Venda Sexy
Chile
Venda Sexy, also known as La Discothèque, was a clandestine detention and torture center operated by the DINA secret police during the military dictatorship of Augusto Pinochet. Located at 3037 Iran Street in the Macul district of Santiago, Chile, it functioned from late 1974 to mid-1975 as one of the principal clandestine detention sites in the capital. The site became notorious for the systematic use of sexual violence against political prisoners, particularly women. Its name, Venda Sexy ("Sexy Blindfold"), referred to the practice of keeping inmates blindfolded at all times while subjecting them to sexual abuse — a term allegedly coined by the perpetrators. It was also called La Discothèque because music was played at high volume to mask the sounds of torture. Approximately 80 people were held at the site between 1974 and 1981, roughly one third of them women; most of those detained were members of the Revolutionary Left Movement (MIR), and the majority of those who disappeared have never been accounted for. Declared a Historic Monument in 2016, the property remained in private hands for years and was sold to a real estate company in 2019, prompting an outcry from survivor organizations. Under President Gabriel Boric, the Chilean state expropriated the site in 2023 as part of the commemoration of the 50th anniversary of the coup. Also in 2023, Chile's Supreme Court confirmed
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