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Defending the Family: Female Begging and the Policing of Female Begging on the Streets of Pinochet's Santiago (1973–90)
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 29 May 2020
Abstract
Economic crises during Chile's civic–military dictatorship (1973–90) forced a growing number of people onto the streets, including women who commuted from peripheral neighbourhoods to beg in downtown Santiago. Under military rule, impoverished women in public spaces became a police problem. Despite their constant presence on the streets throughout the twentieth century, Chile's begging laws were rarely applied to women, except for a brief period under Pinochet, when begging emerged as a female crime in Santiago. This paper examines female begging and the policing of female begging, revealing both to be framed as a defence of the family.
Spanish abstract
Las crisis económicas durante la dictadura cívico-militar en Chile (1973–90) forzaron a un creciente número de personas a trabajar en la calle, entre ellas mujeres que se trasladaban de barrios periféricos a pedir limosna en el centro de Santiago. Bajo el régimen militar, mujeres empobrecidas en espacios públicos se volvieron un problema policiaco. Pese a su constante presencia en las calles a lo largo del siglo XX, las leyes contra la mendicidad fueron raramente aplicadas a las mujeres, salvo durante un breve periodo de la era Pinochet cuando pedir limosna emergió como un delito femenino en Santiago. Este artículo examina la mendicidad femenina y su tratamiento policiaco, enmarcados ambos como una defensa a la familia.
Portuguese abstract
A crise econômica causada pela ditadura civil–militar do Chile (1973–90) forçou um grande número de pessoas a trabalhar na rua, incluindo mulheres que vinham de bairros periféricos para mendigar no centro de Santiago. Durante o regime militar, a presença de mulheres pobres em espaços públicos se tornou um problema ‘de polícia’. Apesar de sua constante presença nas ruas ao longo de todo o século vinte, as leis de mendicância raramente foram aplicadas às mulheres, exceto por um curto período sob Pinochet, quando a mendicância começou a ser vista como um crime feminino em Santiago. Este artigo examina a mendicância feminina e o policiamento da mesma, demonstrando que ambos foram enquadrados dentro do argumento de defesa da família.
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References
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24 The totals do not tally because some case files could not be found in the AJS.
25 There is little in the available case files to suggest that the women detained were inhibited by fear of abuse or reprisal when speaking before a judge. Police harassment was real, as was fear of it, but statements show a preparedness to admit to begging, denounce police harassment or insist police are lying.
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28 Ministerio de Justicia, Ley no. 19.567 (1 July 1998).
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37 A review of Ledgers 5, 6 and 7 of the 2CCS of files sent to the AJS identified 114 ‘beggars’ (65 women and 49 men) and 1,704 ‘vagrants’ (323 women and 1,381 men) by name and sex. Only nine women and 11 men were detained for both ‘crimes’. Common first and last name combinations and the use of initials may impact the accuracy of the numbers, but not to any significant degree.
38 Based on a review of 89 vagrancy cases in the AJS.
39 At the national level arrests of men outnumbered those of women; see Zapata and Moya, ‘La mendicidad y su mundo’, p. 20.
40 See, for example, Spooner, Soldiers in a Narrow Land, pp. 175–6.
41 Zapata and Moya, ‘La mendicidad y su mundo’, Anexo A, pp. 34–43.
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49 Rodó and Saball, ‘Mujer popular’, p. 49.
50 Sixty-seven identifiable women have an address in their file. More than half lived in Conchalí (13), La Granja (12) or La Cisterna (10).
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56 Ibid., pp. 43–58. See also Ministro de Economía, Fomento y Reconstrucción (Ministry of the Economy, Development and Reconstruction, MEFR), XV censo nacional de población y IV de vivienda, 12 vols., Vol. 2 (Santiago, 1982), pp. 266–7; and Schkolnik and Teitelboim, Pobreza y desempleo, pp. 323–7.
57 Raczynski and Serrano, Vivir la pobreza, pp. 43–58, 88, 98.
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61 Rodó and Saball, ‘Mujer popular’, p. 42.
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65 In the available case files between 1979 and 1990, 59 individual women can be identified. Around half of these women were detained at least once with their children, or alongside someone with children. They identify as mostly as dueñas de casa (22). The next highest category is street vendor (five).
66 Zapata and Moya, ‘La mendicidad y su mundo’, p. 148.
67 Ibid., p. 149.
68 Interview with Guadalupe in Zapata and Moya, ‘La mendicidad y su mundo’, Anexo A, pp. 14–32.
69 Ibid., pp. 148–9.
70 Ibid., Anexo A, p. 26.
71 Ibid., p. 77.
72 Ibid., Anexo A, pp. 11 and 69.
73 Ibid., pp. 34–43.
74 Case 113.573-11, 2CCS, 23 Nov. 1985, AJS; Case 112.161-6, 2CCS, 9 July 1985, AJS.
75 Case 112.421-3, 2CCS, 30 July 1985, AJS.
76 Case 111.092-11, 2CCS, 22 April 1985, AJS.
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82 Case 109.732-2, 2CCS, 31 Dec. 1984, AJS.
83 Case 111.603-6, 2CCS, 30 May 1985, AJS.
84 Case 113.537-11, 2CCS, 23 Nov. 1985, AJS.
85 Ministerio de Justicia, Ley no. 16.618 (1967).
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102 Actas de Sesiones de la honorable Junta de Gobierno, Acta no. 112-a.
