08-23-2018, 09:23 PM
And a very bad man.
Former Colonel Sergio Arredondo, convicted of killing at least 14 people in 1973, has died at Santiago's Military Hospital.
A convicted Chilean army death squad member died at age 92 in the Santiago.
Former Colonel Sergio Arredondo died on Wednesday at the Military Hospital in Santiago.
Arredondo was carrying out a 15-year sentence for orchestrating the deaths of 14 people at the Punta Peuco prison in Antofagasta that took place in October 1973, shortly after Chilean dictator Augusto Pinochet (1973-1990) overthrew the democratically elected government of socialist Salvador Allende. Arredondo’s killings were part of the ‘Caravan of Death’ during which approximately 75 teachers and social activists were tortured and murdered by several military leaders.
The now deceased colonel had been carrying out his sentence since February 2016. Arredondo is the fourth Caravan of Death executioners to have died while serving time in prison over the past several months, preceded by Risiere Altez, Leonidas Bustos, and Rene Cardemil. He died of terminal lung cancer.
Arredondo’s death occurred on the same day that several Chilean legislators brought a formal request to remove several Supreme Court Justices from their posts for freeing five former military members serving time for crimes against humanity (1973 - 1990).
With the support of human rights organization, the legislators presented a constitutional accusation, roughly an indictment, against the judges, Hugo Dolmestch, Carlos Kümsemüller, and Manuel Valderrama for "evident abandonment of constitutional obligations" and “enabling impunity.”
The three magistrates voted to conditionally release former judge Gamaliel Soto, and former soldiers, Jose Quintanilla Fernandez, Hernan Portillo Aranda and Felipe Gonzalez Astorga, along with police officer Manuel Perez Santillan, who had been carrying out sentences for kidnapping, torture, homicide, and crimes against humanity they committed at the Punta Peuco prison during the Pinochet regime.
The three magistrates ruled to release them in July based on good behavior.
In the official document submitted Wednesday, the Congress members argue the justices failed to review international convention on human rights law. The indictment will be voted on Thursday and if approved five legislators will be randomly selected to review the request.
[/url]
https://www.telesurtv.net/english/news/C...-0021.html
And what was the Caravan of Death, and how did it operate?
The squad was made up of several Army officers. They were led by Army Brigadier General [url=https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sergio_Arellano_Stark]Sergio Arellano Stark, appointed by Augusto Pinochet "Official Delegate of the Commander-in-Chief of the Army and President of the Government Assembly." 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 victims were then buried in unmarked graves. General Joaquin Lagos explained why he didn't return the bodies of the 14 executed prisoners of Antofagasta to their families:
Though the Rettig Commission puts the count of murdered individuals at approximately 3,000 during the 17-year Pinochet regime, 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 threatening to commit any such violence.
According to Oleguer Benaventes Bustos, the second in command at the Talca Regiment when General Arellano landed there on September 30, 1973, the squad's aims were to instill "terror" in potential opponents as well as to ensure the loyalty to the new assembly of military staff outside the capital:
Beside the summary executions of scores of opponents, General Arellano punished several military officers for not being "harsh enough" on prisoners, including the constitutionalist officer Lieutenant Colonel Efrain Jaña Giron in Talca and Army Major Fernando Reveco Valenzuela in Calama.[2] Giron, in charge of Mountain Regiment N 16, was dismissed on September 30, 1973 for "failure to fulfill military duties" and replaced by his second in command, Olaguer Benaventes Bustos. He was then imprisoned two years in Santiago.[2] Valenzuela, who presided over the first court martial of Calama, was forced to resign on October 2, 1973, as he was considered too lenient. Transported to Santiago, he was also judged guilty of "failure to fulfill military duties" and subsequently tortured at the Air Force War Academy in Talca and imprisoned for 15 months.[2]
On October 19, 1973, General Joaquin Lagos, commander of the Army 1st Division and zone chief in State of Siege, designated as governor of the Province of Antofagasta after the coup, presented his resignation to Pinochet. The day before, the leader of the squad, Arellano, had arrived in his district and executed 56 persons behind Lagos' back. In some cases, prisoners were sliced with machetes before being shot. When General Lagos learnt of these murders, he requested a meeting with Pinochet and offered him his resignation. Years later, he explained that he did not return the corpses to the victims' families for burial because he was too "ashamed" of the barbarous slaughter of the men.[2] According to the NGO Memoria y Justicia, "it is believed that Lagos’ denunciation brought a halt to the spiral of murders.[2]"
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Caravan_of_Death
Former Colonel Sergio Arredondo, convicted of killing at least 14 people in 1973, has died at Santiago's Military Hospital.
A convicted Chilean army death squad member died at age 92 in the Santiago.
Former Colonel Sergio Arredondo died on Wednesday at the Military Hospital in Santiago.
