Torture as Intensive Repression in Latin America: The Psychology of its Methods and Practice

Abstract

The practice of torture in Latin America is fundamentally an activity of the state and part of a larger program of repression. In this article, the author analyzes, in general, the psychology of the methods and practice of torture, and, in particular, the psychological defenses likely activated by the torturer when confronting the victim. The contradictions in the relationship of torturer to tortured are seen in the light of larger social contradictions within the scheme of domination.