Relatives of victims of the dictatorship at a demonstration in 2017 to demand the closure of the special military prison in Punta Peuco. Fernando Lavoz (Getty Images)
A day after Chile commemorated the 50th anniversary of the 1973 coup against President Salvador Allende, which led to a 17-year dictatorship for which more than 1,000 people are still missing, a group of 27 former officers of the armed forces died Those convicted of crimes such as murder, kidnapping, enforced disappearances and torture have recognized that their actions have “provoked human rights violations.” They did this through a letter to the far-right MP Gonzalo de la Carrera, in which they also asked for “compassion from the political and legal power” for the “non-commissioned officers, classes, soldiers and civilian employees” who were in prison so that they can be with their families. They transferred responsibility for the orders given to their superiors.
“We are aware that many of our actions in carrying out our duties and as we understood them at the time resulted in human rights violations with serious consequences. Without a doubt, this was an expression of a training that gave greater importance to obedience to those considered adversaries than to respect, which is cited as information for understanding rather than as justification,” said the letter read in Congress became the career. “We have waited 33 years [desde que 1990 volvió la democracia a Chile] so that our superiors take responsibility for their orders that today put our loyal subordinates behind bars. For this reason, today we take responsibility for their actions, as a result of the fearful silence of those who, despite their ranks and positions, did not have the greatness to take charge of the orders they gave to their subordinates.
The letter was signed by 27 of the 134 retired military personnel serving their sentences in the Punta Peuco prison, a special prison in the municipality of Tit Til, 44 kilometers from Santiago, founded in 1995 during the presidency of the Christian Democrat Eduardo Frei Ruiz-Tagle (1994 -2000) only housed human rights violators during the Pinochet dictatorship. Among the signatories of the document is the retired major Carlos Herrera Jiménez, perpetrator of the 1982 crimes of the union leader Tucapel Jiménez – one of the main leaders of the opposition to the dictatorship – and the 1983 crime of the carpenter Juan Alegría, committed to the To cover up Jiménez’s murder. Also Brigadier José Zara and the former agent Cristoph Willeke, who are serving a prison sentence for the murder of the former commander-in-chief of the army Carlos Prats and his wife Sofía Cutbhert: they died when DINA, Pinochet’s secret police, planted a bomb in their car. 1974 in Buenos Aires.
According to the 27 soldiers, the noncommissioned officers, conscripts and civilian employees in prison are “the lowest and weakest link in the chain of command” and their “only future today is to end their days in prison for complying with the orders of their commanders.” , as set out in current military legislation.”
According to the information in the letter, of the 134 inmates, 76 are officers and 56 are non-commissioned officers, soldiers, conscripts and civilian employees. 80% of them are over 70 years old.
After the publication of the letter, Justice Minister Luis Cordero, who is promoting the search plan for more than 1,000 missing people that the left-wing government of President Gabriel Boric launched on the eve of the commemorations of the 50th anniversary of the coup, said the positive thing about the letter is that “ Human rights violations are recognized,” but some of the signatories “have denied them in the past.”
Cordero emphasized that the letter makes it clear that there are former uniformed officers who have information about the whereabouts of the missing inmates, so “perhaps this could be the beginning” of them starting to turn them over to the courts. “It would be very relevant for the country and for the family members if they told us where they are.” However, in response to the request for “compassion” and a possible request for a pardon, he said that “the government’s doctrine in this is that crimes against humanity are unforgivable.”
The representative of Social Convergencia, Boric’s party, Lorena Fries, who was also Undersecretary of State for Human Rights in the government of socialist President Michelle Bachelet (2014-2016), also expressed the same sentiment. “In the face of crimes against humanity, it is important to investigate and punish in proportion to the damage. Therefore, they would not get any benefit if they do not comply with the punishments. It is even worse if they do not cooperate with the justice system and never regret their actions,” he said. “Indeed, the higher ones give orders and the lower ones carry them out, but that does not mean they are innocent,” he added.
Do they expect profits? This would only increase the impunity in which many live. We cannot imagine overturning the convictions of criminals against humanity, especially if they have not cooperated in the investigation or shown a minimum of remorse. https://t.co/TefymhDfaF
– Lorena Fries (@lorenafriesm) September 12, 2023
Herrera Jiménez’s other attempts
One of the signatures that stands out on the letter is that of retired Major Carlos Herrera Jiménez. However, it is not the first time that he has made a statement in this tone. Between 1999 and 2000, when he was serving the first of the three sentences to which he had been sentenced in Punta Peuco, in this case the murder of the transporter Mario Fernández in 1987, he had already stated that the superiors had to react for the given orders.
Herrera, who belonged to the CNI, the organization that replaced DINA in 1977, also confessed his involvement in the crimes of Tucapel Jiménez and Juan Alegría before the judge who investigated the case, Sergio Muñoz, now Minister of the Court. Maximum. Then he did it with the intention of reducing his sentence for the carpenter’s murder, which was equivalent to life imprisonment.
In the case of the murder of Juan Alegría, to whom Pinochet’s agents cut the veins in his hands to simulate suicide and left next to his body a letter accusing him of the murder of Tucapel Jiménez, Herrera merely handed over the names of the justices officers of the same rank, but omitted the name of one of the authors, who was also convicted and of a lower rank.
During the Pinochet dictatorship, more than 3,000 people were murdered or disappeared between 1973 and 1990. Of these, 1,092 still don’t know where they are. The Bundeswehr’s failure to provide information has been a central problem in solving their cases and finding their relatives for 50 years. Additionally, in 1978, Pinochet ordered the excavation of hundreds of bodies to hide them and prevent the perpetrators from being brought to justice in the future. It was the so-called television removal campaign.