Pinochet-era secret police jailed for kidnapping, killing dissidents

MORE than 100 former members of the secretive National Intelligence Directorate under Chilean dictator Augusto Pinochet are facing jail time for the kidnapping and murder of 16 people belonging to dissident left-wing movements.

The sentence was issued on Friday against 106 secret police officers belonging to “Operation Colombo” during the years that followed the 1973 overthrow of democratically-elected President Salvador Allende, when Pinochet was consolidating his US-backed military government.

Judge Hernan Cristoso ruled that the 16 killed belonged either to the socialist party or leftist groups like the Revolutionary Left Movement, MIR.

Those killed had been abducted before being transferred to torture centres in the Chilean capital, Santiago.

The 16 were among over 3 000 people who faced enforced disappearances and murder by the Pinochet government, which acted in league with neighbouring governments in Argentina, Brazil and other South American nations through “Operation Condor”, a Cold War-era campaign across Latin America that resulted in tens of thousands of activists’ deaths.

The US supported the right-wing governments during its competition with the Soviet Union, which it feared was undermining US interests in the region through its own support for left-wing groups.

Chile has been attempting to grapple with its authoritarian past as judges and government figures increase convictions of Pinochet-era officials found to have committed human rights violations.

The 106 former agents have been sentenced to between 541 days and 20 years in jail, where they will join other former state security personnel serving time.