Cuando las palabras ya no alcanzan: Dos formas del cara-a-cara en el Chile postdictatorial

Abstract

This paper examines two face-to-face encounters during the Chilean post-dictatorship: the “cueca sola” as a way of facing the disappeared, and the confrontation of Francisco Cuadrado Prats with the corpse of Augusto Pinochet, as an encounter with the face of the dictatorship. I examine the centrality of the face in ethical relationships, and analyze these performances and their connection to silencing, in the “cueca sola”, and to spitting as a mute but significant act when words are no longer enough.