past 20 years, peace psychology
has emerged as a specialty in psychology with its own knowledge base, perspectives,
concepts, and preferred methodologies to grapple with threats to human security
and seize opportunities to promote human well-being. In regard to the problem of
violence, peace psychology scholars and activists place human psychology and its
links to other disciplines at the center of their efforts to prevent and mitigate episodes
of violence and structural forms of violence. In addition to reducing violence, peace
psychologists seek to develop theory and practices that promote relational harmony
across levels (from interpersonal relations to global networks) and equitable human
well-being. The Peace Psychology Book Series recognizes that the emerging and
multi-faceted problems of human security challenge us as scholars and activists to
develop psychologically-informed theory that will deepen our understanding of the
major threats to human security, and create practices that will help us address some
of the most urgent and profound issues that bear on human well being and survival
in the 21st century.
Series Advisory Board
Herbert Blumberg, Goldsmiths College, United Kingdom Daniel Bar-Tal, Tel
Aviv University, Israel Klaus Boehnke, International University Bremen, Germany
Peter Coleman, Columbia University, USA Cheryl de la Rey, University of Cape
Town, South Africa Shelley McKeown Jones, University of Bristol, United
Kingdom Yayah Khisbiyah, Universitas Muhammadiyah Surakarta, Indonesia
Siew Fang Law, Victoria University, Australia Wilson Lopez Lopez, Pontificia
Universidad Javeriana, Colombia Winnifred Louis, University of Queensland,
Australia Anthony Marsella, University of Hawaii, USA Fathali Moghaddam,
Georgetown University, USA Maritza Montero, Central University of Venezuela,
Venezuela Cristina Montiel, Ateneo de Manila University, Philippines Ann
Sanson, University of Melbourne, Australia Mohamed Seedat, University of South
Africa Michael Wessells, Columbia University and Randolph-Macon College, USA
More information about this series at https://link.springer.com/bookseries/7298
Elizabeth Lira • Marcela Cornejo
Germán Morales
Editors
Human Rights Violations
in Latin America
Reparation and Rehabilitation
Editors
Elizabeth Lira Marcela Cornejo
Universidad Alberto Hurtado Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile
Santiago, Chile Santiago, Chile
Germán Morales
Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile
Santiago, Chile
ISSN 2197-5779 ISSN 2197-5787 (electronic)
Peace Psychology Book Series
ISBN 978-3-030-97541-8 ISBN 978-3-030-97542-5 (eBook)
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-97542-5
© The Editor(s) (if applicable) and The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature
Switzerland AG 2022
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The use of general descriptive names, registered names, trademarks, service marks, etc. in this publication
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Acknowledgments
When different authors from different countries work together on the same book, a
complex process of dialogues, communications, texts revisions, and exchanges
takes place until the final manuscript is produced. The result is an exercise of reflec-
tion, humility, and reciprocal learning, joining ideas and experiences to achieve a
shared work.
This book is possible by collaborating with many people, first and foremost the
authors who shared their ideas and experiences and their commitment to this task.
This project began with the invitation of Patricio Cumsille from Pontificia
Universidad Católica de Chile and Judith L. Gibbons, Professor Emeritus of
Psychology at Saint Louis University, a few years ago to write a book that would
reflect the work done in psychology in the field of human rights in Latin America.
Several people collaborated in the editorial revision of the chapters translated
into English, among them Maxine Lowy, Anne Pérotin-Dumont, and Paula Jorquera.
We also benefited from the careful work of Marais del Río in the revision of the APA
Standards.
One of the authors, Wilson López of the Pontificia Universidad Javeriana de
Bogotá, contacted Dan Christie, Series Editor of Peace Psychology Book Series,
making it possible to link our work to an editorial project generated by colleagues
from different parts of the world.
We want to thank all those who have contributed to the realization of this book.
The writings belong to Latin America’s collective memory and of all those who
have worked in recent decades to recognize and rehabilitate victims. The contribu-
tion of their voices in the construction of democratic coexistence is the best guaran-
tee of stable and lasting peace in political life and everyday spaces.
Elizabeth Lira
Marcela Cornejo
Germán Morales
v
Contents
1 Psychology and Human Rights: An Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
Elizabeth Lira, Marcela Cornejo, and Germán Morales
Part I History, Situations, Concepts, and Approaches
2 Psychology and Human Rights in Chile: Assistance,
Registration, Denunciation, Rehabilitation, and Reparation . . . . . . . 13
Elizabeth Lira and Marcela Cornejo
3 Method of Forced Disappearance and Trials for Crimes
Against Humanity: A Dialogue Between the Legal
and Subjective Dimensions—Specifics of the Argentine Case . . . . . . 31
Mariana Wikinski, Mariana Biaggio, Rosa Matilde Díaz Jiménez,
and Marcelo Marmer
4 Locating Children Appropriated by Dictatorships
of the Southern Cone: Questioning Identities . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43
Sonia Mosquera
5 Photography and Film in the Experience of Identity Restitution:
Writing with Light . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 59
Juan Jorge Michel Fariña and Florencia González Pla
Part II P sychosocial Assistance and Intervention Methodologies
6 The Method and Methodology of Psychosocial Accompaniment
Work: A Contribution for At-Risk Defenders in Mexico . . . . . . . . . . 73
Clemencia Correa, Laura Espinosa, and Rodrigo Morales
7 Construction of a Model of Psychosocial Care and Support:
Training of Peer Psychosocial Companions—An Experience
from Mexico . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 85
José Manuel Bezanilla, María Amparo Miranda, and Juan López
vii
viii Contents
Part III Psychotherapeutic Interventions
8 Psychotherapy with Former Political Prisoners in Uruguay:
The Vision of the Therapists . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 101
María Celia Robaina
9 Arpilleras of Sexual and Domestic Violence in Post-War
Guatemala: Accompaniment in Processes
of Psychosocial Reparation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 117
María Luisa Cabrera Pérez-Armiñan
10 Group Therapeutic Strategies and Human Rights.
Human Rights Violations in Chile . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 135
Germán Morales and María Isabel Castillo
Part IV P sychological and Psychosocial Approach
and Support During Forensic Examinations and Trials
11 El Mozote Massacre: Expert Research and Challenges
of Psychosocial Reparation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 151
Sol Yáñez
12 Psychosocial Work in the Transitional Justice Framework:
The Women of Sepur Zarco . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 165
Susana Navarro García and Paula María Martínez Velázquez
13 Contribution of the Psycho-forensic Evidence
in the Inter-American Court in the Case of Lonkos
and Mapuche Indigenous Leaders Versus Chile . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 179
Ruth Vargas-Forman
Part V Psychosocial Reparations: Challenges of Victim’s Recognition
14 Testimony and Symbolic Reparation: The Clinica do Testemunho
Project in Rio de Janeiro . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 195
Vera Vital-Brasil
15 The Clinics of Testimony: New Ways of Recognition
Through Group Listening to Military Personnel . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 211
Alexei Conte Indursky, Ângela Flores Becker,
Bárbara de Souza Conte, Carlos Augusto Piccinini,
Karine Szuchman, and Lísia da Luz Refosco
16 Colonia Dignidad: Lights and Shadows in the Recognition
of the Victims . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 223
Evelyn Hevia Jordán
Contents ix
Part VI P olitical and Psychosocial Challenges of Transitions
17 Political Transition and Social Reparation in Venezuela:
Challenges of Democratic Reconstruction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 239
Mireya Lozada
18 Psychology and Human Rights in Colombia: Contributions
to Peacebuilding . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 253
Wilson López-López, Andrea Correa-Chica,
Angélica Caicedo-M oreno, Pablo Castro-Abril,
and Carlos Felipe Buitrago-Panader
19 Working Mental Health in Peru . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 269
Viviana Valz Gen
Index . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 281
About the Authors
José  Manuel  Bezanilla Psychologist, PhD in Family Sciences, Group

