Young woman's tale of torture in Chilean jail

By RICHARD DOWDEN A TESTIMONY of torture and brutality by Chilean security men, written by a 26-year-old woman student in Santiago, and confirmed by Bishop Fernando Aristia, Auxiliary of Santiago, and members of' the International Red Cross, has been smuggled out of Chile and has roused several Human Rights agencies to press for the student's release.
Part of the statement of Luz De Las Nieves Ayress descent, follows:
Moreno, whose family is of Scottish
"After being arrested with my father and I .5-year-old brother, I was blindfolded and tied to a chair. They opened my legs and tied my hands and feet. They threw rue on the floor, which was covered with water. They never stopped beating me, "Then they applied electric shocks to my whole body, especially my breasts, anus, eyes, mouth and the nape of my neck. Since I was all wet the current was much stronger. Frequently they beat me in the stomach with their fists and kicked me.
"Then they called my father and began torturing him in front of me so that I would talk. They beat him and used electric shocks, but they still went on hitting me.
"1 finally lost consciousness. Then they brought in my brother and did the same thing to him. This went on from about 3 in the afternoon until 9 in the morning, "Then they began to cut my body. They pulled my nipples violently and they cut me with knives and razor blades. They put metal objects and their hands into my vagina, then more electric shocks — always blindfold except when they had me watching them torture my father and brother.
"They brought in my father and brother again and wanted us to have sexual relations. I screamed, and finally I fainted, They kept hitting me, my head and ears. I am still deaf and my head is full of strange noises.
"Then they threw me onto a mattress and raped me, I fainted. I don't know how many of them were there. When I woke up i was all dirty and bloody. lilt was later discovered that Luz Ayress was pregnant. The prison physician, Dr Mery, Professor at the Catholic University in Santiago, told her that she should be "proud to have a son of the fatherland." She had a miscarriage five months later.
"When I was in Tejas Verdes (a prison in Santiago) the doctors and the Red Cross arrived. The guards put all of •us prisoners in closed trucks and hid us in the forest. I was always hooded. They left us there until the visitors went back to Santiago. The International Red Cross Commission knew that we were there, but they couldn't see us.
"My cell was 6ft x 6ft. I slept on the ground. Finally a soldier brought me a blanket, hut it was very thin. It was extremely cold. Al 6 in the morning they brought me to a filthy hole they called a bathroom. I picked up a horrible infection there and for a time I couldn't urinate.
"At lunch time they gave me a dirty spoon and an egg, on the ground like an animal. They said they were going to kill me. Every day there were new tortures. They hung me by the arms and then gave me electric shocks, or hung me upside down by my feet.
There are no charges against Luz Ayress but the Government suspected her because she studied film in Cuba. She has a visa for Sweden, but the Chilean authorities say she will never be released.
Basque protest
IN SPAIN over a thousand Basque priests have signed a statement denouncing the postFranco Government and accusing it of proclaiming democracy while doing the opposite.