CORRECTION-CHILE-DICTATORSHIP Four more Chilean soldiers interrogated over dictatorship-era burning death

Record ID: 146215

  • Title: CORRECTION-CHILE-DICTATORSHIP Four more Chilean soldiers interrogated over dictatorship-era burning death
  • Date: 28th July 2015
  • Summary: SANTIAGO, CHILE (FILE - 1998) (REUTERS) AUGUSTO PINOCHET HANDING OVER HIS POSITION AS CHIEF MILITARY COMMANDER, GREETING THEN PRESIDENT OF THE SENATE, SERGIO ROMERO, KISSING HIS WIFE, LUCIA HIRIART, AND GREETING THEN PRESIDENT, EDUARDO FREI
  • Embargoed: 12th August 2015 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Chile
  • Country: Chile
  • Topics: General
  • Reuters ID: LVAEZ2N6DVLDX8I4VO8M96EEUHJ6
  • Aspect Ratio: 16:9
  • Story Text: EDITORS PLEASE NOTE: THIS EDIT CONTAINS MATERIAL THAT WAS ORIGINALLY 4:3
    Four more former soldiers were interrogated on Monday (July 27) over their involvement in the burning of protesters during a Santiago labour strike in 1986 which led to the death of a U.S. resident and photographer, and left a Chilean student seriously injured.
    The questioning comes days after Judge Mario Carroza, who is leading the case, charged six former military officers with murder on Friday (July 24).
    The officers were interrogated over the suspected use of 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 protest during the country's 1973-1990 dictatorship.
    Among those being questioned is Pedro Fernandez Dittus, who was the head of the military patrol which was involved in the burning. He was the only one who was investigated by military courts in 1993 and was charged with negligence. He served 600 days in prison.
    The other three include Leonardo Antonio Riquelme Alarcon, Juan Gonzalez Carrasco and Walter Lara, who may also face murder charges. Carroza did not discard the possibility of further detentions.
    Carroza reopened the case in 2013 and ordered the arrests of the ex-officers after a military conscript, Fernando Guzman, changed his previous testimony.
    Official accounts of the incident held that the two victims accidentally set themselves ablaze when constructing a flaming barricade to repel law enforcement, and soldiers were reportedly made to hold pacts of secrecy.
    Guzman said he had met with other military personnel to agree on their versions of the incident and that until last year he had been too afraid of what might be done against his family should he speak out.
    Chilean President Michelle Bachelet called for secrecy to be broken down in order to advance justice for crimes committed under the dictatorship.
    "Anyone who has information regarding human rights violation, civil or military crimes, must hand this over before it is too late. Today I want to reiterate the call for those who have information, because there can be no more silence. There are people who know the truth about many cases which still have not been resolved. Chile asks that they follow the example of former conscript Fernando Guzman in order to help to repair so much pain," said Bachelet on Monday (July 27).
    The plea was reiterated by President of the Senate, Patricio Walker.
    "Civilians, soldiers, those who have information must turn it in, as a matter of conscience, in order to make progress in justice, to alleviate the pain and to provide reconciliation for the country and for the victims of these human rights abuses," said Walker.
    Guzman said the officers intentionally set the two teenagers ablaze before abandoning them in a ditch in the outskirts of the capital.
    Rojas died four days later and Quintana remained severely disfigured, undergoing 40 operations and many years of medical treatment and therapy.
    Quintana went on to study a psychology degree and was appointed by President Michelle Bachelet last year as scientific attaché of the Chilean Embassy in Ottawa.
    Speaking to journalists on Monday, she said that Guzman's testimony has given her renewed hope, and that all who possess information must turn it in.
    "It has given me a lot of hope, thanks to a former soldier who was brave enough to speak and reveal the truth of what happened, supporting the discussion and the truth that I have maintained for 29 years. It gave me renewed hope that justice is possible, it gives me faith in human beings, that though it may come late, repentance serves to repair and calm the pain of so many people who have suffered what I suffered, so many wives, children, widows, mothers of those who were detained or disappeared and are still waiting to know the whereabouts of their bodies," said Qunitana.
    "There are policies of silence institutionalized in the armed forces, policies to lie, to cover up the horrors, to maintain impunity, and this exists to the day. Even today we Chileans pay money in order to protect these lies. I am calling for this to end once and for all, and for the armed forces to respond accordingly," Quintana added.
    Although support for Pinochet in Chile has declined in recent years, the country still remains deeply divided by the events of the 1973 coup and the repression that followed.
    Pinochet left office in 1990, but arrests and prosecutions of former government officials remain commonplace.
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