The Burned Ones

Black burlap background made with scraps of fabric and coloured wool illustrating moments from the national strike of 2 July 1986 in Chile, when two young people, Carmen Gloria Quintana (20 yo) and Rodrigo Rojas de Negri (19 yo), are on fire after being set alight by uniformed officers and Pinochetist civilians. The scene takes place in the middle of the street in the context of protests against Pinochet's civil-military dictatorship installed by the United States. Several people representing the protesters in the street and some armed soldiers can be seen. In the lower right-hand corner of the burlap, we see the following scene in a forest, where Carmen and Rodrigo were thrown and abandoned by the military in a wasteland in the commune of Quilicura, on the outskirts of the city.

Rodrigo Rojas De Negri (R.R.D.) and Carmen Gloria Quintana (C.G.Q.) brutally burned

A greyish-white burlap background made from scraps of coloured fabric and wool illustrates the moments when activist and psychologist Carmen Gloria Quintana and photographer Rodrigo Rojas De Negri are on fire after being doused with petrol and set alight by Pinochetist military personnel and civilians. They are standing next to a wall, behind which we can see a church. In the lower right corner, we see these two people being abandoned in a ditch by the military to die.

The crime sparked protests, mostly by the proletariat. Since photographer Rojas de Negri was a US citizen, the son of Chilean exiles in the US, and had been sent to Chile to report on the protests, the crime became known outside Chile and protests were held in the US and other parts of the world.

At the bottom of the burlap, embroidered in white thread, reads ‘“The burned ones. 2- VII-1984. Chile”. The ‘i’ in Chile is a star. Below this text is ‘R.I.D.E.E’ and the name of the commune or province of Linares.

Rojas de Negri died four days later after both were rescued by agricultural workers. Quintana was taken to the Workers' Hospital on 6 July with second- and third-degree burns covering 62% of his body and many broken teeth as a result of the beatings by the military, and was in critical condition.

Only in 2015 did a conscript who participated in the operation and disclosure of cables from the US Embassy in Washington detailing the chain of command and the impunity sought by La Moneda for the authorities involved allow the case to be reopened and put an end to that infamous and recurring dismissal for lack of evidence, even though the military justice system had ruled arbitrarily.

#PopularMemory: 39 years since the Quemados Case and our Right to Memory. Frente Magazine

Justice came late and the sentences left many of the criminals free, acquitting some and allowing others to remain in their homes, and the present dictator, a pinochetist nazi installed by USA/The West is free all the tortures, agents, and other criminals of the Dictatorship.

In April 2026, the bourgeoisie ordered the theft of 30 burlap pieces that were on display at the Villa Grimaldi Memorial Site for the exhibition “Memorias (A)puntadas, nuestro lugar en la historia”. These works, created by women who survived the dictatorship and their female descendants, denounce the crimes of the dictatorship and subsequent crimes, as well as their lives during that period.

The collection was developed in 2023 as part of a “Bearers of Tradition” workshop organized by the National Subdirectorate of Intangible Cultural Heritage (SNPCI), with support from the National Historical Museum and the Handicrafts Foundation of Chile. The process was mentored by Patricia Hidalgo and María Teresa Madariaga, recognized as Living Human Treasures, alongside the practitioners Gladys Hernández and Hilda Mardones.

The National Cultural Heritage Service reports the loss of 30 heritage arpillera pieces and is coordinating efforts to recover them

As of today, they have not been recovered. They were likely burned, as this is one of the typical modus operandi of the dictatorship and its current agents (police, soldiers, intelligence agents, and civilians). Just as they did with Julia del Carmen Chuñil Catricura (72 yo), a Mapuche woman and defender of the territory.

Photo by photographer Percy Lam, showing Rodrigo Rojas De Negri.

