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UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 03 SANTIAGO 001149 
 
SENSITIVE 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PHUM PGOV XR
SUBJECT: EIGHTEEN YEARS LATER, PINOCHET-ERA HUMAN RIGHTS 
ABUSES STILL WEND THEIR WAY THROUGH CHILE'S COURTS 
 
¶1.  (SBU) SUMMARY:  Although General Augusto Pinochet stepped 
down as President in 1990 and died two years ago, Chile 
continues to struggle with his legacy.  Successive 
Concertacion governments were cautious about launching 
investigations into abuses committed under Pinochet's rule, 
and Chile's judiciary has been criticized for its slowness in 
bringing charges against human rights abusers.  While many 
significant criminal cases have been successfully prosecuted 
in the last few years, others continue to lumber through 
Chile's judicial system.  Pinochet's legacy remains a taboo 
topic in much of Chilean society, and an area most 
contemporary Chilean politicians try to avoid.  END SUMMARY. 
 
¶2.  (U) Although the crimes committed during Pinochet's 
17-year rule are legion, some have emerged as particularly 
emblematic.  This cable briefly describes key cases and their 
current status. 
 
Background 
---------- 
 
¶3.  (U) General Augusto Pinochet came to power as a result of 
a violent coup deposing President Salvador Allende on 
September 11, 1973.  The following 17-year dictatorship in 
Chile resulted in government-sponsored kidnappings, 
assassinations, torture, fraud, and tax evasion.  Following 
his presidency, Pinochet continued to hold office as Army 
Commander-in-Chief for 8 years, and then became 
Senator-for-life.  Under constitutional reforms passed in 
2005, the practice of appointing former presidents 
Senator-for-life was abolished, and Pinochet lost his 
senatorial seat. 
 
¶4.  (U) Court cases brought against those in power during the 
Pinochet era were prosecuted under Chile,s old inquisitorial 
legal system.  In addition, while he was Senator-for-life, 
Pinochet had parliamentary immunity from prosecution.  Calls 
to strip immunity were reviewed on a case-by-case basis and 
could not be applied to multiple cases.  Pinochet,s lawyers 
also frequently argued that he was unfit to stand trial due 
to his failing physical and mental health.  In December 2006, 
Pinochet died without being convicted of any charges stemming 
from his 17 year rule. 
 
¶5.  (U) Manuel Contreras, former Director of the National 
Intelligence Directorate (DINA), is the most prosecuted 
figure from the Pinochet era.  Contreras was forced into 
retirement in 1977.  He faces close to 300 years in prison on 
over 25 sentences, with additional charges and appeals both 
pending.  In the most recent case, Contreras was sentenced on 
September 22, 2008, to seven years in prison for the 
disappearance of Spanish Priest Antonio Llido Mengual.  He is 
currently serving time in Punta Peuco, a military prison 
designed especially for those convicted of crimes committed 
under the dictatorship. 
 
Operation Condor 
---------------- 
 
¶6.  (U) In the 1970s, the Chilean Government partnered with 
Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Paraguay, Peru and Uruguay to 
eradicate left-wing influence through intelligence sharing 
and assassinations in a campaign known as "Operation Condor." 
 The Letelier assassination, Operation Colombo, and the Prats 
assassination, all described below, are among the three most 
prominent cases carried out as part of Operation Condor. 
 
Operation Condor: Letelier Assassination 
---------------------------------------- 
 
¶7.  (U) In September 1976, a car bomb in Washington, D.C. 
killed Orlando Letelier, a former Chilean government minister 
and former Ambassador to the U.S., and his Amcit assistant 
Ronni Moffitt.  DINA members Manuel Contreras and retired 
Brigadier General Pedro Espinoza Bravo were among those 
convicted of involvement in the attack, which was conducted 
as part of Operation Condor.  The case against Pinochet was 
shelved in 2005 as a result of Pinochet,s mental incapacity 
to stand trial. 
 
Operation Condor: Operation Colombo 
----------------------------------- 
 
¶8.  (U) Operation Colombo covered up the 
politically-motivated killings of 119 members of the 
Revolutionary Movement of the Left (MIR), a radical leftist 
group.  In 1975, collaborating governments issued reports and 
created publications masquerading as independent news media 
to misinform the public about the fate of the MIR members, 
reporting that they had been killed due to leftist infighting 
when actually they had been killed or disappeared by secret 
 
SANTIAGO 00001149  002 OF 003 
 
 
police in Argentina, Brazil, and Chile.  On May 23, 2008, 
Judge Victor Montiglio ordered the arrest of 98 former 
members of the Chilean security forces responsible for the 
killing of 42 Chilean dissidents.  On June 11, 2008, the 
Supreme Court unanimously rejected claims by the defense that 
the long delays in bringing the case to trial and subsequent 
constitutional changes warranted the dismissal of the case, 
and instead decided to proceed with the prosecution of the 
former DINA members.  This case is still pending. 
 
Operation Condor: Prats Assassination 
------------------------------------- 
 
¶9.  (U) General Carlos Prats, Pinochet,s predecessor as the 
Commander-in-Chief of the Army and a constitutionalist who 
refused to sanction a coup against President Allende, was 
assassinated in Buenos Aires in 1974 as part of Operation 
Condor.  Prats' wife was also killed in the car bomb attack. 
Pinochet and nine former DINA officials were accused of 
participating in the assassinations.  On March 24, 2005, the 
Supreme Court upheld Pinochet,s immunity in this case.  On 
June 30, 2008, Judge Alejandro Solis found the nine other 
defendants guilty.  Former DINA Chief Manuel Contreras will 
serve two life sentences for the homicides themselves and 20 
years for heading an illegal association leading to the 
assassinations.  The remaining eight DINA officials were 
sentenced to terms ranging from 10 to 40 years in prison. 
 
