BACHELET ADMINISTRATION REACTS TO REPORTS OF U.S. THREATS

(May 30, 2006) Government spokespeople downplayed U.S. Department of State threats against Chile in the event that Chile supports Venezuela’s bid for a seat on the United Nations Security Council. Ricardo Lagos Weber, Chile’s government spokesman, indicated that Chile would not be pressured by the U.S., but instead seek regional consensus on the issue before indicating which way Chile will vote on the issue.

“These are distinct issues that have nothing to do with each other,” said Lagos Weber. “I do not see how a country could be penalized for exercising its international rights.”

According to a story that was published in La Tercera on May 28th, U.S. Deputy Secretary of State Robert Zoellick told Chile’s Minister of the Exterior Alejandro Foxely that Chilean support for Venezuela as a member of the U.N. security council in October’s elections would “decisively damage” bilateral relations between Chile and the U.S. The report went on to quote Zoellick as saying that, in the event that Chile did support Venezuela, it would lose its status as a “major non-NATO ally of the U.S.” and suffer economic penalties in the form of reduced commercial exchange between Chile and the U.S. (ST, May 30).

In a statement that seemed to dismiss the threats, Foxely said that Chile would consult with the Group of Latin American and Caribbean States (GRUPAC) to arrive at a consensus as to which way the region would vote.

“We are in a phase of consultations in which we are going to evaluate and appreciate the opinions of friendly countries and then, later, we will make a decision,” said Foxely.

In the 2003 build-up to the invasion of Iraq, Chile cast a deciding vote against the U.S.-led resolution to overthrow Saddam Hussein without any noticeable affect on bilateral relations with the U.S.

SOURCE: LA NACIÓN, EL MERCURIO, LA TERCERA, RADIO COOPERATIVA

BERRIÓS CASE: JUDGE INVESTIGATES PINOCHET’S SON

(May 30, 2006) The investigation into the murder of Eugenio Berríos has uncovered links between Augusto Pinochet Hiriart, the eldest son of the former dictator Gen. Augusto Pinochet, and various military organizations in Chile and Uruguay suspected of taking part in the 1993 homicide of the former secret police chemist.

Investigative Judge Alejandro Madrid released previously undisclosed information relating to the 1991 “Pinocheques” incident that caused Pinochet Jr. to flee Chile rather than testify why the Commander in Chief – his father Gen. Pinochet – paid him $971,000,000 pesos (approximately US$1.8 million) to act as the intermediary between the Chilean military and a then bankrupt weapons factory.

The case was closed after government administrators pressured the State Defense Council (CDE) to dismiss the charges saying that the case threatened the democratic stability of the government. At the time Chile was beginning the transition to democracy after 17 years of military dictatorship.

According to Pinochet Jr.’s testimony, he first tried to go to Argentina in late 1991 on an Air Force mail flight under a false name. He was forced to wait overnight when he learned from Gustavo González, an officer with Chile’s Investigations Police, that the owner of the I.D. he was going to use was wanted in Chile.

Pinochet Jr. left the next day for Buenos Aires under his real name accompanied by the then Chief of the Special Units of the Directorate of Army Intelligence (DINE) Arturo Silva Valdés. Once in Buenos Aires Pinochet Jr. traveled to Brazil and Spain using fake documents made for him by an Argentinean secret service agent named Carlos Narea González.

Judge Madrid is interested in the story because of its similarities to the Eugenio Berriós case. Berriós was also wanted for questioning in 1991 for his role in several high profile murder cases. He was snuck out of the country by the army and later murdered in Uruguay in 1993 (ST, May 17).

It now appears that in April 1993 Pinochet Jr. was in contact with Col. Tomás Casella, one of the three Uruguayan military officials extradited to Chile who is accused of murdering Berríos. Autopsies of Berríos’ body show that he was shot sometime between April and June of 1993.

Government officials are now investigating what links González has to the Pinochet family due to the inside information he provided in 1991 as well as his signature on the 2001 police report detailing the entries and exits of both Pinochet Jr. and his younger brother Marco Antonio that was requested by Judge Madrid in the Berríos case.

González is currently the Public Relations spokesman for the Circle of Retired Police Officers.

SOURCE: LA NACIÓN

FUJIMORI: PERU REQUESTS GAG ORDER

(May 25, 2006) President Michelle Bachelet requested that Chile’s Supreme Court keep ex-Peruvian President Alberto Fujimori quiet after a series of comments on Peru’s upcoming elections provoked an outcry from government officials in Lima. Since being released on bail, Fujimori has generated a whirlwind of controversy between the two countries as well as confrontations with a group of high school students in central Chile.

