Monday, November 07, 2005

CHILE SEEKS EXTRADITION OF FORMER DINA AGENT

Chile’s Supreme Court is considering a government prosecutor’s petition to request the extradition of former Directorate of National Intelligence (DINA) agent Maj. Armando Fernández Larios from the United States. Maj. Larios is wanted for questioning in the 1974 disappearance of David Silberman.

Silberman was the General Manager of the Cobrechuqui copper mine at the time of the 1973 military coup. Following the coup, he was imprisoned on false charges of embezzling $US13 million.

Silberman was transferred from his prison cell by Maj. Larios on Oct. 4, 1974 to an unidentified torture center where he was held for at least three years, had an arm amputated after an especially brutal torture session, and reportedly died in 1977.

Larios was extradited to the U.S. by the FBI in 1987 to testify in a separate investigation into the 1976 murders of former Chilean Foreign Minister Orlando Letelier and his assistant Ronnie Moffit. He was sentenced to three years in jail, but negotiated a plea bargain and was released after only seven months.
Larios was also found “legally responsible” for the 1973 murder of Winston Cabello, a Chilean economist, by a U.S. court in 2003; he was fined US$4 million for his part in the murder (ST, Oct. 16, 2003).

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