HUBER MURDER: JUDGE ARRAIGNS THREE MEN

Three retired military officers were formally arraigned in connection to the murder of former Army Chief of Acquisitions Col. Gerardo Huber Wednesday by military judge Claudio Pavez. Repeated interrogations with the men as well as conflicting testimony given by the murdered man’s family led the judge to take precautionary measure of denying them the right to leave the country.

Col. Huber disappeared from a friend’s home in the Cajón del Maipo on Jan 29, 1992. His body was pulled from the Maipo River three weeks later. An initial military investigation determined that Huber killed himself by jumping off the El Toyo Bridge, a short distance from his friend’s home, however, autopsies performed on his remains in 1997 concluded that the man was shot twice in the head and thrown into the river (ST, Sept. 20).

Víctor Lizárraga, former second-in-command of the Directorate of Army Intelligence (DINE), Manuel Provis, former chief of the Battalion of Intelligence (BIE) and Julio Muñoz, a retired Army Major and friend of the Huber family, were all arraigned Monday after Clina Polloni, Huber’s sister-in-law, contradicted earlier statements given by Lizárraga and Provis.

Officials involved in the investigation believe that the order to kill Huber was given by officers in DINE and was carried out by BIE agents days after Huber implicated high-ranking military officers in the illegal weapons sale to Croatia. The case was eventually closed after both Huber and the investigating judge Hernan Carrea died mysteriously in 1992 (ST, Oct. 17).

Polloni, now a resident in the U.S., made a special trip to Chile last week to testify in the investigation. According to Polloni’s testimony, she and Huber’s six-year old son José Ignacio went to her home in Linares, 300 km south of Santiago, immediately after Huber disappeared. While there, she was visited by Lizárraga, Provis, and Muñoz who, she claims, tried to take José Ignacio from her to question him about his father’s actions in the days before he went missing. She also said that all three men threatened her and made the claim that Huber committed suicide, days before his body was pulled from the Maipo River.

Lizárraga maintains that he visited Polloni to ask family members for any information they might have on Huber’s whereabouts. In Provis’ testimony he said that he traveled to Linares to ask a psychic for help finding Huber while Muñoz stated that he went to there to transport José Ignacio to a psychiatric hospital for counseling.
Pavez may charge the men with obstruction of justice but is expected to complete another round of questioning before bringing formal charges.