A group is trying to ensure generations past and future remember the difficult history of Estadio Nacional in Chile, writes Jon Arnold.
SANTIAGO, Chile — For more than two months in 1973, Manuel Mendez was held at the Estadio Nacional against his will. Now, it's Mendez who holds the keys, rushing over to unlock another portion of the memorial sites now occupying the stadium during a media tour.
Mendez is a survivor of a campaign that had dozens killed or disappeared, scores tortured, and several thousand imprisoned at Chile's most important soccer venue after a military coup led by Augusto Pinochet overthrew democratically elected president Salvador Allende.