Pinochet-era general is caught

[Judi Lynn]

Source: L. A. Times

Pinochet-era general is caught
An intelligence official under the Chilean dictator, Raul Iturriaga Neumann fled after his conviction in an activist's disappearance.
By Claudia Lagos and Patrick J. McDonnell, Special to The Times
August 3, 2007


SANTIAGO, CHILE — A fugitive ex-general from the Pinochet era was captured Thursday, Chilean authorities said.

Former Gen. Raul Iturriaga Neumann, 69, was arrested without incident in an apartment in the resort town of Viña del Mar, on Chile's Pacific coast, officials said.

Once a high-ranking figure in the military's feared intelligence service, Iturriaga is one of the best-known convicted human rights abusers from the dictatorship of the late Augusto Pinochet, who ruled from 1973 to 1990. His case drew attention to right-wing discontent with human rights prosecutions.

Iturriaga was a commander at a clandestine jail known as the "Sexy Blindfold" and "The Discotheque" because of the sexual abuse inflicted on blindfolded prisoners as loud music masked their screams.



Read more: http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/la-fg-chile3aug03,1,6989701.story?coll=la-headlines-world

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Gen. Raul Iturriaga Neumann

[Judi Lynn]

1. What a prince: Although in hiding, he sent videos claiming gov't should prove charges before arrest!

CHILE: FORMER SECRET POLICE LEADER CAUGHT AFTER 52 DAYS HIDING OUT

(Aug. 3, 2007) Raúl Iturriaga Neumann, the former head of the Pinochet-era secret police (DINA), was arrested early Thursday morning in the resort town of Viña del Mar. The arrest brought Iturriaga’s 52-day escape from justice to an end.

Iturriaga is was sentenced in June to five years in jail for ordering the kidnapping of 22-year old MIR (Revolutionary Left Movement) activist Luis San Martin Vergara in 1974. Instead of reporting to jail, however, the 69-year-old Iturriaga went into hiding. At the time of his arrest the general had a different color hair and seemed to have lost weight.
(snip)

The former general and DINA leader was later transferred under heavy police escort to the Cordillera prison. He was greeted by egg throwing hecklers at various points during his journey to state prison.(snip)

The 69-year old former general went into hiding 52 days ago, after publicly declaring his defiance of government authority in a video message sent to national television stations. He stated that he had never met nor seen the MIR activist who disappeared and that he couldn’t be convicted for the crime. “If the judge charged me with kidnapping, he should have proven that Luis San martin is still alive and was kidnapped by me.”

Iturriaga has also been convicted in Italy – en absentia - for the attempted 1974 car-bomb assassination in Rome of two exiled Christian Democratic Party leaders, Bernardo Leighton and his wife Anita. The former general is also wanted by Argentine courts for questioning regarding his presumed role in the 1975 car bomb assassination of former Chilean Gen. Carlos Prats and his wife Sofia in Buenos Aires. (ST, June 15)
(snip/...)

http://www.tcgnews.com/santiagotimes/index.php?nav=story&story_id=14368&topic_id=15

[rpannier]

2. Rev up the helicopters and

toss his ass 50 miles off shore into the Pacific Ocean.

[gratuitous]

4. Oh, nothing so quick and easy

I think a few nights at his disco are in order.

[rpannier]

5. Okay

Disco first sky dive from a helicopter into the ocean second

[David__77]

8. Not before holding a televised trial.

He should be raked over the coals. A confession would be nice.

[Kolesar]

10. Get this stuff on record for all of history...eom

[Demeter]

3. He Didn't Run Very Far

Seems to me that even a Chilean ex-general ought to do a better job of "disappearing". After all, haven't they had a lot of practice at that?

[Amonester]

6. Is it just me or this Repugnant psychopath looks like betrayus...

or I may need new pair of glasses. Alright. I'll be back.

OTOH, why didn't he go hide in Paraguay?

[EFerrari]

7. Good. #5.

:kick:

[cascadiance]

9. I wonder how many current Blackwater employees we could subpoena to testify against their old boss!

[heliarc]

11. ¡Viva Chile Mierda!

"Obreros de mi patria: Tengo fé, en Chile y su destino" -- Salvador Allende