Open letter with over 100 signatures from 11 countries opposes release of Pinochet era perpetrators of crimes against humanity

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In an extraordinary step backward a Chilean Court of Appeals granted release and sentence reductions to 17 State actors convicted of crimes against humanity perpetrated against thousands of Chilean citizens during the Pinochet dictatorship, provoking condemnation by survivors and the international human rights community. In the context of several months of relentless and brutal government repression of pro-democracy demonstrations and President Sebastián Piñera’s intransigent commitment to a failed economic model, this show of impunity sends the wrong message to the police forces who have already brutalized thousands of Chileans and undermined the rule of law. These measures violate international human rights law signed by Chile.

COHA republishes this open letter initiated by Chilean concerned citizens in Washington DC, supported by more than one hundred people from 11 different countries, against impunity in Chile.

Chilean residents in the United States and persons of all nationalities express their concern for impunity in Chile for violators of human rights

We the undersigned Chilean residents in the US and persons of all nationalities profoundly condemn the judgement of acquittal and reduction of sentences by the Court of Appeals of Santiago, for 17 violators of human rights, adjudicated for crimes against humanity committed during the military dictatorship of Augusto Pinochet.

Minister Juan Cristóbal Mera Muñoz, Minister Mireya López Miranda and member attorney Cristián Lepin Molina, absolved the former agents of the National Directorate of Intelligence (Dirección Nacional de Inteligencia, DINA) Pedro Espinoza, Rolf Wenderoth, Hermon Alfaro, Pedro Betterlich, Claudio Pacheco, Orlando Torrejón, Orlando Altamirano and Eusebio López. They also reduced the sentences of Ricardo Lawrence, Jorge Andrade, Juan Morales Salgado, Ciro Torré, Sergio Escalona, Juvenal Piña, Jorge Díaz, Gustavo Guerrero y Gladys Calderón to 3 years and 1 day. Pedro Espinoza was an accomplice of the notorious criminal who was the right hand man of Pinochet, Manuel Contreras. Espinoza was the chief of the Villa Grimaldi, a center of torture and forced disappearance. Espinoza was also involved in the operation called “Caravan of death” in which almost 100 persons around the country were assassinated, and he participated in the terrorist attack on Orlando Letelier in Washington DC. All of these criminals had been convicted on July 21, 2017 for 16 kidnappings and one homicide perpetrated in Villa Grimaldi.

The judges’ actions benefit state actors, functionaries of the armed forces and Carabineros police who committed crimes against humanity, including kidnappings, sexual assaults, indescribable tortures and assassinations of Chileans for their political beliefs. According to international law, such crimes constitute acts of state terrorism.

The campaign of impunity has even extended to perpetrators of human rights violations who are completing their sentences in the Punta Peuco prison. Pinochetista legislators are pressuring the Piñera government to grant those among these prisoners who are over 75 years old the benefit of house arrest, measures presently being studied with regard to the coronavirus. The characteristics of Punta Peuco prison, however, considered a place “of luxury” on account of its many benefits, comfortable rooms, and special services, does not justify the application of the same criterion used in the case of overcrowded conditions found in ordinary penitentiary centers.

These very grave deeds of the past few days imply an emotional drama, especially cruel for those family members and loved ones of the thousands of victims of violations of human rights committed by these State agents. Chile has demonstrated an enormous legal ambiguity and ongoing policy of impunity since the end of the dictatorship. These recent actions, especially the decision of the Court of Appeals, demonstrates that the application of justice in the face of serious violations of human rights continues to be an unfinished task, politicized and debilitated by certain sectors of the society which even confuse the right to defend a political ideology with the necessity to defend, above all, human life. Also, there ought to be a moral imperative to oppose state terrorism and bring to justice those who infringe against the dignity of the human personality.

With the decision by the Court, Chile is also out of compliance with international treaties and the jurisprudence of the Interamerican Court of Human Rights (Corte Interamericana de Derechos Humanos, CIDH). The cases of Almonacid, Arellano and others v. Chile, and La Cantuta v. Perú have established unequivocally the obligation of member states to investigate and prosecute all crimes against humanity, treating them as the most serious violations of human rights. Once responsibility is established, the state, through its judicial branch, ought to apply sanctions commensurate with the gravity of the crimes. These principles of international law obligate states to avoid any measure that permits amnesty or sets aside the responsibility of the guilty. Chile appears to regress in this regard, abandoning the doctrine that the CIDH has followed for years and forgetting the purpose of these norms of international law related to human rights, laws which are designed to provide a disincentive, under any circumstances, to commit such crimes.

We call upon the Supreme Court, the government authorities, and legislators to forcefully exercise their full legal and political authority to urge Chile to fulfill its international obligations with regard to human rights and vigorously oppose these acts of impunity for crimes so serious that they have affected and continue to affect generations of citizens of our country.

