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The expert witness recommends continuation of processes that seek to find or
identify the missing persons, and of support to organizations such as
COFAVIC, and also providing mental health care to the victims and their next
of kin.
To supplement her general report, the expert witness submitted to the Court
the individual psychological reports on victims Gregoria Matilde Castillo and
Noraima Sosa Ríos, and of the following next of kin of victims: Hilda Rosa
Páez, Petra Bello, Olga María Álvarez de Tesara, Catalina Ramos de Guevara,
Dilia Mendoza de Ramos, Aura Liscano, Iris Medina, and Maritza Romero.
2.
Alicia Neuburger, psychologist.10
The victims who have suffered the type of violence involved in the facts of the
El Caracazo case are deprived of liberty, physical integrity, safety, their life
project and their own identity, as well as family ties. No psyche can tolerate
that type of violence without severe subjective disorders.
The usual
consequences include partial or total loss of thought, lack of motivation,
anguish crises, anxiety, various types of somatizations, emotional withdrawal,
severe depression which can trigger suicide, and they can reach the point of
psychotic dissociation, with delirium and hallucinations. Impotence with
respect to the situation generates episodes of wrath. If it is known that those
responsible were agents of the State, fear increases vis-à-vis the external
world as a whole, especially of the authorities. Feelings of mistrust and
skepticism toward State institutions appear or become more intense.
Feelings of abandonment and defenselessness may be very intense and
plunge those directly affected into a state of childish dependence with an
ambivalent polarity of intense emotions: frustration-hate, powerlessnesschallenge.
The fact that justice has not been served constitutes another wound on top of
the previous wound for those affected. The psyche does not accept impunity,
and if those responsible are not punished, the wrath will turn against the
social body in charge of implementing justice, against the next of kin, or
against the affected persons themselves. It is possible that the latter may
suffer very severe disorders, which can lead to permanent incapacity or
death.
The effects of permanent incapacity are depression, frustration, feelings of
self-pity, and devaluation. This generates highly dependent ties, difficulties
relating adequately to others, and loss of the capacity of enjoyment. There is
a tendency toward isolation from the outside world. Having been caused by
violent events, the incapacity to integrate into the new life situation becomes
even more acute because the psyche is “incapacitated” to process the
damage.
Currently, the concept of mind-body integration is widely accepted. When a
person suffers a traumatic event, strength of the immunological system
diminishes, which makes the individual more prone to contract illness. This is
10
An Argentinean psychologist, specializing in Clinical Psychology. She did not interview victims or
next of kin in the instant case.