103 Pieper Mooney, The Politics of Motherhood, p. 138; Thomas, Contesting Legitimacy in Chile, p. 141.
104 Oficina de Planificación Nacional (ODEPLAN), Política de población: Política poblacional aprobada por su excelencia el Presidente de la República y publicada en el Plan Nacional Indicativo de Desarrollo (1978–1983), en noviembre de 1978 (Santiago: ODEPLAN, 1979)Google Scholar, translated in ‘Chile Adopts Pronatalist Policy’, Population and Development Review, 5: 3 (1979), pp. 563–71CrossRefGoogle Scholar.
105 Ibid., p. 569.
106 Ibid., p. 570.
107 Ibid., p. 569.
108 Thomas, Contesting Legitimacy in Chile, p. 148.
109 Bruey, Bread, Justice, and Liberty, pp. 84 and 89–94.
110 Becerra, María Teresa Miranda, ‘Departamento de Menores: Medidas adoptadas y proyección futura’, Niño y Patria, 1: 2 (1978), pp. 13–14Google Scholar. Articles in the magazine also point to inadequate housing, parental alcoholism, underdevelopment and ‘irresponsible’ family planning, and they make clear a preference to keep families together: Georgina Rivera Lechat (Capitán [Captain]), ‘Consecuencias desfavorables del medio que conducen a la condición de irregularidad’, Niño y Patria, 2 (1978), p. 11Google Scholar; ‘La familia popular y todos sus problemas’, Niño y Patria, 5 (1985), pp. 41–3Google Scholar.
111 Colonel Mario López, chief of the Department of Minors and executive vice-president of Niño y Patria, explained this dynamic in 1987, saying that child beggars were detained only if they should have otherwise been at school: see de la Solidaridad, Vicaría, ‘Mendicidad infantil. La pobreza obliga’, Solidaridad, 251 (1987), p. 20Google Scholar.
112 Chilean police prefectures have a larger brief than do individual commissaries. The Anuarios de estadísticas policiales published by the carabineros and the INE (see source to Figure 1) break down arrests by prefecture from 1982.
113 In the sample of cases, the 2nd Women's Commissary and the 34th and 35th Minors’ Commissaries were responsible for 13 arrests of women for begging between 1979 and 1987, and for none after 1987.
114 de Chile, Carabineros, de Instrucción, Dirección, Manual básico de procedimientos policiales para Carabineros (Chile: Carabineros de Chile, Dirección de Instrucción, 1982), p. 43Google Scholar.
115 Case 120.406-1, 2CCS, 22 June 1987, AJS.
116 Interview with Sister María de la Paz Venegas (7 Nov. 2019, Congregación Buen Pastor [Congregation of the Good Shepherd], Santiago). Sister María de la Paz was warden of the COF from 1978 to 1982 and again between 1991 and 1994. The COF also had a section for ‘minors’, that is prisoners under the age of 21. Sister María de la Paz recalled the youngest during her time as being around 18.
117 The archive of the Good Shepherd Congregation contains a 1984 update to the 1983 agreement, raising the number of ‘minors in irregular situations’ whom the sisters agreed to house from 40 to 45 (Archivo Histórico de la Fundación Buen Pastor, Document 200-8-1).
118 CNSP, La pobreza en Chile, p. 22.
119 Ibid.
120 Case 91.865-1, 2CCS, 16 July 1979, AJS.
121 Case 99.329, 2CCS, 26 Feb. 1982, AJS; Case 103.934-9, 2CCS, 24 June 1983, AJS; Case 109.815-9, 2CCS, 8 Dec. 1985, AJS; Case 118.873-1, 2CCS, 2 March 1987, AJS.
122 Case 113.133-6, 2CCS, 15 Oct. 1985, AJS.
123 Zapata and Moya, ‘La mendicidad y su mundo’, pp. 92–4, 97 and 149.
124 Contreras, Victoria and Weihert, Uwe, Sobrevivir en la calle: El comercio ambulante en Santiago (Santiago: PREALC, 1988), pp. 39–40, 91, 93, 99, 103Google Scholar. Murphy too writes of the ambivalent relationship between pobladores and the police within the poblaciones: see For a Proper Home, pp. 143–4.
125 Begging arrests followed a different rhythm from repression in the poblaciones. Massive raids of poor comunas showed a lull in the late 1970s, spiked in the mid 1980s and remained relatively high in the late 1980s: see Moya, Laura, Videla, Claudia and Balladares, Ricardo (eds.), Tortura en poblaciones del Gran Santiago (1973–1990) (Santiago: Corporación José Domingo Cañas, 2005), p. 75Google Scholar.
126 Contreras and Weihert, Sobrevivir en la calle, pp. 20 and 37.
127 Ibid., p. 38.
128 As translated in Nunez, ‘Women on the Streets’, p. WS79.
129 Contreras and Weihert, Sobrevivir en la calle, pp. 5 and 23.
130 Ibid., p. 16.
131 Carabineros de Chile, INE, Anuarios de estadísticas policiales (1989–98).
132 Cámara de Diputados, Sesión no. 29(a) (15 Jan. 1991).