The Chacabuco Project

MEMORIA DESIERTA

By Niles Atallah

Memoria Desierta (English title: Deserted Memory) is a documentary on Chacabuco, the abandoned nitrate mining town and Pinochet-era prison camp in the Atacama Desert of northern Chile. The documentary focuses on ex- Chacabuco political prisoners Rolando Carrasco and Santiago Cavieres as they return for the first time to the place where they were once detained 32 years ago; and also two men who have dedicated themselves to preserving the memory of the dying ghost town: Roberto Saldívar and Pedro Barreda.

Chacabuco is one in a string of abandoned nitrate towns in the Antofagasta region of northern Chile. But unlike most of the other abandoned towns, Chacabuco became a concentration camp during the Pinochet regime in 1973.

With the exception of intermittent visits and support by a select few, Roberto managed to live in Chacabuco completely alone for the next 15 years. In January of 2006 he returned to his families’ home in Antofagasta due to a steady development of Alzheimer’s.

Pedro Barreda replaced Roberto when he left as guardian angel of Chacabuco. He considers himself to be Roberto’s apprentice and remains dedicated to the cause Roberto started.

With virtually no support of any kind (sometimes water is cut off for months and the regional authorities don’t take any notice) living in Chacabuco is a daily struggle. 100 kilometers from Antofagasta, surrounded by land mines, without transportation or a phone and with extreme desert temperatures, Chacabuco is the epitome of inhospitable conditions.

Pedro counts only on the loyal help of two elderly men who take turns doing the night watch in Chacabuco- one of them is dropped off by a nearby mining company at sundown and is picked up again at sunrise. During the day Pedro keeps the grounds of Chacabuco clean, waters trees Roberto planted in the entranceway and shows tourists around the town.

If it were not for the efforts of these men Chacabuco would probably be in a much worse state of preservation. Their efforts are based in the desire to keep Chacabuco alive not only as an ex-mining town but also as a Pinochet-era prison camp; a perspective that tends to find little support in Chile.

History of Chacabuco

Founded in 1924 by the Lautaro Nitrate Company Ltd., Chacabuco soon fell into ruin as the nitrate mining boom in Chile came to an abrupt halt at the end of the 1930’s.

Chacabuco shut its doors in 1938. As a town, it had only lived for 14 years. In 1971, president Allende declared it a Historic Monument of Chile, at which point restoration began. In 1973, after the military coup, Pinochet turned it into a concentration camp.

It’s doors were shut once again in 1974, and by the 1990s, Chacabuco was in need of extensive restoration. Several international organizations began the restoration of parts of Chacabuco; and Roberto Saldívar returned to the place where he had once been detained as a political prisoner.

Chacabuco Today

Despite partial efforts at restoration, Chacabuco is in a virtual state of ruin. However, its location in the driest desert in the world provides an astonishing level of natural preservation. Chacabuco is littered with old cars from the 1920s, factory machinery, a beautifully preserved theater, a central plaza, the remains of a hospital, a church, and mining barracks (transformed into prisoner housing during its time as a concentration camp).

The Project

Memoria Desierta was filmed between May 23 and May 27 of this year (2006) by independent filmmaker Niles Atallah. He visited Chacabuco along with William Sherman (sound man and assistant producer) and Santiago Cavieres and Rolando Carrasco. They met with Pedro Barreda and visited Roberto Saldívar at his home in Antofagasta.

The documentary focuses on Rolando and Santiago’s re-encounter with the place where they were held as political prisoners in 1973 and 1974. The documentary also pulls from extensive interviews with Pedro and Roberto. The stories and images of these men shot in digital video are juxtaposed with photographic studies in super 8mm film and 35mm still photographs of the harsh desert landscape. The synthesis of these two mediums - digital video and film - enhances the tension between the human presence (past and present) and the lifeless ruins of Chacabuco: cement, scrap metal and empty houses.

The documentary does not concentrate upon the historical aspects of the ex-nitrate mining town, nor does it propogate any overt political message. Instead, it strives to express the varied personal relationships Rolando, Santiago, Pedro and Roberto have with the ruins of this abandoned town and prison camp.

Memoria Desierta opened at the Desert Nights International Film Festival in Rome, Italy on December 1, 2006. The festival was organized by the secretariat of the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD). For a list of all screenings go to the Film Festivals and Screenings page on this website.

WATCH TRAILER
5 minutes subtitled into English of Memoria Desierta.

Large File - Small File (not recommended for English speakers reading subtitles)

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