Chile Halts Inquiry on American Who Disappeared 31 Years Ago

[Judi Lynn]

Chile Halts Inquiry on American Who Disappeared 31 Years Ago

By PASCALE BONNEFOY
MARCH 10, 2016


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Boris Weisfeiler, who disappeared in Chile in 1985. Credit Wendy Maeda/The Boston Globe, via Getty Images
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SANTIAGO, Chile — Boris Weisfeiler, a mathematics professor at Penn State, liked to hike alone. A naturalized American citizen who immigrated from the Soviet Union in 1975, he had explored remote parts of Siberia, Alaska, Canada and Peru. On Dec. 24, 1984, Mr. Weisfeiler embarked on a hiking tour of southern Chile while the country was under military rule. Two weeks later, he vanished.

In 2012, eight retired police and military officers were finally indicted with his abduction, a breakthrough after years of cover-ups and diplomatic intrigue.

But now the mystery of what happened to Mr. Weisfeiler will probably remain unsolved — because a judge has closed the case.

The judge, Jorge Zepeda, has put an end to the 16-year investigation into Mr. Weisfeiler’s death by applying a statute of limitations on the case, clearing all those charged, denying the family any compensation and failing to establish what had ultimately happened to Mr. Weisfeiler.

More:
http://www.nytimes.com/2016/03/11/world/americas/chile-halts-inquiry-on-american-who-disappeared-31-years-ago.html?_r=0

LBN:
http://www.democraticunderground.com/10141375153

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In January 1981 Boris Weisfeiler received U.S. citizenship.

Boris Weisfeiler



Paul Schaefer

Former Nazi who fled to Chile,
founded and controlled
Colonia Dignidad, home of many
Germans who also came with him.





Nazi Paul Schaefer, being arrested
for molesting many boys over many
years, even though Colonia Dignidad
was known to have tortured and
murdered political dissenters for
General Pinochet, the dictator of
Chile.

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[Judi Lynn]

1. Boris Weisfeiler website, created by his sister, with excellent information, wonderful photos.

http://weisfeiler.com/boris/

[Judi Lynn]

2. Older report: COLONIA DIGNIDAD: CASE OF U.S. CITIZEN MISSING IN CHILE HAS STALLED

COLONIA DIGNIDAD: CASE OF U.S. CITIZEN MISSING IN CHILE HAS STALLED

By / February 4th, 2008

. . .

The government of former dictator Augusto Pinochet maintained that Weisfeiler had simply drowned while hiking near Region VIII’s Ñuble River. Still, Olga refused to believe these claims.

Then, in 1987, a Chilean military informant known only as “Daniel” appeared and told U.S. embassy officials that he was a member of a patrol that arrested a foreign hiker two years earlier and concluded he was a Russian spy. According to the informant, Boris was alive and being held in Colonia Dignidad, a secretive colony founded by a known pedophile and former member of Nazi Germany’s air force Paul Schaefer.

Besides ruling his followers with an iron fist, Schafer turned the colony into a torture center used by Pinochet’s secret police force during the 17-year dictatorship. It was not until Chile’s return to democracy in the 1990s that the charitable tax status of his organization was revoked and Schaefer prosecuted for crimes committed in Chile.

Meanwhile, between 1987 and 1997, “Daniel” met with Chilean and American officials on at least eight occasions, all of which have been documented by articles declassified by the U.S. government in 2000. Four of the meetings occurred in the office of Santiago lawyer Máximo Pacheco, during which time “Daniel” said that his life had been threatened.

More:
http://www.constantinereport.com/colonia-dignidad-case-of-u-s-citizen-missing-in-chile-has-stalled/

[Judi Lynn]

3. Tales of torture

Tales of torture


A former member of Chile's national intelligence agency describes some of the methods used against political prisoners.

15 Dec 2013 09:42 GMT


Chile's feared national intelligence agency, DINA, was responsible for the torture and killing of thousands of political prisoners after the country's 1973 military coup.

It established a secret interrogation centre in Colonia Dignidad, a German sect in a remote region of southern Chile, where Paul Schaefer, a former Nazi army nurse and the leader of the sect, taught the Chileans new and brutal methods of torture. The bodies of scores of his victims were later discovered buried on the grounds of the Colony.

What follows is a testimony from Samuel Fuenzalida, a former DINA agent who was charged with transporting prisoners to the Colony.

In March 1973, I had to do compulsory military service for a year. In September of that year the coup d'état took place. I was assigned to Tejas Verdes, DINA's training area.

More:
http://www.aljazeera.com/programmes/aljazeeracorrespondent/2013/10/tales-torture-2013103081121394171.html