Chacabuco, Chile
Chacabuco was once a thriving saltpeter mining town near Antofagasta, Chile. Its history turned dark during the Pinochet regime in in 1973 and 1974. 1,800 prisoners, mostly intellectuals and professionals like doctors, lawyers, professors, writers who opposed the Pinochet, lived behind electric fences. Landmines surrounded the perimeter. The camp tortured its prisoners for their opposition to the regime. Prisoners had to stand outside in harsh weather or in the hot sun.
They would have to stand or stretch out naked for hours on a soccer field in the camp. They did military-style exercises and forced labor with no actual purpose other than psychological abuse. Guards would beat them for any infractions, real or imagined. The food was inadequate, Not all of the landmines have been found, so visitors to the ghost town are warned not to wander the grounds. Most of the prisoners died behind the camp walls.
