Augusto Pinochet

Declassified intelligence and diplomatic files added detail to Pinochet's relationship with DINA, the security organisation responsible for torture, disappearance and international assassination. The records strengthened scrutiny of command responsibility and of what foreign governments knew, rather than allowing repression to be treated as the work of detached subordinates. They are not all equivalent evidence: an intelligence assessment, a witness account and an operational document require different tests. The releases sharpened an already serious indictment rather than creating the first knowledge of the dictatorship's crimes.