Raúl Iturriaga
Encyclopedia
Raúl Eduardo Iturriaga Neumann (born January 23, 1938 in Linares, Chile
) is a Chilean Army
general and a former deputy director of the DINA, the Chilean secret police under the Augusto Pinochet
military dictatorship
. He was in charge of a secret detention center
known as La Venda Sexy ("Sexy Blindfold") and La Discothèque — because of the sexual abuse
inflicted on blindfolded prisoners as loud music masked their screams. An aide to General Manuel Contreras
, head of the DINA, he was in charge of several assassinations carried out as part of Operation Condor
. He has been condemned in absentia
in Italy for the failed murder of Christian-Democrat Bernardo Leighton
, and is wanted both in Spain and in Argentina. In the latter country, he is accused of the assassination of General Carlos Prats
.
In June 2007 Iturriaga rebelled against the 10-year prison sentence handed out to him by judge Alejandro Solís (reduced to five years by the Chilean Supreme Court) for the sequestration
of Revolutionary Left Movement
member Luis San Martín. He was finally captured in August 2007 in Viña del Mar
.
after following courses with his future chief, Manuel Contreras
, in Fort Gulick
, an installation of the School of the Americas
based in the Panama Canal
. He joined the DINA in November 1973, less than a month after Pinochet's coup against Salvador Allende
. First responsible of the Department of Exterior Affairs of the DINA, he was named head of the Brigada Purén, based in torture center Villa Grimaldi
, in December 1975.
He attended again a special military course in Panama in 1976. Iturriaga became vice-director of Intelligence in the DINA in 1977, before also taking care of its Economic Department, in charge of firms owned by the DINA.
Iturriaga was responsible of Operation Colombo
, during which political opponents were "disappeared" in Argentina while Santiago claimed they had killed themselves as a result of political in-fighting. Although officially retired in 1991, association of victims claim that he has maintained links with the DINE
, DINA's successor.
against Christian-Democrat Bernardo Leighton
in Rome, in part because of the testimony supplied by Michael Townley
. In Chile, he is a defendant in the trial concerning the assassination of General Carlos Prats
and his wife in Buenos Aires. He is also claimed by the Spanish magistrate Baltasar Garzón
.
In 1989, before the transition to democracy
, Raúl Iturriaga was elevated to the highest grade of General in the Chilean Armed Forces, with his base in Iquique
. He officially retired in 1991 as General. The same year, he was interrogated by the Minister Adolfo Bañados concerning the DINA's role in the assassination of Orlando Letelier
, Salvador Allende
's former minister, in Washington, D.C.
In 2002, he was indicted for the "disappearance" of Víctor Olea
in September 1974.
The following year he was indicted by magistrate Alejandro Solís, along with his former chief Manuel Contreras
and General Pedro Espinoza, for the assassination of Carlos Prats on September 30, 1974 in Buenos Aires. The Prats Case, part of Operation Condor
, opened up in Chile following an extradition
request made by the Argentine magistrate María Servini de Cubría.
The former vice-head of staff of the Chilean Army, General Guillermo Garín, who was also Pinochet's spokesman, has given his support to Iturriaga following his escape on June 11, 2007. Iturriaga had been sentenced to five years for the kidnapping of Luis Dagoberto San Martín, a 21-year-old opponent of Pinochet "disappeared" in a DINA detention centre in 1974. In a June 2007 video broadcast, Iturriaga stated: "I openly rebel before this arbitrary, biased, unconstitutional and anti-judicial conviction."
Head of DINA Manuel Contreras has been the only other General to have contested the Chilean justice during democratic rule. Contreras fled two months from justice, taking refuge in the South and then in a military regiment, before being captured by security forces and detained. On the other hand, various deputies, including Isabel Allende
(PS
), Antonio Leal (PPD
), Tucapel Jiménez (PPD), and also Iván Moreira (UDI
), have condemned Iturriaga's flight from justice. Tucapel Jiménez warned about the existence of a "network" of protectors, as did Jaime Naranjo (PS).