The ex-dictator, wanted in Peru on corruption and human rights charges, was detained in Chile after arriving in Santiago unexpectedly on Nov. 7, 2005. Fujimori’s arrival in Chile marked his first return to South America after he fled Peru in 2000 and resigned from the presidency by fax from a Japanese Hotel. (ST, Nov. 8).

Since being released from prison on May 18, Fujimori has given several interviews with national and foreign news agencies. In the interviews Fujimori spoke at length about Peru’s upcoming June 4 run-off elections between Alan García and Ollanta Humala as well as the possibility he would return to Japan where his Japanese citizenship grants him immunity from extradition.

Fujimori’s comments caused outrage in Peru and an official request from Peru’s government on Monday that Fujimori be prohibited from giving any more interviews.

“The Fujimori case is damaging our interests as a country,” said Jorge Tarud, the president of the international commission of Chile’s lower chamber of deputies.

When asked about the controversy, President Bachelet said, “there is one thing that is very clear, the fundamental task of the president of Chile is to protect the interests of Chile. It is clear that the actions of Sr. Fujimori in the last few days caused situations that are undesirable in our relationship with our neighboring country Peru.”

The President of Peru’s Supreme Court, Walter Vásquez announced that President Bachelet’s comments were, “healthy and positive.”

In Chile, Judge Orlando Alvarez, the judge presiding over the Fujimori case, claimed that the situation “has been taken care” because Fujimori has agreed to cancel all interviews with the press and refrain from discussing Peru’s political situation.

SOURCE: LA NACIÓN, RADIO COOPERATIVO, EL MERCURIO

FUJIMORI: PERU REQUESTS GAG ORDER

(May 25, 2006) President Michelle Bachelet requested that Chile’s Supreme Court keep ex-Peruvian President Alberto Fujimori quiet after a series of comments on Peru’s upcoming elections provoked an outcry from government officials in Lima. Since being released on bail, Fujimori has generated a whirlwind of controversy between the two countries as well as confrontations with a group of high school students in central Chile.

The ex-dictator, wanted in Peru on corruption and human rights charges, was detained in Chile after arriving in Santiago unexpectedly on Nov. 7, 2005. Fujimori’s arrival in Chile marked his first return to South America after he fled Peru in 2000 and resigned from the presidency by fax from a Japanese Hotel. (ST, Nov. 8).

Since being released from prison on May 18, Fujimori has given several interviews with national and foreign news agencies. In the interviews Fujimori spoke at length about Peru’s upcoming June 4 run-off elections between Alan García and Ollanta Humala as well as the possibility he would return to Japan where his Japanese citizenship grants him immunity from extradition.

Fujimori’s comments caused outrage in Peru and an official request from Peru’s government on Monday that Fujimori be prohibited from giving any more interviews.

“The Fujimori case is damaging our interests as a country,” said Jorge Tarud, the president of the international commission of Chile’s lower chamber of deputies.

When asked about the controversy, President Bachelet said, “there is one thing that is very clear, the fundamental task of the president of Chile is to protect the interests of Chile. It is clear that the actions of Sr. Fujimori in the last few days caused situations that are undesirable in our relationship with our neighboring country Peru.”

The President of Peru’s Supreme Court, Walter Vásquez announced that President Bachelet’s comments were, “healthy and positive.”

In Chile, Judge Orlando Alvarez, the judge presiding over the Fujimori case, claimed that the situation “has been taken care” because Fujimori has agreed to cancel all interviews with the press and refrain from discussing Peru’s political situation.

SOURCE: LA NACIÓN, RADIO COOPERATIVO, EL MERCURIO

FUJIMORI: PERU REQUESTS GAG ORDER

(May 25, 2006) President Michelle Bachelet requested that Chile’s Supreme Court keep ex-Peruvian President Alberto Fujimori quiet after a series of comments on Peru’s upcoming elections provoked an outcry from government officials in Lima. Since being released on bail, Fujimori has generated a whirlwind of controversy between the two countries as well as confrontations with a group of high school students in central Chile.

The ex-dictator, wanted in Peru on corruption and human rights charges, was detained in Chile after arriving in Santiago unexpectedly on Nov. 7, 2005. Fujimori’s arrival in Chile marked his first return to South America after he fled Peru in 2000 and resigned from the presidency by fax from a Japanese Hotel. (ST, Nov. 8).

Since being released from prison on May 18, Fujimori has given several interviews with national and foreign news agencies. In the interviews Fujimori spoke at length about Peru’s upcoming June 4 run-off elections between Alan García and Ollanta Humala as well as the possibility he would return to Japan where his Japanese citizenship grants him immunity from extradition.

