CHILE: JUSTICE STALKS THOSE WHO MURDERED VICTOR JARA

In late December 2012, Judge Vazquez of the Santiago Appeals Court initiated a discovery process for the murder of the famous Chilean singer Victor Jara, who was brutally beaten, tortured and executed on September 16, 1973, after being detained in the Estadio Chile. The eight named in the indictment include Edwin Dimter Bianchi (previously named as ‘El Principe’, one of the most brutal of the officers at the Estadio), and Roberto Souper Onfray, a disgraced officer of the Tank Regiment which spearheaded the abortive coup against President Allende’s Popular Unity government in June 1973. Another of the eight, Pedro Barrientos-Nuñez, is believed to be in the US, living in Florida. He was confronted last year by a camera crew from ChileVision who were making a  remarkable film called ‘Who killed Victor Jara?’, which can still be viewed (Watch here). US campaigners have launched a White House petition urging President Obama to authorise Barrientos’ extradition to Chile (Read here). Victor Jara’s widow, Joan, who has doggedly pursued her husband’s killers,was interviewed following the court action (Watch here).