On August 3, 2007, Iturriaga was captured in the Pacific coastal city of Viña del Mar
. Judge Alejandro Solis explained that no investigation would be opened on his evasion, as it is not considered a crime by Chilean law to evade oneself when one is under parole
, which Iturriaga was until June 2007. He was sent to the Penal Cordillera prison in the Valparaíso Region
, located in a military property. Left-wing deputies of the Concertación, such as Carlos Montes
(PS
) and Denisse Pascal (PS), requested his transfer to the Punta Peuco prison, considered as more tightly guarded and where condemned militaries would enjoy less freedom of action than in the military prison. Adriana Muñoz compared the Penal Cordillera prison to the "Bermuda Triangle
", because from there people disappeared just like if they had been kidnapped by UFOs." Francisco Encina (PS) considered it strange that one of the defenders of Iturriaga, the UDI
senator and former head of staff of the Chilean Navy, Jorge Arancibia, was a representant of the Valparaíso Region where Iturriaga has been detained.
Linares, Chile
Linares is a Chilean city and commune located in the Maule Region and lies in the fertile Chilean Central Valley, south of Santiago and south of Talca, the regional capital...
) is a Chilean Army
Chilean Army
The Chilean Army is the land arm of the Military of Chile. This 45,000-person army is organized into seven divisions, a special operations brigade and an air brigade....
general and a former deputy director of the DINA, the Chilean secret police under the Augusto Pinochet
Augusto Pinochet
Augusto José Ramón Pinochet Ugarte, more commonly known as Augusto Pinochet , was a Chilean army general and dictator who assumed power in a coup d'état on 11 September 1973...
military dictatorship
Military dictatorship
A military dictatorship is a form of government where in the political power resides with the military. It is similar but not identical to a stratocracy, a state ruled directly by the military....
. He was in charge of a secret detention center
Detention center
A detention center or a detention centre is any location used for detention. Specifically, it can mean:*A jail or prison*A structure for immigration detention*An internment camp or concentration camp...
known as La Venda Sexy ("Sexy Blindfold") and La Discothèque — because of the sexual abuse
Sexual abuse
Sexual abuse, also referred to as molestation, is the forcing of undesired sexual behavior by one person upon another. When that force is immediate, of short duration, or infrequent, it is called sexual assault. The offender is referred to as a sexual abuser or molester...
inflicted on blindfolded prisoners as loud music masked their screams. An aide to General Manuel Contreras
Manuel Contreras
Juan Manuel Guillermo Contreras Sepúlveda is a Chilean military officer and the former head of DINA, Chile's secret police during the dictatorship of General Augusto Pinochet. As head of DINA he was the most powerful and feared man in the country, after Pinochet...
, head of the DINA, he was in charge of several assassinations carried out as part of Operation Condor
Operation Condor
Operation Condor , was a campaign of political repression involving assassination and intelligence operations officially implemented in 1975 by the right-wing dictatorships of the Southern Cone of South America...
. He has been condemned in absentia
In absentia
In absentia is Latin for "in the absence". In legal use, it usually means a trial at which the defendant is not physically present. The phrase is not ordinarily a mere observation, but suggests recognition of violation to a defendant's right to be present in court proceedings in a criminal trial.In...
in Italy for the failed murder of Christian-Democrat Bernardo Leighton
Bernardo Leighton
Bernardo Leighton Guzmán was a Chilean Christian Democrat who was targeted by Operation Condor.In 1937, President Arturo Alessandri Palma appointed him as Employment minister....
, and is wanted both in Spain and in Argentina. In the latter country, he is accused of the assassination of General Carlos Prats
Carlos Prats
General Carlos Prats González was a Chilean Army officer, a political figure, minister and Vice President of Chile during President Salvador Allende's government, and General Augusto Pinochet's predecessor as commander-in-chief of the Chilean Army...
.
