Kast cancels the construction of a monument to victims of the Pinochet dictatorship: “We prefer to build houses”

“The Ministry of Housing cannot expropriate and we are not going to participate in that expropriation (…). “The Ministry does not make memorials: it dedicates itself to making houses, neighborhoods, and that is my task.”stated the Minister of Housing of Chile, Iván Poduje in an interview with the Radio13 station.

The previous Government, headed by the progressive president Gabriel Boric, had ordered the expropriation of the settlement land to build a monument in memory of the victims of the military dictatorship and convert Colonia Dignidad into “a place of national reflection.”

The head of Housing has published several messages on social networks justifying the measure and has given several interviews in which he assures that due to the cost of the expropriation process and construction of a memorial 1,500 apartments in poor condition could be rehabilitated.

He has also denied that this decision has ideological motivations, despite the fact that Kast has publicly shown his support for the Pinochet dictatorship, defending the coup d’état of 1973.

Germany, very critical

The spokesperson for the German Foreign Ministry, Kathrin Deschauerhas been asked about this decision of the Chilean Government and has reported that they will analyze the issue “in detail” in light of the new information.

“In general terms, Addressing the crimes of former colonial powers is and remains a key priority for the Federal Government. The Federal Government supports the creation of this project,” he expressed during a press conference.

A sect of a Nazi

Colonia Dignidad was Founded in 1961 by former Nazi Army non-commissioned officer Paul Schaefer after he fled Germany after being accused of sexually abusing children in an orphanage. The enclave housed about 300 people.

For decades he established strict discipline, separating children from their families and creating an environment of slavery and personality cult.

The residents of Colonia Dignidad, which would later be called Villa Bavaria, They lived without having contact with the outside world and maintained their own rules of coexistence, such as segregation between men and women. It even operated as a sect responsible for serious human rights violations, sexual abuse and torture.

Schäfer, arrested in Argentina in March 2005 after being on the run since 1997, was sentenced a year later to 20 years in prison for child abuse. He died behind bars in 2010.

Opponents of the regime were tortured and murdered in this place during the military dictatorship. The expropriation measure proposed by Boric did not have the support of a large part of the inhabitants of the current Villa Baviera.