The military coup in Chile in 1973, the immediate reaction of international organisations, and the founding of the first rehabilitation program for torture victims in 1977.

This paper documents the historical steps of the immediate reactions of the United Nations, Amnesty International, the World Council of Churches (WCC), the Inter-American Com-mission on Human Rights, and lawyers' or-ganisations in support of the victims of torture and others suffering gross violations of their human rights, as perpetrated by the Chilean military from 1973 to 1990. This article is also the history of the founding of the first rehabili-tation programs for torture victims in Chile in 1977 and the other care programs for victims under local and international churches' pro-tection during the worst period of the military dictatorship. The actions of denunciation and defense of the victims were possible through national and international networks sustained in collaborative work from inside and outside Chile, which lasted for 17 years.