Chile indicts retired general, 2 officers in Pinochet-era killings by 'Caravan of Death'

[Judi Lynn]

Source: Associated Press

Chile indicts retired general, 2 officers in Pinochet-era killings by 'Caravan of Death'
By Associated Press
12:27 PM EDT, April 20, 2009

SANTIAGO, Chile (AP) — A retired army general and two other officers have been indicted in the killing of 14 dissidents in the early days of the 1973-90 dictatorship of Gen. Augusto Pinochet.

The Santiago Court of Appeals says judge Victor Montiglio indicted Gen. Gonzalo Santelices, Maj. Patricio Ferrer and Lt. Pablo Martinez as accomplices in the killings in 1973 in northern Chile.

The three retired officers were being held Monday at a military barracks.

The killings are tied to the Caravan of Death, a military party that left more than 90 political prisoners dead as it traversed the country shortly after the 1973 military coup led by Pinochet.

At the time of his retirement in 2008, Santelices was commander of the Santiago army garrison, Chile's largest.



Read more: http://www.orlandosentinel.com/news/nationworld/sns-ap-lt-chile-officers-indicted,0,4329343.story

[seemslikeadream]

1. Sleep with one eye open georgie

some day some way


:hi:

[Warpy]

2. I hope the Texas gangsters are paying close attention.

No matter how long they live, it's all going to be hanging over them.

One way or another, we will get those bastards, every one of them.

It's not going to be today, but we have a lot of tomorrows.

[rfranklin]

4. Bush Sr. was involved in killing Letelier and Ronnie Moffat...

some of his CIA boys blew up a distinguished Chilean and an American citizen in the middle of Washington, D.C. to help Pinochet suppress any opposition.

[vinylsolution]

3. Good news for Chilean justice....

.... but an indictment of Henry Kissinger would carry some real weight.

As the architect of Operation Condor, his bloodied hands belong in stainless-steel shackles.

[flyarm]

8. The same Henry Kissinger Obama sent to Russia shortly after taking office..

to represent the Obama administration!!

The same Henry Kissinger who's nick name is "the Butcher of Cambodia"

The same Henry kissinger that Obama's treasury secretary worked for for 3 years as well as the CFR

The same Henry Kissinger that is a regualr at Bohemian Grove.

And then this...........

Remarks by National Security Adviser Jones at 45th Munich Conference on Security Policy

Published February 8, 2009
Speaker: James L. Jones


U.S. National Security Adviser Jones ( edit to add: new advisor hired by Obama!!!!) gave these remarks at the 45th Munich Conference on Security Policy at the Hotel Bayerischer Hof on February 8, 2009.

"Thank you for that wonderful tribute to Henry Kissinger yesterday. Congratulations. As the most recent National Security Advisor of the United States, I take my daily orders from Dr. Kissinger, filtered down through General Brent Scowcroft and Sandy Berger, who is also here. We have a chain of command in the National Security Council that exists today.


Source: http://www.cfr.org/publication/18515/remar... ...

[Robbie88]

5. K&R!

Good to see members of that brutal, http://www.gwu.edu/~nsarchiv/NSAEBB/NSAEBB212/index.htm">U.S. supported dictatorship held accountable.

[Judi Lynn]

6. Wikipedia's description of the Caravan of Death:

The Caravan of Death was a Chilean Army death squad that, following the Chilean coup of 1973, flew by helicopter from south to north of Chile between September 30 and October 22, 1973. During this foray, members of the squad ordered or personally carried out the execution of at least 75 individuals held in Army custody in these garrisons <1>. According to the NGO Memoria y Justicia, the squad killed 26 in the South and 71 in the North, making a total of 97 victims <2>. Augusto Pinochet was indicted in December 2002 in this case, but he died four years later without having being judged. The trial, however, is on-going as of September 2007, other militaries and a former military chaplain having been indicted in this case.

The death squad
The squad was made up of several Army officers and two infantrymen. They were led by Army Brigadier General Sergio Arellano, appointed by Augusto Pinochet "Official Delegate of the Commander-in-Chief of the Army and President of the Government Junta." Other members included Arellano's second-in-command, Lieutenant Colonel Sergio Arredondo González, later director of the Infantry School of the Army; Major Pedro Espinoza Bravo, an Army Intelligence officer and later operations chief of the DINA secret police; 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 Puma helicopter, inspecting military garrisons and then ordering — or carrying out themselves — the execution of the detainees, the murders being committed with small arms and bladed weapons. The victims were then buried in unmarked graves.

Though the Rettig Commission puts the count of murdered individuals at approximately 3,000 during the 17-year Pinochet dictatorship, the deaths of these 75 individuals and the Caravan of Death episode itself are highly traumatic, especially as many of the victims had voluntarily turned themselves in to the military authorities, were all in secured military custody and posed no immediate threat because they had no history of violence, nor were they threatening to commit any such violence.

According to Oleguer Benaventes Bustos, the second in command at the Talca Regiment when Army Brigadier Arellano landed there on September 30, 1973, the squad's aims where to instill "terror" on potential opponents as well as to insure the loyalty to the new junta of the 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 a 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!<3>

More:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Caravan_of_Death
(My emphasis)

[rabs]

7. One of the members of the Caravan mentioned above lives in Miami

Former Army Maj. Armando Fernandez Larios. Was given immunity by U.S. in exchange for spilling the beans on Contreras and the rest of the DINA. Last I heard he was manager of an auto repair shop northwest of MIA. Michael Vernon Townley was also given immunity.

