A Chilean judge on Tuesday ordered the arrest of at least 129 former Chilean soldiers and police for human rights violations during the military dictatorship of Augusto Pinochet, court sources said.
The arrest warrants issued by Judge Victor Montiglio were directed against former agents of the National Intelligence Directorate, a feared political police unit known as the DINA by its Spanish initials.
Named in the order were retired military officers who had never before been brought before the court and former non-commissioned officers from the air force, navy and police services, the source who had access to the order said.
The warrants are related to “Operation Condor,” a violent campaign in the 1970s by the governments of Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Paraguay and Uruguay to assassinate opponents of their regimes.
Hundreds of people are believed to have disappeared in the operation.
They also target those who oversaw and conducted “Operation Colombo,” during which 119 Chilean members of the opposition were killed in 1975.
Also concerned are the cases of 10 communists who disappeared from their Santiago headquarters on Conferencia Street in 1976.
“Basically we are investigating anyone who was in the barracks, in so far as they participated in, sought to participate in or had knowledge of deprivation of victims’ freedoms. We are much closer to the end,” the judge told Radio Cooperativa.
A legal source said the arrest order would be carried out in a staggered manner through the end of the week and that all those targeted for arrest would face charges of kidnapping.
Montiglio took over the investigation in 2006, replacing judge Juan Guzman, who in 1998 began the inquest marked by contradictory testimony and other disputes that delayed any decision.
“There are important elements in this case that need to be resolved, so the minister [judge] has asked us to use discretion so that the exhaustive work on these important human rights investigations of Operation Colombo, Operation Condor and Conferencia can be completed,” said Boris Paredes, a lawyer representing the interior ministry.
Pinochet’s 1973-1990 military regime is blamed for human rights abuses including some 3,000 deaths and disappearances.
Pinochet died in December 2006 at a military hospital in Santiago at the age of 91 after evading repeated attempts to bring him to trial.
Two weeks before his death, Pinochet took responsibility for actions committed under his rule, but never apologized for the suffering he caused.
The latest batch from convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein’s e-mails illustrates the extraordinary scope of his contacts with powerful people, ranging from a top Trump adviser to Britain’s ex-prince Andrew. The US House of Representatives is expected to vote this week on trying to force release of evidence gathered on Epstein by law enforcement over the years — including the identities of the men suspected of participating in his alleged sex trafficking ring. However, a slew of e-mails released this week have already opened new windows to the extent of Epstein’s network. These include multiple references to US President Donald
CHARGES: The former president, who maintains his innocence, was sentenced to 27 years and three months in prison for a failed coup bid, as well as an assassination plot Far-right former Brazilian president Jair Bolsonaro is running out of options to avoid prison, after judges on Friday rejected his appeal against a 27-year sentence for a botched coup bid. Bolsonaro lost the 2022 elections and was convicted in September for his efforts to prevent Brazlian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva from taking power after the polls. Prosecutors said the scheme — which included plans to assassinate Lula and a top Brazilian Supreme Court judge — failed only due to a lack of support from military top brass. A panel of Supreme Court judges weighing Bolsonaro’s appeal all voted to uphold
Chinese tech giant Alibaba yesterday denied it helps Beijing target the US, saying that a recent news report was “completely false.” The Financial Times yesterday reported that Alibaba “provides tech support for Chinese military ‘operations’ against [US] targets,” a White House memo provided to the newspaper showed. Alibaba hands customer data, including “IP addresses, WiFi information and payment records,” to Chinese authorities and the Chinese People’s Liberation Army, the report cited the memo as saying. The Financial Times said it could not independently verify the claims, adding that the White House believes the actions threaten US security. An Alibaba Group spokesperson said “the assertions
LEFT AND RIGHT: Battling anti-incumbent, anticommunist sentiment, Jeanette Jara had a precarious lead over far-right Jose Antonio Kast as they look to the Dec. 14 run Leftist candidate Jeannette Jara and far-right leader Jose Antonio Kast are to go head-to-head in Chile’s presidential runoff after topping Sunday’s first round of voting in an election dominated by fears of violent crime. With 99 percent of the results counted, Jara, a 51-year-old communist running on behalf of an eight-party coalition, won 26.85 percent, compared with 23.93 percent for Kast, the Servel electoral service said. The election was dominated by deep concern over a surge in murders, kidnappings and extortion widely blamed on foreign crime gangs. Kast, 59, has vowed to build walls, fences and trenches along Chile’s border with Bolivia to
RSS