Arpilleristas
Arpilleristas are the sisters, wives, and mothers who made up the women’s protest movement in Chile during Pinochet’s dictatorship (1973–1990). These women faced what would seem like insurmountable odds, and challenged silence and terror imposed by Pinochet, his military, and his secret police. With the help of the Catholic archbishop of Santiago, the women stitched together scraps of fabric into arpilleras (colorful tapestries that document the abuses of the Pinochet dictatorship) and turned those arpilleras into a nonviolent weapon against the regime. An extraordinary combination of personal determination and courage propelled these women, the arpilleristas, into a leading role in the movement to restore democracy to Chile. Their story is told in the Facing History and Ourselves book Stitching Truth: Women’s Protest Art in Pinochet’s Chile.