Psychotherapist and Clinical Psychodramatist, Founder and General Manager of
Psicología y Educación Integral A.C. Founder of PEI (international journal),
Clinical Psychologist and Adjunct Visitor at Comisión Nacional Derechos Humanos
México, founding member of the Mexican Team of Psychosocial Treatment and
Support (EMAAPSI). Equipo Mexicano de Atención y Acompañamiento Psicosocial,
Naucalpan, México
Mariana Biaggio BSc in Social Work (UBA, Universidad de Buenos Aires) and

MSc in Social Anthropology (UNSAM, Universidad Nacional de San Martín). She
was awarded a PhD in Social Sciences by the Universidad de Buenos Aires in 2014.
She has worked on identity reconstruction processes, as part of the search for and
restitution of grandchildren appropriated during the last Argentine military dictator-
ship and within the context of identity-based resistance processes involved in the
implementation of policies aimed at people classed as “homeless.” She is part of the
Mental Health Team of the CELS (Centro de Estudios Legales y Sociales) since
2006 and is a professor at UCES (Universidad de Ciencias Empresariales y Sociales)
and Universidad Lomas de Zamora (UNLZ). CELS, Centro de Estudios Legales y
Sociales, Buenos Aires, Argentina
Carlos Felipe Buitrago-Panader Psychologist (Universidad Pontificia Javeriana)

and MSc (c) in Methodology of Behavior and Health Sciences (Universidad
Complutense, Madrid, UNED—Universidad Nacional de Educación a Distancia).
He is working on the implementation of a training program for public servants in
charge of delivering mental health support to people affected by the armed conflict;
in addition, he is part of a project aimed at characterizing the mental health situation
of Venezuelan migrants who have settled in some regions of the USA and Colombia.
Pontificia Universidad Javeriana, Bogotá, Colombia
xi