The Women of Calama
Calama is a town in the center of the Atacama desert, the driest region on earth. It is a grueling, dusty twenty-four hour bus ride north of Santiago, Chile. For the past
twenty-three years a small,
determined group of women have been digging in the vast expanse of the
Atacama for the bodies of
their fathers, husbands, brothers and sons. Their search began shortly
after the military coup of
September 11, 1973 in which President Salvador Allende was overthrown and
General Augusto Pinochet took control of the Chilean government. Thousands of Chileans
were tortured, executed and "disappeared".
Paula Allen, Copyright 1996