In June 2007 Iturriaga rebelled against the 10-year prison sentence handed out to him by judge Alejandro Solís (reduced to five years by the Chilean Supreme Court) for the sequestration
Forced disappearance
In international human rights law, a forced disappearance occurs when a person is secretly abducted or imprisoned by a state or political organization or by a third party with the authorization, support, or acquiescence of a state or political organization, followed by a refusal to acknowledge the...
of Revolutionary Left Movement
Revolutionary Left Movement (Chile)
Revolutionary Left Movement is a Chilean political party and former left-wing guerrilla organization founded on October 12, 1965...
member Luis San Martín. He was finally captured in August 2007 in Viña del Mar
Viña del Mar
Viña del Mar , is a city and commune on central Chile's Pacific coast. Its long stretches of white sandy beaches are a major attraction for national and international tourists. The city is Chile's main tourist attraction. Known as "La Ciudad Jardín" , Viña del Mar is a Chilean Municipality located...
.
Life
Raúl Iturriaga became instructor in counter-insurgencyCounter-insurgency
A counter-insurgency or counterinsurgency involves actions taken by the recognized government of a nation to contain or quell an insurgency taken up against it...
after following courses with his future chief, Manuel Contreras
Manuel Contreras
Juan Manuel Guillermo Contreras Sepúlveda is a Chilean military officer and the former head of DINA, Chile's secret police during the dictatorship of General Augusto Pinochet. As head of DINA he was the most powerful and feared man in the country, after Pinochet...
, in Fort Gulick
Fort Gulick
Fort Gulick was a U.S. Army base in the former Panama Canal Zone located on the Atlantic side of the Panama Canal near Fort Davis, on Gatun Lake.-History:It was perhaps best known as the location of the School of the Americas...
, an installation of the School of the Americas
Western Hemisphere Institute for Security Cooperation
The Western Hemisphere Institute for Security Cooperation , formerly the United States Army School of the Americas is a United States Department of Defense educational and training facility at Fort Benning near Columbus, Georgia in the United States...
based in the Panama Canal
Panama Canal
The Panama Canal is a ship canal in Panama that joins the Atlantic Ocean and the Pacific Ocean and is a key conduit for international maritime trade. Built from 1904 to 1914, the canal has seen annual traffic rise from about 1,000 ships early on to 14,702 vessels measuring a total of 309.6...
. He joined the DINA in November 1973, less than a month after Pinochet's coup against Salvador Allende
Salvador Allende
Salvador Allende Gossens was a Chilean physician and politician who is generally considered the first democratically elected Marxist to become president of a country in Latin America....
. First responsible of the Department of Exterior Affairs of the DINA, he was named head of the Brigada Purén, based in torture center Villa Grimaldi
Villa Grimaldi
Villa Grimaldi was a complex of buildings used for the interrogation and torture of political prisoners by DINA, the Chilean secret police, during the government of Augusto Pinochet. The complex was located in Peñalolén, in the outskirts of Santiago, and was in operation from mid-1974 to mid-1978...
, in December 1975.
He attended again a special military course in Panama in 1976. Iturriaga became vice-director of Intelligence in the DINA in 1977, before also taking care of its Economic Department, in charge of firms owned by the DINA.
Iturriaga was responsible of Operation Colombo
Operation Colombo
Operation Colombo was an operation undertaken by the DINA in 1975. The operation involved the disappearance of political dissidents. At least 119 people are alleged to have been abducted and later killed by state forces in the secret operation...
, during which political opponents were "disappeared" in Argentina while Santiago claimed they had killed themselves as a result of political in-fighting. Although officially retired in 1991, association of victims claim that he has maintained links with the DINE
Dine
-People named Dine:* Jim Dine , an American pop artist* S. S. Van Dine, an art critic and author* Tom Dine, an American government worker-Other meanings:* Beit ed-Dine, a town in Lebanon* Diné, name for the Navajo Nation in the Navajo language...
, DINA's successor.
Sentences
Raúl Iturriaga has also been condemned to a 18-year sentence in Italy for the failed assassination attemptLeighton case
On October 6, 1975, an assassination attempt in Rome, Italy, was carried out against Bernardo Leighton, a former Chilean Christian Democratic vice-president, then in exile...
against Christian-Democrat Bernardo Leighton
Bernardo Leighton
Bernardo Leighton Guzmán was a Chilean Christian Democrat who was targeted by Operation Condor.In 1937, President Arturo Alessandri Palma appointed him as Employment minister....
in Rome, in part because of the testimony supplied by Michael Townley
Michael Townley
Michael Vernon Townley is a US citizen currently living in the United States under terms of the federal witness protection program. A Central Intelligence Agency agent and operative of the Chilean secret police, DINA, Townley confessed, was convicted, and served 62 months in prison in the United...
