Excerpt: "Santiago's Court of Appeals on Tuesday convicted five ex-officials of Augusto Pinochet's dictatorship for poisoning seven inmates at the former Chilean Public Prison in December 1981."
Officers of Augusto Pinochet's dictatorship at the National Stadium Detention Center, in Santiago, Chile, Sept. 1973. (photo: Twitter/ @EdwinRomm)
Chile Convicts Dictatorship's Ex-Agents for Poisoning Prisoners
03 February 21
They were poisoned with botulinum toxin as part of a secret operation to eliminate opponents of Augusto Pinochet's military regime.
antiago's Court of Appeals on Tuesday convicted five ex-officials of Augusto Pinochet's dictatorship for poisoning seven inmates at the former Chilean Public Prison in December 1981.
Retired Army officers Eduardo Arriagada, Sergio Rosende, Joaquin Larrain, and Jaime Fuenzalida were sentenced to 15 years in prison for Victor Corvalan and Hector Pacheco's murder.
The victims, who were common prisoners, received lethal doses of botulinum toxin, one of the most powerful venoms produced by humans. The officers will also face jail for the attempt of murder of another five captives.
Justice authorities proved that the ex-agents' real intentions were to poison the Revolutionary Leftist Movement (MIR) militant Guillermo Rodriguez and his followers Adalberto Muñoz, Ricardo Antonio, and Elizardo Aguilera.
Faces of victims of the Pinochet dictatorship at Chile’s Museum of Memory and Human Rights. (Photo by Carlos Teixidor Cadenas.) pic.twitter.com/65T8dHvZFp
— The Olive (@NazirHussain201) January 27, 2021
The revolutionaries, who shared cell and meals with Corvalan and Pacheco, overcame the serious injuries produced by poisoned food.
The former prison warden Ronald Bennett was sentenced to 10 years for being an accomplice in crimes against humanity.
The substance that killed the inmates was introduced into the prison as part of a secret maneuver led by the Army Intelligence Directorate (DINE).
According to the court's ruling, the operation sought to "imperceptibly eliminate opponents of Pinochet's military regime."
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