Fernandez Larios fits right in with the rest of the terrorists in Miami.

(brief from NYT published October 16, 2003)

FLORIDA: $4 MILLION JUDGMENT IN CHILEAN DEATHS A former Chilean army lieutenant accused of executing political prisoners in a 1973 coup was ordered to pay $4 million in the first United States trial stemming from the killings. A jury in Miami found the former officer, Armando Fernandez Larios, now manager of an auto body shop in Miami, liable for extra-judicial killing, cruelty, torture and crimes against humanity for the actions of the Caravan of Death, a squad that executed 75 people after Gen. Augusto Pinochet seized power. Mr. Fernandez admitted that he flew in the squad's helicopter but said he did not know about the killings until afterward.  (AP)

-----------------

For those interested in the Bush connection with the assassination of Orlando Letelier and Fernandez Larios' role in it:

(snip)

Meanwhile, Pinochet and intelligence chief Manuel Contreras were putting in motion their most audacious assassination plan yet: to eliminate Orlando Letelier in his safe haven in Washington, D.C. In July 1976, two operatives from Chile’s intelligence service DINA – Michael Townley and Armando Fernandez Larios – went to Paraguay where DINA had arranged for them to get false passports and visas for a trip to the United States. Townley and Larios were using the false names Juan Williams and Alejandro Romeral and a cover story claiming they were investigating suspected leftists working for Chile’s state copper company in New York. Townley and Larios said their project had been cleared with the CIA’s Station Chief in Santiago.

http://www.globalpolicy.org/intljustice/wanted/2006/1212bushfamily.htm

[Judi Lynn]

11. Astonishing to know Gates is also a part of Obama's administration.

Doesn't seem possible, considering who he is, and the part he has played in previous administrations. He's no Democrat, he's REALLY no Democrat.

Also, it's good to remember _{George W. Bush} pardoned the two Cuban "exile" bombers of the Chilean diplomat, Orlando Letelier.

Jose Dionisio Suarez and Virgilio Paz Romero, who carried out the 1976 assassination of the Chilean diplomat Orlando Letelier in Washington, have also been released by the current Bush administration.

From: Published on Monday, December 2, 2002 by the Guardian/UK
The Bush Dynasty and the Cuban Criminals
http://www.commondreams.org/headlines02/1202-05.htm

They only served a few years for their deadly, vicious daylight, street car bombing of Letelier and his assistant, which also wounded her husband.

As soon as they were "sprung," they headed for Miami, giving off cocky remarks to the press, showing no noticeable regret for their filthy evil crimes against humanity.

Thanks for your link and information. Filed it immediately for future reference.

[GeorgeGist]

9. How backward looking.

How do they find the time?

[Judi Lynn]

10. Backward looking to resolve a filthy, vicious, US backed, initiated, implemented

murderous regime with ELEVEN TORTURE CENTERS throughout the country, and THREE TORTURE SHIPS cruising the ocean, and flights over the water to drop off living political prisoners?

Looking backward?

You are leading one charmed, and wilfully ignorant life.

[Guy Whitey Corngood]

12. I think that's sarcasm. nt

[Judi Lynn]

13. Thanks for raising the possibility. I've become too pessimistic, no doubt! n/t

[Judi Lynn]

14. Chile judge indicts three Pinochet-era officers for 'Caravan of Death' killings

Wednesday, April 22, 2009
Chile judge indicts three Pinochet-era officers for 'Caravan of Death' killings
Ximena Marinero at 7:46 AM ET

A Chilean judge has charged three former Pinochet-era military officers as accomplices for their role in the October 1973 killings of 14 leftist political opponents as part of the so-called "Caravan of Death" . Judge Victor Montiglio of the Santiago Court of Appeals indicted and ordered the arrests of General Gonzalo Santelices , Lieutenant Pablo Martinez, and Major Patricio Ferrer on Monday. Santelices and Martinez were granted bail Tuesday, and bail is under consideration for Ferrer. The Court of Appeals has 48 hours to approve or deny the orders, during which time the men will continue to be held at a military police battalion. A lawyer for the Ministry of Interior's Human Rights Program said that the prosecution intends to appeal Montiglio's resolution to raise the charges of all three men to the level of principal actors rather than accomplices. Santelices's lawyer has alleged that the former general was only a student following orders to deliver the 14 members of the Socialist Party to the Caravan. Eight others have been charged with murder in the incident, including former General Sergio Arellano Stark, who is currently serving time for a separate conviction under house arrest due to dementia.

The Chilean Supreme Court sentenced five former military officers to prison for their role in the Caravan of Death in October and found Stark responsible for leading the caravan under orders from General Augusto Pinochet to dispose of potential political opponents. In November 2006, Montiglio indicted Pinochet and placed him under house arrest in connection with the firing-squad deaths of two of Allende's bodyguards. Pinochet died in December 2006 before being brought to trial . More than 75 Chilean dissidents, many of whom had turned themselves in to authorities, are thought to have been killed by the "Caravan of Death."

http://jurist.law.pitt.edu/paperchase/2009/04/three-pinochet-era-officers-indicted.php