. In Chile, he is a defendant in the trial concerning the assassination of General Carlos Prats
Carlos Prats
General Carlos Prats González was a Chilean Army officer, a political figure, minister and Vice President of Chile during President Salvador Allende's government, and General Augusto Pinochet's predecessor as commander-in-chief of the Chilean Army...
and his wife in Buenos Aires. He is also claimed by the Spanish magistrate Baltasar Garzón
Baltasar Garzón
Baltasar Garzón Real is a Spanish jurist who served on Spain's central criminal court, the Audiencia Nacional. He was the examining magistrate of the Juzgado Central de Instrucción No...
.
In 1989, before the transition to democracy
Chilean transition to democracy
The Chilean transition to democracy began when a Constitution establishing a transition itinerary was approved in a plebiscite. From March 11, 1981 to March 11, 1990, several organic constitutional laws were approved leading to the final restoration of democracy...
, Raúl Iturriaga was elevated to the highest grade of General in the Chilean Armed Forces, with his base in Iquique
Iquique
Iquique is a port city and commune in northern Chile, capital of both the Iquique Province and Tarapacá Region. It lies on the Pacific coast, west of the Atacama Desert and the Pampa del Tamarugal. It had a population of 216,419 as of the 2002 census...
. He officially retired in 1991 as General. The same year, he was interrogated by the Minister Adolfo Bañados concerning the DINA's role in the assassination of Orlando Letelier
Orlando Letelier
Marcos Orlando Letelier del Solar was a Chilean economist, Socialist politician and diplomat during the presidency of Socialist President Salvador Allende...
, Salvador Allende
Salvador Allende
Salvador Allende Gossens was a Chilean physician and politician who is generally considered the first democratically elected Marxist to become president of a country in Latin America....
's former minister, in Washington, D.C.
In 2002, he was indicted for the "disappearance" of Víctor Olea
Víctor Olea Alegría
Víctor Olea Alegría was a member of Chile’s Partido Socialista.Olea lived in Santiago, Chile. He was detained by “security agents” on 11 September 1974, and became one of the "detenidos desaparecidos". Manuel Contreras was convicted in 2002 for his abduction.-External links:*...
in September 1974.
The following year he was indicted by magistrate Alejandro Solís, along with his former chief Manuel Contreras
Manuel Contreras
Juan Manuel Guillermo Contreras Sepúlveda is a Chilean military officer and the former head of DINA, Chile's secret police during the dictatorship of General Augusto Pinochet. As head of DINA he was the most powerful and feared man in the country, after Pinochet...
and General Pedro Espinoza, for the assassination of Carlos Prats on September 30, 1974 in Buenos Aires. The Prats Case, part of Operation Condor
Operation Condor
Operation Condor , was a campaign of political repression involving assassination and intelligence operations officially implemented in 1975 by the right-wing dictatorships of the Southern Cone of South America...
, opened up in Chile following an extradition
Extradition
Extradition is the official process whereby one nation or state surrenders a suspected or convicted criminal to another nation or state. Between nation states, extradition is regulated by treaties...
request made by the Argentine magistrate María Servini de Cubría.
The former vice-head of staff of the Chilean Army, General Guillermo Garín, who was also Pinochet's spokesman, has given his support to Iturriaga following his escape on June 11, 2007. Iturriaga had been sentenced to five years for the kidnapping of Luis Dagoberto San Martín, a 21-year-old opponent of Pinochet "disappeared" in a DINA detention centre in 1974. In a June 2007 video broadcast, Iturriaga stated: "I openly rebel before this arbitrary, biased, unconstitutional and anti-judicial conviction."
