Technical and architectural survey of the Río Chico Prison Camp, Dawson Island, Punta Arenas
Levantamiento técnico y arquitectónico del Campo de Prisioneros de Río Chico, isla Dawson, Punta Arenas
Author
Vargas Ulloa, Sergio
Vidal Cabello, Marco
Abstract
The project consists in the planimetric reconstruction of the Concentration Camp of Río Chico, Dawson Island, Punta Arenas, based on accounts of former prisoners and work meetings with them, photographs and diagrams, and drawings by the architect and former prisoner Miguel Lawner. The significance of this survey is that the Río Chico Camp was the only building erected for this means in Chile during Augusto Pinochet’s dictatorship. It is also the concentration camp that, although it was dismantled, it was the camp located farther South in the world, leaving behind no formal record. The camp was occupied as a strategic place for the reclusion of high-ranking authorities of Salvador Allende’s government, and also of political prisoners of the Region of Magallanes. It is believed that between 600 and 800 prisoners were held at some point at this camp. El proyecto consiste en la reconstitución planimétrica del Campo de Prisioneros Políticos de Río Chico, isla Dawson, Punta Arenas, en base a relatos y reuniones de trabajo con ex-presos, fotografías, diagramas y croquis del arquitecto y ex-preso Miguel Lawner. La importancia de este levantamiento es que el campo de Río Chico es la única edificación construida para este propósito en Chile durante la dictadura militar de Augusto Pinochet, siendo además el campamento de prisioneros políticos que, aunque desmantelado, fue el más austral del planeta, sin registro formal del mismo. El campo fue ocupado como punto estratégico de reclusión de los altos mandos del gobierno de Salvador Allende y de presos políticos de la Región de Magallanes. Se calcula que pasaron por el campo entre 600 a 800 detenidos.