Arredondo was carrying out a 15-year sentence for orchestrating the deaths of 14 people at the Punta Peuco prison in Antofagasta that took place in October 1973, shortly after Chilean dictator Augusto Pinochet (1973-1990) overthrew the democratically elected government of socialist Salvador Allende. Arredondo’s killings were part of the ‘Caravan of Death’ during which approximately 75 teachers and social activists were tortured and murdered by several military leaders.
The now deceased colonel had been carrying out his sentence since February 2016. Arredondo is the fourth Caravan of Death executioners to have died while serving time in prison over the past several months, preceded by Risiere Altez, Leonidas Bustos, and Rene Cardemil. He died of terminal lung cancer.
Arredondo’s death occurred on the same day that several Chilean legislators brought a formal request to remove several Supreme Court Justices from their posts for freeing five former military members serving time for crimes against humanity (1973 - 1990).
With the support of human rights organization, the legislators presented a constitutional accusation, roughly an indictment, against the judges, Hugo Dolmestch, Carlos Kümsemüller, and Manuel Valderrama for "evident abandonment of constitutional obligations" and “enabling impunity.”
The three magistrates voted to conditionally release former judge Gamaliel Soto, and former soldiers, Jose Quintanilla Fernandez, Hernan Portillo Aranda and Felipe Gonzalez Astorga, along with police officer Manuel Perez Santillan, who had been carrying out sentences for kidnapping, torture, homicide, and crimes against humanity they committed at the Punta Peuco prison during the Pinochet regime.
The three magistrates ruled to release them in July based on good behavior.
In the official document submitted Wednesday, the Congress members argue the justices failed to review international convention on human rights law. The indictment will be voted on Thursday and if approved five legislators will be randomly selected to review the request.
[/url]
https://www.telesurtv.net/english/news/C...-0021.html
And what was the Caravan of Death, and how did it operate?
The squad was made up of several Army officers. They were led by Army Brigadier General [url=https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sergio_Arellano_Stark]Sergio Arellano Stark, appointed by Augusto Pinochet "Official Delegate of the Commander-in-Chief of the Army and President of the Government Assembly." 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 victims were then buried in unmarked graves. General Joaquin Lagos explained why he didn't return the bodies of the 14 executed prisoners of Antofagasta to their families:
Quote:I was ashamed to see them. They were torn into pieces. So I wanted to put them together, at least leave them in a human form. Yes, their eyes were gouged out with knives, their jaws broken, their legs broken ... At the end they gave them the coup de grace. They were merciless. "[...] "The prisoners were killed so that they would die slowly. In other words, sometimes they were shot them by parts. First, the legs, then the sexual organs, then the heart. In that order the machine guns were fired[3][4]
Though the Rettig Commission puts the count of murdered individuals at approximately 3,000 during the 17-year Pinochet regime, 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 threatening to commit any such violence.
According to Oleguer Benaventes Bustos, the second in command at the Talca Regiment when General Arellano landed there on September 30, 1973, the squad's aims were to instill "terror" in potential opponents as well as to ensure the loyalty to the new assembly of military staff outside the capital:
Quote: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 any 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![5]
Beside the summary executions of scores of opponents, General Arellano punished several military officers for not being "harsh enough" on prisoners, including the constitutionalist officer Lieutenant Colonel Efrain Jaña Giron in Talca and Army Major Fernando Reveco Valenzuela in Calama.[2] Giron, in charge of Mountain Regiment N 16, was dismissed on September 30, 1973 for "failure to fulfill military duties" and replaced by his second in command, Olaguer Benaventes Bustos. He was then imprisoned two years in Santiago.[2] Valenzuela, who presided over the first court martial of Calama, was forced to resign on October 2, 1973, as he was considered too lenient. Transported to Santiago, he was also judged guilty of "failure to fulfill military duties" and subsequently tortured at the Air Force War Academy in Talca and imprisoned for 15 months.[2]
On October 19, 1973, General Joaquin Lagos, commander of the Army 1st Division and zone chief in State of Siege, designated as governor of the Province of Antofagasta after the coup, presented his resignation to Pinochet. The day before, the leader of the squad, Arellano, had arrived in his district and executed 56 persons behind Lagos' back. In some cases, prisoners were sliced with machetes before being shot. When General Lagos learnt of these murders, he requested a meeting with Pinochet and offered him his resignation. Years later, he explained that he did not return the corpses to the victims' families for burial because he was too "ashamed" of the barbarous slaughter of the men.[2] According to the NGO Memoria y Justicia, "it is believed that Lagos’ denunciation brought a halt to the spiral of murders.[2]"
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Caravan_of_Death
The ideal subject of totalitarian rule is not the convinced Nazi or the dedicated Communist but instead the people for whom the distinction between fact and fiction, true and false, no longer exists -- Hannah Arendt.