"Torture centre" Chile ship CNS Esmeralda docks in Portsmouth as "angry" protestors oppose Royal Navy visit

CNS Esmeralda sailed into the dockyard over the weekend, with the ship being used as an embassy by Chile’s navy during a diplomatic mission with the UK and Royal Navy. She has been used in an ambassadorial role for much of her recent history, but has a dark past.

The four-masted barquentine was used as an interrogate centre in 1973 during a military coup orchestrated by Augusto Pinochet, who conducted vicious purges of opposition politicians and citizens. More than 3,000 people were killed, tortured, forced into exile or simply disappeared. Protestors travelled from London yesterday (July 1) to call for the Chilean Navy to acknowledge the ship’s past and stop using her in an ambassadorial role, while challenging the Royal Navy and the UK to block her visit into British waters.

Sylvia Velasquez said relatives of those who were executed or disappeared are still searching for answers. She told The News: “They shouldn't send this ship around the world as an embassy of a country. It’s an offence to the relatives. They are laughing in our faces at the end of the day. Why use that specific ship to do their publicity? It doesn’t make any sense.”

Fellow demonstrator Carlos Gonzalez added: “It’s unthinkable that Chile has to be represented by a ship with that history. That is our position. It’s a wound which is still festering, and there has not been any possibility of the navy putting that right. We are asking them to put something on the ship to remember those who have died there, and that hasn’t happened. We’re trying to fight against the negation of what happened in Chile, which is quite common. That is our duty. Doing this protest will remind people of this.”

“Torture centre”

Pinochet appointed himself as president in 1974, where he closed down Chile’s parliament and banned all political and trade union activity. Supporters of the former president, Salvador Allende, were hunted down with brutality while any other opposition to the regime was clamped down by force.

British citizen Father Michael Woodward, a Roman Catholic priest, was seized in 1973 and is presumed dead. As reported in the Daily Mail, Father Michael was tortured and beaten for ten days aboard the CNS Esmeralda, with his body never being found.

Maria Pelusa, 80, is campaigning for all those killed on that ship. “There have been so many human rights violations committed on that ship. Some of our relatives also disappeared and were tortured there.”

Ms Pelusa said her brother, Manuel Taquias-Vergara, was executed by the Pinochet regime on October 15, 1973. “The visit of the ship makes me really angry,” she added. “It’s a shame that the British government allowed this ship to come to British waters and dock here. Before 1973, we were very proud of this ship. It meant a lot to us, but after, it’s just a shameful ship.

“The blood of our brothers and sisters have stained that ship, and it will never be clean again. She’s called The White Lady, but it’s neither white, nor pure, it is a centre of torture.” Luis Goldames said he is from the town where CNS Esmeralda is based, and it represents “violations of human rights”.

“Some of the current crew were not born at the time of the coup, but we want them to be aware of what it was used for,” he said. “It has always been representative of that. The Pinochet regime used it to torture people like us and make them disappear. The Royal Navy should say that we’re not going to send any more boats unless you recognise what the ship was used as.”

One member of the public challenged the protestors, who said the atrocities are in the past, the Chilean Navy have nothing to do with the previous regime and is proud of his 18-year-old son who is currently serving.

Mr Goldames said he has no problem with the current Chilean Navy and its sailors, but the memory of what the ship was used for must be kept alive. “The Chilean Navy need to recognise the fact that it was used as a torture centre and to tell the Chilean and British people that they're sorry about it, and it will never happen again,” he added. “That is what I want them to say.”

Ms Pelusa said: “We want the young Chilean people and the young British people to know history and to never allow for that history to be repeated again. Nothing has changed. When you get people who do not acknowledge that crimes have been committed, nothing has changed. I want closure so we can move on. Until we have justice, we cannot move on. I’m 80, and I have to come here to protest, that’s not right.”

A Royal Navy spokeswoman said: “The Royal Navy has welcomed the Chilean ship Esmeralda to Portsmouth and the opportunity to strengthen ties with our long-standing and reliable ally in South America.”