I just recently visited the main Stasi remand prison for political prisoners in Berlin and got an in depth tour of it and was told of the torture that the prisoners endured prior to their confessions. In reality, I find it hard to believe that similar gross violations of human rights were not taking place right through out Latin America under Yankee direction!
It depends who you were. If you're a rich landwoner, or your father was a rich businessman, and you weren't interested in politics at all, you'd probably live far better in Latin America than in Eastern Europen, with greater personal freedom, even under the worst dictatorships (nothing was granted, of course, as even a few of these people were hijacked and killed only for their money).
But if you had any liberal political inclinations and manifested them publicly during the dictatorships of the South Cone, or if you had any problem with the despots in power in Central America (or they family or friends) think would get very bad for yourself. In the worst periods, under the worst dictatorships, you might have been hijacked, tortured and killed, and your body wouldn't have been delivered to your family. Of course, this was only in the worst period: in Argentina it happened from 1976-80; by 1982 there were practically no more "disapearences".
To sum up, yes, things were really bad in here, but only for briefs periods, and depending on who you were.