Signatures

1. Abril Viscaya, Venezuela
2. Ada Troncoso, USA
3. Adam Kaluba, USA
4. Adolfo Guidali, France
5. Adriana Bolívar, Argentina
6. Alejandra Barrueto, Chile
7. Alejandra Montecino, Chile
8. Alex Main, USA
9. Alicia Bustillo, USA
10. Alicia Soto, USA
11. Alina Duarte, México
12. Alma Torres-Martinez, USA
13. Ana Laura Pereira, USA
14. Anna Panazzolo, Brazil
15. Anahí Arizmendi, Venezuela
16. Andrea Rojas, USA
17. Andrés Habella, USA
18. Andrew Vavrunek, USA
19. Angelica McInerney, USA
20. Augusto Soares, Brazil
21. Aurélio Ribeiro dos Santos, Brazil
22. Ayla Bailey, USA
23. Blanca Flor Bonilla, El Salvador
24. Bonnie Fox, USA
25. Bonnie McCrimmon, Canada
26. Brenda Choi, USA
27. Camila Rojas, Chile
28. Camilo Soria, Chile
29. Carlos Alejandro Morales Mateluna, USA
30. Carlos Morales Mateluna, Switzerland
31. Carmen Paz Nunez Hoffmann, USA
32. Carolina Cucumides, USA
33. Carter Carlson, USA
34. Cecilia Morales, Chile
35. Cecilia Toledo González, USA
36. Celestino Barrera, USA
37. Cesar Agenor Fernandes da Silva, Brazil
38. Cheryl LaBash, USA
39. Cindy BelloweBellowe, USA
40. Clayton Lee, USA
41. Cloe Soria, Chile
42. Cristian Foerster, Chile
43. Cristian Gamboa, USA
44. Danny Shaw, USA
45. Darlene Hebert, Canada
46. David Paul, USA
47. Demetrus Jackson, USA
48. Deyanira Garza, USA
49. Dianne Budd, USA
50. Edalis Mejía, USA
51. Elena Hildreth, USA
52. Eliza Lopez, Brazil
53. Evelyn González, USA
54. Estefania Del Real, Chile
55. Fabiana Gallardo, Chile
56. Felipe Fredes , USA
57. Francesca Emanuelle
58. Frederick Mills, USA
59. Gema Casanova, USA
60. Gonzalo Valerio Soto, Honduras
61. Héctor Sepúlveda, USA
62. Ignacio Shinya, Chile
63. Isabel Pizarro, Chile
64. Isella Calderon, Chile
65. Jill Clark-Gollub, USA
66. John Moriarty, USA
67. Jorge Consuegra, USA
68. Jorge Pizarro, USA
69. Jorge Ramírez, Chile
70. Julia Stover, USA
71. Juliana Barnet, USA
72. Karen Morales, USA
73. Karina Armenta, USA
74. Katrina McBrian, USA
75. Laura Franco, Venezuela
76. Laura Soria, Chile
77. Leonardo Flores, USA
78. Leonardo Vera, USA
79. Leslie Salgado, USA
80. Lidia Soto, Chile
81. Liliana Cannobbio, Chile
82. Lilly Macier, USA
83. Luis Soria González-Vera, Chile
84. Márcia Cury, Brazil
85. Marco E., USA
86. Maria Cristina Urquieta Aranciabia, USA
87. María Paz González, Chile
88. Marta Pizarro, Chile
89. Martha Allen, USA
90. Merrill Cole, USA
91. Michelle Ellner, USA
92. Miriam Manresa, USA
93. Monica Navarro, USA
94. Morelia Reali, USA
95. Natalie Deriu, USA
96. Nora Pizarro, USA
97. Pamela Alejandra Weitz, USA
98. Pamela Cecilia Molina Toledo, USA
99. Pamela Molina, USA
100. Pamela Zúñiga Grandi, USA
101. Patricia Cifuentes, Chile
102. Patricia Edith Pizarro Toro, Chile
103. Patricio Zamorano, USA
104. Phoenix Oaks, USA
105. Rebecca Ellner, USA
106. Robinet Castillo-Zarate, USA
107. Rodrigo López, Chile
108. Ronald Gallardo Duarhtt, Chile
109. Sergio Galikea, Chile
110. Sérgio Novaes, Brazil
111. Silvia Oliveira, Brazil
112. Taigan Wright, USA
113. Teresa Aybar Carbajal, USA
114. Teri Matson, USA
115. Timothy Brett, Canada
116. Vanessa Asenjo, Mexico
117. Vinicius de Rezende, Brazil
118. Walter Gustavo Weitz Marholz, USA
119. Yela Andarcia, México
120. Yu-Ting Chu, USA
121. Yvonne Mcdonald, USA
122. Zarko Retamal Yacsich, USA

Photo credit: Museo de la Memoria, Santiago of Chile