The Colony: Chile's dark past uncovered

[Judi Lynn]

3. Actual Colonia Dignidad criminal was in Chilean gov't as late as 2011:

Piñera Dismisses Newly Appointed Governor Linked To German Cult
By admin
Published On: Mon, Mar 22nd, 2010

José Luis Stegmeier reportedly laundered money for notorious Colonia Dignidad community

Chilean President Sebastian Piñera dismissed José Miguel Stegmeier from his newly appointed position as governor of the Biobio Region, just two days after appointing him to lead the region of the country that was hardest hit by the Feb. 27 earthquake.

The dismissal of the agricultural businessman was announced after news reports surfaced linking him to Chile’s notorious Colonia Dignidad, a religious cult that was led by German immigrant Paul Schaefer. Stegmeier allegedly was involved in money laundering activities for the cult.

Chile’s Interior Minister Rodrigo Hinzpeter fired Stegmeier Friday night after investigating the accusations and terming then ‘extremely serious.’

Piñera gave his complete backing to Hinzpeter, saying, “This is the way one has to deal with the truth, fast and rigorous. . . . The government will take up this position every time it feels the appointment of an official was not the choice that Chile needs or deserves.”

Stegmeier said the accusations made against him were “completely false” and that he had very little connection to Schaefer, the group’s notorious boss, 88, who is now in prison in Santiago for child sodomy charges.

More:
http://santiagotimes.cl/pinera-dismisses-newly-appointed-governor-linked-to-german-cult/e

(During the run-up to Piñera's election, it was generally known that Piñera himself had been a Pinochet supporter in the "past.&quot

Saw a reference to this article in a post by DU'er Octofish's in a DU google search. I am so glad to find it.

[center]

José Miguel Stegmeier









Paul Schaefer,
Nazi[/center]

Please check this first hand account by someone who stopped by long enough to share it with DU'ers:

levenda Donating Member (3 posts) _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ Wed Oct-19-05 03:56 PM
Response to Original message

5. My visit to the Colony


As one of your posters mentioned, I visited Colonia Dignidad in late June of 1979. "Gate crashed" is probably the better phrase. The whole story is described in my book, Unholy Alliance, but briefly I had learned of the existence of the Colony in a book by Ladislas Farago, Aftermath, and since I was researching the survival of Nazis and Nazi ideology after the War it seemed like a good place to visit.

What an idiot.

Of course, this was during Pinochet's regime and a time of martial law in Chile. I had guns pointed at me more times than I remember. (Well, that's not exactly true. I vividly remember each and every one.)

I spent the night before with a bunch of local militia in the town of Parral, drinking a kind of aguardiente and discussing the Colony. They advised me not to go. They hated the place, and despised the fact that these German nationals had more rights and privileges in their country than they did. But as dawn came up that Sunday morning I found a driver and overpaid him exorbitantly to get me up the Andes mountains and to the Colony. All I really wanted to do was take a few photos and leave. Fat chance.

I arrived there easily enough, snapped off a few photos, and raced back to the car. Then the gates closed electronically in front of us, and a white Mercedes pulled up from out of nowhere, blocking our exit.

More:
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=103x164164
Post #5.