Head of DINA Manuel Contreras has been the only other General to have contested the Chilean justice during democratic rule. Contreras fled two months from justice, taking refuge in the South and then in a military regiment, before being captured by security forces and detained. On the other hand, various deputies, including Isabel Allende
Isabel Allende Bussi
María Isabel Allende Bussi is a Chilean Socialist politician and the daughter of former president of Chile Salvador Allende, and his wife, Hortensia Bussi...
(PS
Socialist Party of Chile
The Socialist Party of Chile is a political party, that is part of the center-left Coalition of Parties for Democracy coalition. Its historical leader was the late President of Chile Salvador Allende Gossens, who was deposed by General Pinochet in 1973...
), Antonio Leal (PPD
Party for Democracy
The Party for Democracy is a political party in Chile; it is social democratic in its political orientation. It was founded in December 1987 by Ricardo Lagos, who aimed at forming a legal social democratic party . The party continued to function after the defeat of Pinochet...
), Tucapel Jiménez (PPD), and also Iván Moreira (UDI
Independent Democrat Union
The Independent Democrat Union is a Chilean right-wing, conservative political party, founded in 1983. Its main inspirer was the lawyer, politician and law professor Jaime Guzmán, a former senator of the Republic of Chile from 1990 until his assassination on April 1, 1991.Its ideological origins...
), have condemned Iturriaga's flight from justice. Tucapel Jiménez warned about the existence of a "network" of protectors, as did Jaime Naranjo (PS).
On August 3, 2007, Iturriaga was captured in the Pacific coastal city of Viña del Mar
Viña del Mar
Viña del Mar , is a city and commune on central Chile's Pacific coast. Its long stretches of white sandy beaches are a major attraction for national and international tourists. The city is Chile's main tourist attraction. Known as "La Ciudad Jardín" , Viña del Mar is a Chilean Municipality located...
. Judge Alejandro Solis explained that no investigation would be opened on his evasion, as it is not considered a crime by Chilean law to evade oneself when one is under parole
Parole
Parole may have different meanings depending on the field and judiciary system. All of the meanings originated from the French parole . Following its use in late-resurrected Anglo-French chivalric practice, the term became associated with the release of prisoners based on prisoners giving their...
, which Iturriaga was until June 2007. He was sent to the Penal Cordillera prison in the Valparaíso Region
Valparaíso Region
The V Valparaíso Region is one of Chile's 15 first order administrative divisions.Valparaíso Region, 2006 With the country's third highest population of 1,539,852 million in 2002 and third smallest area of , the region is Chile's second most densely populated after the Santiago Metropolitan Region...
, located in a military property. Left-wing deputies of the Concertación, such as Carlos Montes
Carlos montes
Carlos Montes was a co-founder of the Brown Berets, a Chicano working class youth organization in the United States in the late 1960s and 1970s. The Brown Berets were inspired by and often compared to the Black Panther Party...
(PS
Socialist Party of Chile
The Socialist Party of Chile is a political party, that is part of the center-left Coalition of Parties for Democracy coalition. Its historical leader was the late President of Chile Salvador Allende Gossens, who was deposed by General Pinochet in 1973...
) and Denisse Pascal (PS), requested his transfer to the Punta Peuco prison, considered as more tightly guarded and where condemned militaries would enjoy less freedom of action than in the military prison. Adriana Muñoz compared the Penal Cordillera prison to the "Bermuda Triangle
Bermuda Triangle
The Bermuda Triangle, also known as the Devil's Triangle, is a region in the western part of the North Atlantic Ocean where a number of aircraft and surface vessels allegedly disappeared under mysterious circumstances....
", because from there people disappeared just like if they had been kidnapped by UFOs." Francisco Encina (PS) considered it strange that one of the defenders of Iturriaga, the UDI
UDI
UDI may refer to:* Unilateral declaration of independence, an assertion of the independence of an aspiring state or states** In particular, the Rhodesian Unilateral Declaration of Independence* Unidad de Inversion, Mexican currency funds unit...
senator and former head of staff of the Chilean Navy, Jorge Arancibia, was a representant of the Valparaíso Region where Iturriaga has been detained.