Fujimori’s comments caused outrage in Peru and an official request from Peru’s government on Monday that Fujimori be prohibited from giving any more interviews.

“The Fujimori case is damaging our interests as a country,” said Jorge Tarud, the president of the international commission of Chile’s lower chamber of deputies.

When asked about the controversy, President Bachelet said, “there is one thing that is very clear, the fundamental task of the president of Chile is to protect the interests of Chile. It is clear that the actions of Sr. Fujimori in the last few days caused situations that are undesirable in our relationship with our neighboring country Peru.”

The President of Peru’s Supreme Court, Walter Vásquez announced that President Bachelet’s comments were, “healthy and positive.”

In Chile, Judge Orlando Alvarez, the judge presiding over the Fujimori case, claimed that the situation “has been taken care” because Fujimori has agreed to cancel all interviews with the press and refrain from discussing Peru’s political situation.

SOURCE: LA NACIÓN, RADIO COOPERATIVO, EL MERCURIO

BARRICK GOLD BACKS OUT OF CERRO CASALE PROJECT

(May 25, 2006) Representatives from Barrick Gold, a Canadian owned gold mining company announced that they were backing out of the Cerro Casale project and leaving the way open for two other mining companies interested in the project.

The Cerro Casale project is a series of open-pit gold and copper mines located in Region III of northern Chile. The project was initially run by Placer Dome, another Canadian mining company, until Placer was bought out by Barrick Gold.

Barrick Gold decided to leave control of the project with two minority investors who were previously working with Placer Dome, Bema Gold and Arizona Star.

“We think that, during the acquisition process, the best thing to do is respect the contracts of the company we bought, said Igor González, President of Sudamérica de Barrick.

Barrick is also involved in the controversial Pascua Lama project, a planned open-pit gold mine located on the border between Argentina and Chile (ST, May 18). Barrick is currently trying to negotiate a tax agreement with both countries to avoid paying double taxes on material produced at the mine.

Both projects have generated criticism because of expected damage to the respective areas’ water systems. The Pascua Lama project would require the relocation of three glaciers and cause disruption of river systems in the glacial watershed area while the industrial waste waters of the Cerro Casale mine cross two national parks.

SOURCE: LA NACIÓN, EL MERCURIO

HIGH RANKING MEMBER OF DICTATORSHIP CHARGED WITH MURDER

General Alejando Medina, president of the Chilean Circle of Retired Admirals and Generals was arrested Monday for the murder of seven paratroopers immediately following the 1973 military coup. Thirty-two years after the paratroopers were executed by members from their own unit, Gen. Medina, then director of the military’s school of paratroopers, as well as six other retired military officials, were charged with two counts of aggravated kidnapping and five counts of homicide.

Gen. Medina was placed under arrest after appearing before Judge Carlos Gajardo and transferred to the Military Police Battalion (BPM) in Peñalolen. He was later released shortly thereafter on a $200,000 peso (US$375) bail while awaiting sentencing.

Judge Gajardo convicted Gen. Merino on five counts of homicide for the murders of Alberto Ampuero, David González, Julio Martinez, Javier Sobarzo, Enrique Toledo, and the two counts of kidnapping for the disappearance of Luis Barraza, and Jorge Piérola whose bodies have never been found. All seven men were arrested on Sept. 11, 1973, the day of Chile’s military coup, and executed by a firing squad between Sept 12 and Sept. 15, 1973.

According to Nelson Caucoto, the prosecuting attorney in the case, the men were murdered because of suspected links to the Movement of the Revolutionary Left (MIR). After being arrested on the day of the coup, they were held at a detention center in Peldehue and later transferred to a military van for transportation to the National Stadium where approximately 7,000 suspected left wing political activists were tortured or killed immediately following the coup.

According to the court documents filed in the case, when the transport van reached kilometer 5 of the Gen. San Martín highway en route to the stadium, “the men were ordered out of the van, lined up with their backs facing La Leona hill…and shot with SIG 7.62 caliber assault rifles.”

Also charged in the deaths of the paratroopers were Brigadier Rafael Sánchez, Colonel Renato Alarcón, Major Carlos Sarabia, Sub-Major Domingo Cortés, and two junior officials Fidel Segovia and Hernán Arancibia.

Gen. Merino’s lawyers plan to appeal the court’s decision.

CHILE’S COMMERCIAL SECTOR PREDICTS GROWTH IN 2006

A newly released market analysis by Chile’s Production and Trade Confederation (CPC) predicts that Chile’s economy will grow by 5.5 percent in 2006. The report highlights internal demand as the continued driving force behind Chile’s economic expansion.