Rodrigo Rojas De Negri (19) and Carmen Gloria Quintana (20) on 2 July 1986 in Santiago are burning alive after being doused with fuel and set alight by the military and Pinochetist civilians for participating in the national strike. Their smoking bodies are wrapped in blankets and loaded onto a truck by the military and civilian agents, then abandoned in a ditch to die on the outskirts of the city. Their smoking bodies are wrapped in blankets and loaded onto a truck by the military and civilian agents, then abandoned in a ditch to die on the outskirts of the city.

Photograph of Carmen Gloria Quintana speaking at a religious ceremony at Our Lady of the Assumption Church in Sherbrooke, Canada

Carmen survived after weeks in critical condition with burns covering 60% of her body and broken teeth from the beating. Rodrigo died four days after the crime, after both had been rescued by farm workers who took them to hospital. Hundreds of people attended his funeral.

Funeral of Rodrigo Rojas De Negri

Rojas de Negri was a US citizen, a gringo, the son of Chilean refugees and exiles in the US and Canada. He had returned to Chile with the intention of photographing the protests against the dictatorship and publishing a book of photographs in the US, the same country that orchestrated the dictatorship in Chile and Plan Condor throughout South America. He was murdered, and the crime became known outside Chile, leading to protests against the US regime and elsewhere in the world. He was described as someone who did not measure his actions or their consequences, as he spoke openly in the street about being a communist and did not understand why people did not tell him where they lived. His yanki upbringing prevented him from grasping the gravity of a dictatorship and the situation in Chile and Latin America, as well as the fact that people were disappearing and being tortured for less than saying they were communists. His ignorance and his USAmerican status did not protect him.

Detail of the mural dedicated to Rodrigo Rojas de Negri in Washington, D.C.

The Chilean band Illapu dedicated the song ‘Para seguir viviendo’ (To Keep Living) to Rojas de Negri, which is part of their 1986 album of the same name. Quelentaro composed a song called ‘Rodrigo Rojas.’ The British group The Dream Academy dedicated the song ‘In Exile (For Rodrigo Rojas)’ from the album ‘Remembrance Days’ (1987) to him. The Chilean band Tenemos Explosivos dedicated the song ‘Montreal, 400 negativos’ to him, included on their album ‘La Virgen De Los Mataderos,’ with several references to the crime.

In 2006, the Chilean Council for Culture created the Rodrigo Rojas de Negri photography award, but until then, no one knew about his work. This changed in September 2013 when Rojas' first exhibition opened at the Museum of Contemporary Art in Santiago (MAC) and the Museum of Memory and Human Rights (MMDH), both in Quinta Normal, featuring a selection of 60 photographs from a total of 400 negatives.

In 2019, an artistic group called Colectivo Musa created a mosaic in tribute to the young man. Verónica De Negri, Rodrigo's mother, requested that it be installed in Valparaíso, at the former Vicente Santa Cruz School, which for a time was called República de Bolivia and is now the Pablo Neruda School.

Mosaic created in tribute to Rodrigo Rojas, victim of the Quemados Case: now looking for a place to install it

In 2024, the Municipality of Estación Central, in pursuit of collective memory and justice in Chile, with Verónica de Negri in attendance, changed the name of Hernán Yunge Street to Rodrigo Rojas de Negri Street.

Also present were the Minister of Justice, Luis Cordero, councillors, neighbourhood and human rights leaders, residents, photographers and a public committed to historical memory and justice.

Artists such as Roberto Márquez from the band Illapu, the Coulon brothers from Inti Illimani, Víctor Hugo and the Chilean-Haitian band LA-FA-MI Band participated in this tribute. An exhibition of photographs from Rodrigo Rojas's work was presented, highlighting his artistic legacy and commitment to historical truth.

In the Quilicura district, located in the capital of Chile, a health centre, which is the only emergency service in Quilicura that provides 24-hour care, is named after Rodrigo.

It was renamed in recognition of and appreciation for human rights in our community, after Rodrigo Rojas de Negri, who arrived at this service in 1986 with burns on his body and at gunpoint. The civil servants who were present at the time were eyewitnesses to the cruelty that was prevalent in those years.

