Weaving Impunity for Dictatorship Crimes in Chile
By Ramona Wadi | Strategic Culture Foundation | July 25, 2020
In 1968, the U.S. backed a covert intelligence surveillance campaign in which Latin American right-wing governments conspired to annihilate socialist and communist influence in the region. The plan, known as Operation Condor, was formally implemented in 1975, two years after dictator Augusto Pinochet took power in Chile through a military coup supported by the U.S. Up to 80,000 left wing opponents are estimated to have been killed; 30,000 of them disappeared by right-wing governments in Latin America by 1989, when Operation Condor was officially terminated. Over 400,000 people were detained as political prisoners.
This month marks 44 years since the kidnapping and murder of Spanish-Chilean diplomat Carmelo Soria; also a victim of Operation Condor. Soria, who worked as a UN civil servant and became advisor to the Unidad Popular between 1971 and 1973 when Chile was ruled by socialist President Salvador Allende, became a target for Chile’s National Intelligence Directorate (DINA) during the Pinochet dictatorship. Through his diplomatic immunity as a UN official, Soria aided individuals to seek refuge in embassies until plans for exile could be made.
Soria was kidnapped by DINA agents pertaining to the Brigada Mulchen under the command of Captain Guillermo Salinas at the time, on July 14, tortured at Via Naranja and Villa Grimaldi, and murdered. His body was discovered in Santiago de Chile, dumped in a car that was pushed into a ditch, to cover up the murder as an apparent drunk driving accident.
Little is known about Brigada Mulchen – a secret operatives network with direct links to DINA’s chief Manuel Contreras. The agents comprising Brigada Mulchen have been described by Chilean researcher and author Javier Rebolledo as being part of Pinochet’s inner circle. Michael Townley, a CIA and DINA agent who was tasked with the production and experimentation of sarin gas, together with the biochemist Eugenio Berrios, was involved in Soria’s murder. Townley, who is under the Witness Protection Program in the U.S., was one of the agents requested for extradition by Chile’s Supreme Court for involvement in Soria’s murder. Soria’s remains were exhumed and identified in 2002 by Chile’s Servicio Medico Legal (SML). In 2015, 15 former DINA agents were indicted for Soria’s murder.
In 2019, 43 years after the murder, Chile’s Supreme Court sentenced Pedro Espinoza Bravo, Raul Iturriaga Neumann, Jaime Lele Orellana and Juan Morales Salgado, to a mere six years in prison for Soria’s murder – a travesty of justice which does not even reflect the crime. However, the impunity built through Pinochet’s dictatorship legacy still has a stronghold on Chile. Earlier this year, the Santiago Court of Appeals reduced the prison sentences of 17 former DINA agents who were involved in the murder and disappearances of Communist party members; the latter including Luis Emilio Recabarren.
Espinoza Bravo, sentenced for his involvement in Soria’s murder, is one of the DINA agents whose prison sentences have been reduced. The decision indicates the absence of separation between law and politics in Chile. In his presidential campaign, Chile’s right-wing President Sebastian Pinera had publicly spoken of amnesties for former DINA agents incarcerated for crimes against humanity. The suggestion was well received by the military and right-wing dictatorship supporters, while victims of the dictatorship and their relatives, in a struggle for reclaiming memory and justice since the dictatorship era, had to contend with yet another political impediment – the political manoeuvring at a legal level.
Chile is governed by silence and complicity – the Pinochet legacy, together with the military’s “pact of silence” – remain perpetual obstacles. What has changed since Soria’s murder was passed off as a drunk driving accident at a time when dictatorship opponents were being tortured and disappeared? While the Chilean military has not been averse to such tactics as seen in last year’s protests, it must be said that since Chile’s transition to democracy, subsequent governments have thoroughly failed the cause of human rights and collective memory in the country.
