Abstract

Human rights reports organize and convey statements by victims, witnesses, and organizations, in contexts of sociopolitical controversy. Focusing on the mediatory and scriptural nature of these reports, we describe how written documents passed on from two human rights organizations — Comité de cooperación para la Paz en Chile (Committee of Cooperation for Peace in Chile) and Vicaría de la Solidaridad (Vicariate of Solidarity) — to four United Nations reports between 1975 and 1979 were incorporated, used, and evaluated. An analysis of eighty-two discursive sequences indicates that documents associated with these local organizations were recognized and endorsed by the United Nations as legitimate sources of information on repression, just as the possession of written materials (Solidaridad newsletter) was an act that could lead to persecution. The statements passed to the United Nations question the veracity of the dictatorship’s official version of events and reveal a transformation in the use of chains of documents associated with the denunciation of human rights violations under the dictatorship.