Contexto histórico

En América del Sur, regímenes autoritarios ideológicamente inspirados por la Doctrina de Seguridad Nacional se extendieron por lo largo y ancho de la región en el contexto geopolítico de la Guerra Fría. Se inició en Paraguay en 1954; Brasil siguió en 1964 y, posteriormente, hubo golpes de Estado en Bolivia en 1971, en Uruguay y Chile en 1973, y finalmente en Argentina en 1976.  Estas dictaduras reprimieron brutal y sistemáticamente todas las formas de oposición, apuntando tanto a integrantes de grupos armados de izquierda, como a líderes políticos, docentes, estudiantes, periodistas, dirigentes sindicales y activistas políticos y sociales. A pesar de algunas diferencias, estas dictaduras perpetraron miles de delitos de lesa humanidad, como son las ejecuciones extrajudiciales, los secuestros ilegales, las desapariciones forzadas, la tortura y tratos inhumanos, el robo de bebés, y la violencia sexual.  Desde comienzos de los años 1970, la represión política que se venía desarrollando dentro de cada país adquirió una dimensión regional adicional y siniestra a través del llamado Plan Cóndor. Hacia fines de noviembre de 1975, representantes de los regímenes de Argentina, Bolivia, Chile, Paraguay y Uruguay, reunidos en Santiago de Chile, establecieron el llamado “Sistema Cóndor,” o Plan Cóndor. Según el Acta de Clausura de la Primera Reunión InterAmericana de Inteligencia Nacional, el nombre Cóndor fue aprobado por unanimidad por una moción presentada por la delegación de Uruguay en homenaje al país sede. 

Así quien no trabaja (1977)

La arpillera muestra a tres personas detras de las rejas los cuales son azotados con un latigo con electricidad, presenta un manuscrito en el reverso con la siguiente inscripción "Chile 77, A.R.C." que se puede atribuir a su creadora.

Museo de la Memoria y los Derechos Humanos

So with those who do not work (1977)

The burlap shows three people behind bars who are being whipped with an electric whip. On the back, there is a manuscript with the following inscription: “Chile 77, A.R.C.,” which can be attributed to its creator.

Los quemados

Arpillera con fondo negro elaborada con retazos de tela y lana de colores que ilustra los momentos del paro nacional del 2 de julio de 1986 en Chile en que dos jóvenes, Carmen Gloria Quintana (20 años) y Rodrigo Rojas de Negri (19 años), están en llamas, al ser prendidos fuego por uniformados y civiles pinochetistas, la escena transcurre en plena calle en el contexto de protestas contra la dictadura cívico militar de Pinochet instalada por EEUU. Se aprecian varias personas que representan a los protestantes en la calle y algunos militares armados. En la parte inferior derecha de la arpillera, vemos la siguiente escena en un bosque, donde Carmen y Rodrigo fueron arrojados y abandonados por los militares en un sitio eriazo de la comuna de Quilicura, periferia de la ciudad.

Rodrigo Rojas De Negri (R.R.D.) y Carmen Gloria Quintana (C.G.Q.) brutalmente quemados

Arpillera de fondo blanco grisáceo elaborada con retazos de tela y lana de colores ilustra los momentos en que la activista y psicóloga Carmen Gloria Quintana y el fotógrafo Rodrigo Rojas De Negri están en llamas después de haber sido rociados con gasolina y prendidos fuego por los militares pinochetistas. Están junto a una pared y tras esta vemos alzarse una iglesia. En la esquina inferior derecha vemos a estas dos personas siendo abandonadas en una zanja por los militares para morir.

El crimen causó por respuesta protestas, en su mayoría compuestas por proletariado. Ya que el fotógrafo Rojas de Negri era ciudadano estadounidense por ser hijo de exiliados chilenos en EEUU y había sido enviado al país para reportar sobre las protestas, el crimen fue conocido fuera de Chile y se realizaron protestas en el régimen estadounidense y otros lugares del mundo.