Strong gains are expected in the banking sector with a predicted growth rate of 13 percent in 2006. The construction industry is also expecting another boom year with the Chilean Chamber of Construction planning to increase investments in infrastructure by eight percent, slightly less than 2005, but private construction companies predict a 14 percent overall increase because of investments in production capacity over the last year.

The pulp and paper industry is also expected to increase its production capacity this year. The Chilean Wood Corporation (CORMA) estimates that cellulose, milled wood, lumber, and newspaper production will increase capacity by 10 percent, representing an 8.3 percent profit increase over 2005.
Mining should continue to boost Chile’s economy. The continued high price of copper, estimated at an average annual rate of US$1.65 to US$1.75 for 2006, as well as increases in production capacity, and the opening of new mining deposits has Chile’s National Mining Society (SONAMI) optimistic about the future. Chile expects to mine approximately 31.3 percent of the total world copper output this year which should translate into a five percent overall growth rate.

ACHET ACCUSES LAN AIRLINES OF FALSE ADVERTISING

The Chilean Tourism Companies Association (ACHET) accused LAN Airlines of false advertising Thursday and announced that the association is considering a formal request that the National Economic Regulator (FNE) open an antimonopoly investigation into LAN Airlines.

The false advertising charges are based on reviews of promotional ticket prices offered by LAN airlines that ACHET claims are misleading to consumers. According to Lorena Arriagada, secretary general of ACHET, the ticket prices omit a series of costs that can increase the final ticket price by as much as 50 percent.

“The advertised prices are those of the cost of the plane ticket without security fees, the cost of fuel, or taxes,” Arriagada said. “This is where we enter into the issue of false advertising.”

ACHET is also concerned that LAN Airline’s December announcement to decrease independent travel agencies’ commissions by six percent represents unfair market manipulation. The organization has threatened to send the issue to the FNE for consideration. The decision to decrease commissions has the potential to seriously impact small and mid-size travel agencies because many up to 50 percent of their total profits from the commissions.

According to a letter from LAN to ACHET released on Jan. 4 by Abel Bouchon, the president of ACHET, LAN “does not have a definite opinion, much less a concrete plan regarding the decrease…When it is opportune, (LAN) will request a meeting with ACHET to analyze the possible effects of an eventual change with the hope of arriving at a beneficial agreement for (LAN’s) clients, the travel agencies, and LAN.”

ACHET is expected to announce this week whether or not the group will formally seek government intervention in the matter.

SUPREME COURT NOMINEE WILL GIVE COURT RECORDS TO SENATE

Supreme Court nominee Carlos Cerda reached an agreement with Supreme Court President Enrique Tapia to provide the Senate with internal court evaluations of his work. The agreement should diffuse the tension resulting from the Supreme Court’s refusal to release the documents to the Senate last week.

The agreement allows Judge Cerda to personally transmit his evaluations to the senate while allowing the court to maintain its decision to refuse the Senate’s request. The senate, in an unprecedented request, asked the Supreme Court to provide the nomination committee with records of the grades Cerda received since becoming a judge more than 20 years ago. Cerda nearly lost his job in the early 1980s after refusing to apply amnesty laws in several human rights investigations of officials in the military regime of former dictator Augusto Pinochet.

“The senate must get to know me and the evaluations are part of this process, said Cerda. “What I do not want to say is that I am judging, or criticizing, or commenting on the decision of the excellent Supreme Court.

The nine-to-eight Supreme Court decision to withhold the records cited existing norms of the court prohibiting court dissemination of the evaluations.

“The refusal is for his benefit”, said Supreme Court President Tapia. “My opinion is that he is entitled to his own opinion and, if he likes, he can give the senate the evaluations. I cannot show them.”

Judge Cerda was picked by President Ricardo Lagos from a list of five candidates to fill the seat of José Benquis who stepped down last year after reaching the mandatory retirement age of 75. The senate confirmation hearings are scheduled to begin on Jan 18.

CODELCO TO SIGN COPPER AGREEMENT WITH MINMETALS

Chile’s National Copper Corporation (CODELCO) is expected to sign an agreement with Minmetals, a Chinese metals firm by the end of the week. The deal would guarantee the company a fixed price on 55,750 metric tons of copper over the next 15 years.

In return for the copper, Minmetals would pay Chile US$550 million up front in anticipation of the future delivery of the copper. Chilean officials are currently finalizing negotiations with the company in London this week and hope that an agreement will be reached shortly.

“It is complex negotiation and we must ensure it is done well,” said Alfonso Dulanto, Chile’s mining minister. “All that we have requested as a directing body is that we are clear on every last detail.”