Caravan of Death 
---------------- 
 
¶10.  (U) From September to October 1973, Retired General 
Sergio Arellano Stark led a military death squad on 
helicopter expeditions throughout Chile.  Their ostensible 
mission of "ensuring uniform criteria for the administration 
of justice" left 72 dead and 22 disappeared.  The court 
dropped charges against Pinochet in 2001 when he was found 
unfit to stand trial.  On October 16, 2008, Judge Montiglio 
convicted five senior military officials, including General 
Arellano, of murdering four men.  Arellano, the highest 
ranking former official to be convicted, was sentenced to six 
years in prison but will not be required to serve his term 
due to a recent diagnosis of Alzheimer's disease.  The 
remaining four officers will serve prison sentences ranging 
from four to six years. 
 
Tejas Verdes Detention Camp 
--------------------------- 
 
¶11.  (U) From September 1973 to mid-1974, the Pinochet 
government detained and tortured close to 1,500 political 
opponents at the military engineering school at Tejas Verdes, 
located 60 miles west of Santiago.  In 2004, the Valech 
Commission published a report describing some 28,000 cases of 
torture and politically motivated imprisonment dating from 
the Pinochet era, including many cases involving Tejas 
Verdes.  This report prompted Chilean judges to take action, 
and its findings aided in the prosecution of former DINA 
members.  On March 7, 2005, Judge Alejandro Solis made 
history by bringing the first charges of torture against 
Chilean officials for actions at Tejas Verdes. 
 
¶12.  (U) In a separate Tejas Verdes case, Judge Solis charged 
DINA head Manuel Contreras and seven other former military 
officials with the disappearance of Miguel Herida Vasquez. 
In August 2008, Judge Solis convicted six of the military 
officials, including Manuel Contreras, of kidnapping. 
(Charges against two of the defendants were dropped.) 
Contreras was sentenced to 15 years; the others received 
sentences of five years and one day. 
 
Riggs Bank Case 
--------------- 
 
¶13.  (U) From 1994 to 2002, Pinochet and his wife used a bank 
account at the U.S.-based Riggs Bank to disguise millions of 
dollars of suspect funds and transfer them around the world 
in violation of financial regulations.  In July 2004, a 
report by the U.S. Senate Permanent Subcommittee on 
Investigations accused Riggs Bank of participating in money 
laundering for Pinochet by establishing offshore shell 
corporations and hiding accounts from regulating bodies. 
Following this report, Chile formally investigated Pinochet 
for fraud, misappropriation of funds, and bribery.  In 2006, 
the Chilean government charged Pinochet's family members with 
misusing public funds.  However, in 2007, judges dropped 
these charges because those accused were not public employees 
and therefore could not legally be found guilty of misusing 
public funds. 
 
¶14.  (U) On November 11, 2008, Judge Blanca Rojas accused 
 
SANTIAGO 00001149  003 OF 003 
 
 
Marco Antonio Pinochet, son of Augusto Pinochet, and two of 
General Pinochet,s former business associates, Oscar Aitken 
and Monica Ananias, of tax evasion totaling roughly USD 3 
million.  Rojas accused Marco Antonio Pinochet of authoring 
maliciously incomplete financial documents to hide USD 
200,000; Oscar Aitken of tax evasion to the amount of USD 2.6 
million; and Monica Ananias of tax evasion of approximately 
USD 150,000.  On October 1, 2008, the State Defense Council 
(CDE) announced it was initiating measures to acquire funds 
siphoned from Chile and deposited into U.S. accounts.  The 
banks involved in the CDE inquiry are Riggs Bank, Banco de 
Chile (New York), Espirito Santo Bank, Banco Santander, 
Citibank, Coutts of Miami, and Atlantic Bank.  Two offshore 
holding companies with accounts in Argentina, the Bahamas, 
and Switzerland are currently under investigation. 
 
Comment 
------- 
 
¶15.  (SBU) Despite many cases which have been brought against 
members of Pinochet,s government in recent years, the 
Chilean judiciary has been criticized for its slowness in 
dealing with Pinochet-era human rights cases.  While Pinochet 
stepped down as president in 1990, he remained 
commander-in-chief of the Army for the next eight years. 
Bringing current and former government officials to justice 
during that era either was not considered, was seen as 
potentially threatened Chile's internal stability, or was 
simply seen as too likely to exacerbate the rifts in the 
deeply divided Chilean society.  It was only after Pinochet's 
1998 arrest in London that the Chilean judiciary began to 
seriously grapple with bringing human rights abusers to 
justice. 
 
¶16.  (SBU) Although nearly all Chileans would recognize that 
there were "excesses" during the Pinochet-era, Chilean 
society remains deeply divided in terms of its assessment of 
the period as a whole.  For politicians like President 
Bachelet, who was sharply criticized by some for skipping a 
ceremony honoring the assassinated right-wing leader and 
Pinochet advisor Jaime Guzman, Chile,s recent history 
remains a political minefield they enter only reluctantly. 
End Comment. 
URBAN