Share this:
- Click to share on Twitter (Opens in new window)
- Click to email a link to a friend (Opens in new window)
- Click to print (Opens in new window)
- Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window)
- More
- Click to share on Skype (Opens in new window)
- Click to share on Pocket (Opens in new window)
- Click to share on Reddit (Opens in new window)
- Click to share on Telegram (Opens in new window)
- Click to share on Pinterest (Opens in new window)
- Click to share on Tumblr (Opens in new window)
- Click to share on WhatsApp (Opens in new window)
- Click to share on LinkedIn (Opens in new window)
Related
July 25, 2020 - Posted by aletho | Civil Liberties, Timeless or most popular | Chile, Human rights, Latin America
No comments yet.
This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.
Featured Video
FDA ATTEMPTS TO “FLU SHOT” FUTURE COVID VACCINES
For more videos go to the Aletho News – Video Category
or go to
Aletho News Archives – Video-Images
From the Archives
Al Gore stuffed millions into his lockbox while saving the world
By Jon Rappoport | No More Fake News | June 24, 2022
Since climate change has once again risen to the top of the charts, as an issue of “deep concern,” I’m reposting my piece about Al Gore from several years ago. … continue
Blog Roll
Visits Since December 2009
- 5,785,496 hits
Looking for something?
Archives
Calendar
Categories
Aletho News Civil Liberties Corruption Deception Economics Environmentalism Ethnic Cleansing, Racism, Zionism Fake News False Flag Terrorism Full Spectrum Dominance Illegal Occupation Mainstream Media, Warmongering Malthusian Ideology, Phony Scarcity Militarism Progressive Hypocrite Russophobia Science and Pseudo-Science Solidarity and Activism Subjugation - Torture Supremacism, Social Darwinism Timeless or most popular Video War Crimes Wars for IsraelTags
9/11 Afghanistan Africa AIPAC al-Qaeda Argentina Australia BBC Benjamin Netanyahu Brazil Canada Central Intelligence Agency China CIA CNN Colombia Covid-19 COVID-19 Vaccine Da’esh Donald Trump Egypt European Union Facebook FBI France Gaza Germany Google Hamas Hebron Hezbollah Hillary Clinton Human rights India Iran Iraq ISIS Israel Israeli settlement Japan Jerusalem Joe Biden Korea Latin America Lebanon Libya Middle East National Security Agency NATO New York Times North Korea NSA Obama Pakistan Palestine Qatar Russia Sanctions against Iran Saudi Arabia Syria The Guardian Turkey Twitter UAE UK Ukraine United Nations United States USA Venezuela Washington Post West Bank Yemen YouTube ZionismRecent Comments
Meriem Kheira Peille… on Nepal’s rebuff of SPP is major… Bob on Prime Minister of Montenegro w… roberthstiver on Russia comments on alleged mal… planetsheeple on A pivotal moment in eastern… planetsheeple on Germany’s largest BASF p… planetsheeple on The Fantasy of Fanaticism planetsheeple on The Fantasy of Fanaticism brianharryaustralia on WHO Recommends New Gates-Funde… brianharryaustralia on FDA ATTEMPTS TO “FLU SHOT” FUT… brianharryaustralia on CIA ops, commandos in Ukraine:… Balthasar Gerards on Prime Minister of Montenegro w… brianharryaustralia on Iran and Argentina apply to jo…
Aletho News
- Netherlands Energy Minister warns of gas crisis domino effect June 28, 2022
- Nepal’s rebuff of SPP is major failure in US attempts to expand influence in South Asia June 28, 2022
- Russia comments on alleged mall strike in Ukraine June 28, 2022
- FDA ATTEMPTS TO “FLU SHOT” FUTURE COVID VACCINES June 28, 2022
- Uvalde Mother Who Rushed Into the Besieged School to Save Her Children Says Police Are Harassing Her June 28, 2022
- WHO Recommends New Gates-Funded Polio Vaccine to Address Vaccine-Derived Polio Outbreak in U.K. June 28, 2022
- Why is the government getting into bed with Moderna? June 27, 2022
- Facebook blocks links to website detailing how users can get class action settlement payout from Facebook June 27, 2022
- Iran and Argentina apply to join BRICS June 27, 2022
- CIA ops, commandos in Ukraine: Can we just admit we are fighting this war? June 27, 2022
- Germany’s largest BASF plant may close due to gas shortage June 27, 2022
- Prime Minister of Montenegro warns of ‘general energy collapse’ in Europe June 27, 2022
