CHILE-DICTATORSHIP Chile's Pinochet covered up report on death of U.S. student, documents say

Record ID: 145513

  • Title: CHILE-DICTATORSHIP Chile's Pinochet covered up report on death of U.S. student, documents say
  • Date: 31st July 2015
  • Summary: SANTIAGO, CHILE (JULY 31, 2015) (REUTERS) ***WARNING CONTAINS FLASH PHOTOGRAPHY*** VARIOUS EXTERIORS OF THE DEFENCE MINISTRY BURNING SURVIVOR, CARMEN GLORIA QUINTANA AND HER HUSBAND, JUAN HENRIQUE CAMPOS, AT THE DEFENCE MINISTRY VARIOUS OF CHILEAN DEFENCE MINISTER, JOSE ANTONIO GOMEZ, GREETING QUINTANA AND CAMPOS QUINTANA AND CAMPOS ENTERING NEWS CONFERENCE JOURNALISTS GEN
  • Embargoed: 15th August 2015 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Chile
  • Country: Chile
  • Topics: General
  • Reuters ID: LVA4ZARFOR6JR9Y7J8LAL1R9JJWR
  • Aspect Ratio: 16:9
  • Story Text: EDITORS NOTE EDIT CONTAINS MATERIAL WHICH WAS 4:3 ORIGINALLY
    Former Chilean dictator Augusto Pinochet stifled a police report that accused military officers of burning and killing a U.S. student in 1986, according to declassified U.S. government documents published by a research group on Friday (July 31).
    The documents, revealed by the Washington-based National Security Archive, could shed light on the incident, which became a symbol of government brutality during Pinochet's 1973-1990 dictatorship.
    The nearly 30-year-old case has come back into the public eye in the last two weeks as 12 ex-military officers were arrested in connection with the event, after former military conscript Fernando Guzman changed his previous testimony.
    Judge Mario Carroza reopened the case in 2013.
    Human rights groups and prosecutors allege the officers used gasoline and a lighter to burn and kill 19-year-old U.S. student Rodrigo Rojas and seriously injure Carmen Gloria Quintana, a Chilean then aged 18, at a Santiago labour strike.
    Official accounts had long held that the two victims accidentally set themselves ablaze, but Guzman said the officers deliberately set the two on fire and then abandoned them in a ditch in the outskirts of the capital.
    According to the documents published Friday, an investigation by Chilean police at the time found that an army patrol was involved in the burning of the two youths, but Pinochet buried the findings.
    Quintana, who survived the incident, known as the "quemados case," was at the defence ministry in Santiago on Friday where she said she believes Pinochet played a part in the cover up of the attack.
    "It's true that not a single leaf moved if Pinochet didn't know about it. Therefore, Pinochet is the author and abettor of this serious, serious attack and violation of human rights. This is but one example; don't forget the quemados (case) is another case inside the systematic violations of human rights that we all know Pinochet was perfectly well informed of. And not just Pinochet, but all his ministers, the entire armed forces," Quintana said.
    The U.S. documents indicate that Chilean intelligence officials found army personnel to be involved in the burning of the two victims and that the Pinochet government painted them as "terrorists" who burned themselves with their own Molotov cocktails.
    "It (the documents) confirms the argument that inside the army there exists, even today, a systematic policy of concealment, of lies and impunity as far as all the human rights cases being held even today. And if the Chief Commander of the (Chilean) Army (Humberto) Oviedo does not hold events, does not take action, we are going to think he too is concealing all these crimes," added Quintana.
    The National Security Archive, a non-profit organization which trawls through vast troves of declassified information in an attempt to tackle government secrecy, published the reports to aid in prosecutions.
    Chile's Defence Minister Jose Antonio Gomez said the armed forces were fully cooperating with investigators.
    "I am the defence minster and in this way I am saying clearly, the army is going to work with all the information necessary, not just in this case, but in all of those cases where human rights violations exist, just like the rest of the armed forces," Gomez said.
    "The information that has been sent to the judiciary up until today. I've had direct conversations, on this case, minster (Mario) Carroza, if they need more information, we will send it. The army will not deny any information at all, not because of a petition, it's a government condition from the defence ministry that it be done this way," added Gomez.
    Chile remains divided by the events of the 1973 coup and the repression that followed. President Michelle Bachelet, who was tortured and exiled during the dictatorship, has called for others who had information on atrocities to step forward.
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