Caravan of Death
Operation Condor |
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The Caravan of Death (
Death squad
The squad was made up of several Army officers. They were led by Army Brigadier General Sergio Arellano Stark, appointed by Augusto Pinochet "Official Delegate of the Commander-in-Chief of the Army and President of the Government Assembly." Other members included Arellano's second-in-command, Lieutenant Colonel Sergio Arredondo González, later director of the Infantry School of the Army; General Manuel Contreras, head of the National Intelligence Directorate (DINA); Major Pedro Espinoza Bravo, Contreas' second-in-command, an Army Intelligence officer and later operations chief of the DINA; Captain Marcelo Moren Brito, later commander of Villa Grimaldi, the torture camp; Lieutenant Armando Fernández Larios, later a DINA operative and involved in the assassination of Orlando Letelier (Salvador Allende's former Minister) and others.[2]
The group traveled from prison to prison in a
I was ashamed to see them. They were torn into pieces. So I wanted to put them together, at least leave them in a human form. Yes, their eyes were gouged out with knives, their jaws broken, their legs broken ... At the end they gave them the coup de grace. They were merciless. "[...] "The prisoners were killed so that they would die slowly. In other words, sometimes they [...] shot them [in] parts[: first, the legs, then the sexual organs, then the heart. In that order the machine guns were fired[3][4]
Though the
According to Oleguer Benaventes Bustos, the second in command at the Talca Regiment when Arellano landed there on September 30, 1973, the squad's aims were to instill "terror" in potential opponents as well as to ensure the loyalty to the new assembly of military staff outside the capital:
It seems to me that one of the reasons for the mission was to set a drastic precedent in order to terrorize the presumed willingness of the Chilean people to fight back. But without any doubt, it was also intended to instill fear and terror among the commanders. To prevent any military personnel, down to lowest ranking officers, from taking a false step: this could happen to you![5]
Beside the summary executions of scores of opponents, Arellano punished several military officers for not being "harsh enough" on prisoners, including the constitutionalist officer Lieutenant Colonel Efrain Jaña Giron in Talca and Army Major Fernando Reveco Valenzuela in Calama.[2] Jaña, in charge of Mountain Regiment N 16, was dismissed on September 30, 1973, for "failure to fulfill military duties" and replaced by his second in command, Olaguer Benaventes Bustos. He was then imprisoned two years in Santiago.[2] Reveco, who presided over the first court martial of Calama, was forced to resign on October 2, 1973, as he was considered too lenient. Transported to Santiago, he was also judged guilty of "failure to fulfill military duties" and subsequently tortured at the Air Force War Academy in Talca and imprisoned for 15 months.[2]
On October 19, 1973, General Joaquin Lagos, commander of the Army 1st Division and zone chief in State of Siege, designated as governor of the
Indictment of Pinochet and others
In 1993, Contreras and Espinoza were convicted for their participation in the Caravan of Death.[6] Contreas received a seven-year sentence and Espinoza received a six-year sentence.[6] Following failed attempts to overturn the convictions, Contreas and Espinoza began serving their sentences in 1995 at a prison outside Santiago specially constructed to house former military officials.[6]
In June 1999, the magistrate
On 23 May 2000, the
In March 2006, judge Víctor Montiglio ordered the arrest of thirteen former army officers for their participation in the killings on murder charges.[8]
In July 2006, the Supreme Court upheld a January 2006 judgment by the Court of Appeal of Santiago, which argued that the 2002 Supreme Court's ruling stating that Pinochet could not be prosecuted in the Caravan of Death case because it did not apply to two of its victims, former bodyguards of Allende.[9][10] On 28 November 2006, Víctor Montiglio, charged of this case, ordered Pinochet's house arrest.[11] Pinochet died on December 10, 2006, without having been judged in this case or any other.
In August 2007, a
Armando Fernández Larios, and his other two key players in the Letellier-Moffitt murders and other cases linked to atrocities in Chile — Virgilio Paz Romero and Michael Townley — are wanted in Chile for the detention, torture, and killing of Spanish-Chilean citizen Carmelo Soria on July 14, 1976.[14] However, the convictions which were given to six former DINA members and two former prominent army officers in August 2023 would be described as the "final conviction" the Supreme Court of Chile would hand down for the Soria assassination.[15] Among those convicted included Pedro Espinoza Bravo and Raúl Eduardo Iturriaga Neumann[16][17]
See also
References
- ^ a b c d e Chile priest charged over deaths, BBC, 1st September 2007 (in English)
- ^ a b c d e f g h Caravan of Death Archived 2005-08-29 at the Wayback Machine, Memoria y Justicia (in English)
- ^ Caravan of Death Archived 2005-08-29 at the Wayback Machine, Memoria y Justicia, which cites Jorge Escalante Hidalgo, "La Misión era Matar: El Juicio a la Caravana Pinochet-Arellano,, LOM Ediciones, 2000.
- ^ Pinochet tied to massacre. The Guardian, 27 January 2001.
- ^ Caravan of Death Archived 2005-08-29 at the Wayback Machine, Memoria y Justicia (in English), which cites Jorge Escalante Hidalgo, "La Misión era Matar: El Juicio a la Caravana Pinochet-Arellano,, LOM Ediciones, 2000.
- ^ ISBN 9780801855368– via Google Books.
- ^ Chile's most famous judge, BBC, 14 December 2004 (in English)
- ^ Chile judge indicts 13 retired military officers for 1973 death squad tour, 22 March 2006 (in English)
- ^ Chile high court allows Pinochet 'Caravan of Death' case to proceed Archived 2009-05-08 at the Wayback Machine
- ^ Chile court upholds Pinochet bail in one case, removes immunity in another Archived 2008-03-07 at the Wayback Machine, January 11, 2006 (in English)
- 20minutos, 28 November 2006
- ^ Alfonso Chardy. "Crime Against Humanity : Jury finds ex-Chilean officer liable in 1973 slaying" (PDF). Cja.org. Archived from the original (PDF) on 7 July 2012. Retrieved 23 August 2018.
- ^ In Search of Spring: A sister's quest to unearth the truth about her brother's assassination by Chile's Caravan of Death. Retrieved 23 August 2018 – via Amazon.com.
- ^ "Chile asks U.S. to extradite suspects in 1976 murder of diplomat". Reuters.com. 17 May 2016. Retrieved 23 August 2018.
- ECLAC. 22 August 2023. Retrieved 15 November 2023.
- ^ "Government celebrates convictions in Chile for the murder of Spaniard Carmelo Soria". The Diplomat in Spain. 25 August 2023. Retrieved 15 November 2023.
- ^ Newman, Ed (24 August 2023). "Chilean ex-military officers convicted for murder of Spanish diplomat". Radio Havana. Retrieved 15 November 2023.
Further reading
- Jorge Escalante Hidalgo, "La Misión era Matar: El Juicio a la Caravana Pinochet-Arellano, ISBN 978-9562823111
External links
- Memoriaviva (Complete list of Victims, Torture Centres and Criminals - in Spanish)
- Memory and Justice
- Judicial analysis from a Socialist point of view
- BBC news
- Former Chilean army chief charged over 1973 killing of activists. The Guardian. 8 July 2016.