- The Libertarian Party is Beating the Drums for Peace June 27, 2022
- Al Gore stuffed millions into his lockbox while saving the world June 27, 2022
- Russia strikes Kiev rocket plant June 27, 2022
- US government openly advocates destroying Russia June 27, 2022
- Western media celebrate ‘Russian default’ June 27, 2022
- Sanctions – who’s harming who? June 27, 2022
OffGuardian
- Anatomy of a Philanthropath: Dreams of Democide & Dictatorship June 28, 2022
- WATCH: Fairy Tales and Children’s Stories – #SolutionsWatch June 27, 2022
- This Week in the New Normal #35 June 26, 2022
Richie Allen
Consent Factory
- The Federal Republic of New Normal Germany June 20, 2022
If Americans Knew
Not A Lot Of People Know That
- The Global Temperature Record (Part One) June 28, 2022
- Forecast For 22nd June 2050 June 27, 2022
- The Telegraph’s Reputation Slowly Sinks Beneath The Waves June 27, 2022
- Bee-eaters in Norfolk ‘worrying sign of climate change’ June 27, 2022
No Tricks Zone
Sebastian Rushworth M.D.
- Can drinking water help with weight loss? June 22, 2022
More Links
Contact:
atheonews (at) gmail.comDisclaimer
This site is provided as a research and reference tool. Although we make every reasonable effort to ensure that the information and data provided at this site are useful, accurate, and current, we cannot guarantee that the information and data provided here will be error-free. By using this site, you assume all responsibility for and risk arising from your use of and reliance upon the contents of this site.
This site and the information available through it do not, and are not intended to constitute legal advice. Should you require legal advice, you should consult your own attorney.
Nothing within this site or linked to by this site constitutes investment advice or medical advice.
Materials accessible from or added to this site by third parties, such as comments posted, are strictly the responsibility of the third party who added such materials or made them accessible and we neither endorse nor undertake to control, monitor, edit or assume responsibility for any such third-party material.
The posting of stories, commentaries, reports, documents and links (embedded or otherwise) on this site does not in any way, shape or form, implied or otherwise, necessarily express or suggest endorsement or support of any of such posted material or parts therein.
The word “alleged” is deemed to occur before the word “fraud.” Since the rule of law still applies. To peasants, at least.
Fair Use
This site contains copyrighted material the use of which has not always been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. We are making such material available in our efforts to advance understanding of environmental, political, human rights, economic, democracy, scientific, and social justice issues, etc. We believe this constitutes a ‘fair use’ of any such copyrighted material as provided for in section 107 of the US Copyright Law. In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, the material on this site is distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information for research and educational purposes. For more info go to: http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.shtml. If you wish to use copyrighted material from this site for purposes of your own that go beyond ‘fair use’, you must obtain permission from the copyright owner.
DMCA Contact
This is information for anyone that wishes to challenge our “fair use” of copyrighted material.
If you are a legal copyright holder or a designated agent for such and you believe that content residing on or accessible through our website infringes a copyright and falls outside the boundaries of “Fair Use”, please send a notice of infringement by contacting atheonews@gmail.com.
We will respond and take necessary action immediately.
If notice is given of an alleged copyright violation we will act expeditiously to remove or disable access to the material(s) in question.
All 3rd party material posted on this website is copyright the respective owners / authors. Aletho News makes no claim of copyright on such material.
Leave a Reply