Al pie de la arpillera, en hilo blanco, se lee bordado "Los quemados. 2- VII-1984. Chile" La "i" de Chile es una estrella. Bajo este texto "R.I.D.E.E" y el nombre de la comuna o provincia de Linares.

Rojas de Negri falleció cuatro días más tarde tras ambos ser rescatados por trabajadores campesinos agrícolas. Quintana pasó al Hospital del Trabajador el 6 de julio con quemaduras de segundo y tercer grado en un 62% de su cuerpo y con muchos dientes rotos a causa de las golpizas de los militares y estando en riesgo vital durante semanas. Sobrevivió.

La justicia en ese entonces no encontró culpables.

Durante la visita de Juan Pablo II a Chile, Carmen Gloria Quitana se reunió con el pontífice quien siguió manteniendo su apoyo a Pinochet y otras dictaduras debido a su rol como papa anti comunista y pro imperialismo.

Sólo el 2015 un conscripto que participó en la operación y la divulgación de los cables de la Embajada de EE.UU. a Washington detallando la cadena de mando y la impunidad procurada desde La Moneda a las autoridades involucradas, permitieron reabrir la causa y terminar con esa infame y recurrente sentencia del sobreseimiento por falta de antecedentes, aunque la Justicia Militar se habría pronunciado de modo arbitrario.

#MemoriaPopular: 39 años del Caso Quemados y nuestro Derecho a la Memoria. Revista de Frente

La Justicia llegó tarde y las sentencias dejaron libres a muchos de los criminales, así como absolviendo a unos y dejando en sus casas a otros.

in eng below the cut

Metodos de tortura en Chile/Methods of torture in Chile

Dibujos de métodos de tortura hechos por Miguel Lawner. Realizados a partir de los testimonios dados por Aura Maria Hermosilla y María Loreto Pelissier.

Imagen 1 (detalle): Villa Grimaldi: Las Torres Imagen 2 (detalle): La Parrilla

La ‘parrilla’: ésta era la forma más habitual de tortura. Consistía en un catre de metal sobre el que se amarraba desnudo al detenido para proceder a aplicarle descargas de corriente eléctrica sobre distintas partes del cuerpo, especialmente aquellas más sensibles como labios o genitales, y aun sobre heridas o prótesis metálicas. Una modalidad particularmente cruel de este método consistía en la utilización de un camarote metálico de dos pisos; como modo de presión y debilitamiento psicológico, se colocaba al interrogado en la cama inferior y en la superior se torturaba a un familiar o un amigo.

Formas de Tortura (Corporación Parque por la Paz Villa Grimaldi)

Drawings of torture methods by Miguel Lawner. Based on testimonies given by Aura Maria Hermosilla and María Loreto Pelissier.

Image 1 (detail): Villa Grimaldi: Las Torres Image 2 (detail): The Grill

The ‘grill’: this was the most common form of torture. It consisted of a metal cot to which the detainee was tied naked in order to apply electric shocks to different parts of the body, especially the most sensitive areas such as the lips or genitals, and even wounds or metal prostheses. A particularly cruel variation of this method involved the use of a two-storey metal bunk bed; as a means of psychological pressure and weakening, the interrogated person was placed on the lower bunk while a family member or friend was tortured on the upper bunk.

Für Chiles Freiheit – Por la libertad de Chile (1983)

A diez años de la dictadura militar. El mástil de la bandera chilena logra romper el acero de las cadenas norteamericanas (Us-Stell es una de las cadenas de producción de acero más grande de EE.UU. y el mundo). Premio nacional de diseño en Alemania.

- Fondo Beatriz Brikkmann, Fondo Carmen Waugh, Fondo Jaime Sperberg via Museo de la Memoria y los Derechos Humanos (Chile)

in eng under the cut