The agreement provides insurance against price variation over the next 15 years guaranteeing a fixed market for Chilean copper and set prices for a rapidly industrializing China. Under the new Chile-China Free Trade Agreement, the two countries are set to remove all tariffs on copper exports by the end of 2006.

CONTRERAS ACCUSES TORTURE VICTIMS OF SLANDER

Manuel Contreras, the former head of Chile’s notorious secret police, the Directorate of National Intelligence (DINA), is accusing more than 200 former torture victims of slander. Even though Contreras has been convicted on three separate murder charges and is facing prosecution for torture and murder of hundreds of political detainees during the military dictatorship, he claims that testimony against him amounts to slander.

The specific charges involve 200 counts of false testimony against survivors of the regimes most notorious torture center, Villa Grimaldi, as well as one charge of false testimony against Inspector Rafael Castillo, Chile’s police chief of the Division of Organized Crime and Special Affairs, one charge of exceeding authority filed against Commissioner Sandro Gaete, former chief of the Police Special Affairs and Human Rights Brigade. Contreras has also charged detectives of the Police Investigations department of petty theft of a cellular phone and a document in Jan. 2005.

The testimony in question concerns hundreds of specific accusations of torture and human rights abuses against Contreras during the time he was in charge of the DINA between 1973 and 1977. Contreras was in charge of collecting information on Chile’s left wing political activists and neutralizing threats to Pinochet’s military government. The 1991 Retting Report that the DINA, under Contreras’ command, was responsible for thousands of human rights abuses, including torture, kidnapping and homicide.

Villa Grimaldi was the DINA’s most important detention and torture center. Located inside Santiago, it was used from mid-1974 onward to torture approxmitaley 5,000 political detainees. Former inmates report that among the most common torture technique was electrical shock, consisting of a metal rack to which the naked prisoner was tied and then electrical current would be applied to sensitive parts of his or her body. Hanging, partial asphyxiation and the torture of family members was also a common method of extracting information from detainees.

The charge of theft comes from Contreras’ 2005 arrest when detectives seized his cell phone and a statement of last intents after the former general reached for a gun when police detained him at his home. The document was later published in several national newspapers.

Contreras is currently facing charges of human rights abuses in the Operation Colombo case where 119 left-wing activists were murdered and for tortures at the Villa Grimaldi prison.

COLONIA DIGNIDAD LEADER INTERRORGATED BY JUDGE

The investigating Judge in the Colonia Dignidad case Jorge Zepeda interrogated former colony leader Paul Schäfer Tuesday about the murder of Miguel Becerra, a former agent of the Directorate of National Intelligence (DINA). Colonia Dignidad was a right-wing paramilitary compound run by German immigrants suspected of collaborating with former dictator Gen. Augusto Pinochet.

Authorities are trying to piece together what happened to Becerra when he tried to resign from DINA and leave the colony in 1974. At the time Becerra was living with his son at the compound. Less than a year later, his body was found inside his car a short distance from the colony.

Judge Zepeda earlier determined that Becerra was poisoned with a piece of fruit but is still trying to determine the motives behind the murder, the interrogation failed to provide any useful information for the investigation.

INVESTIGATIONS INTO PINOCHET’S SECRET FORTUNE EXPAND

Judge Carlos Cerda moved forward on several fronts in the Riggs Bank case Tuesday ordering a financial assessment of two of former dictator Augusto Pinochet’s mansions, another request to Citibank to provide him with the details of a series of money transfers made on behalf of members of Pinochet’s family, and request to the Finance Ministry for a list of all previous directors of the national budget between 1973 and 1998, corresponding to the years that Pinochet was the military commander in chief.

The first order requests that the four architects that built Pinochet’s two homes, Claudio Correa, Claudio Escobar, Mario Contreras, and José Reyes, provide Judge Cerda with the exact value of Pinochet’s homes in Los Boldes in Region V and La Dehesa, an upscale community in Santiago. Judge Cerda also requested the Police Investigations unit to provide him with detailed blue-prints and aerial photographs of the two properties

According to a transcript of the order, Cerda would like to “define the cost-quality relationship of the two homes to determine whether or not there was an overestimation of the cost of the materials used.”

The second order directed at Citibank was a reiteration of a previous request that the bank explain its relationship with Pinochet and his family and provide detailed information about several accounts that he and his wife and children maintained at the bank.

Judge Cerda is investigating two U.S. Citibank executives, Maureen Ruggiero and Emilie Judd O’Neill on allegations that they helped Pinochet hide his fortune from Chilean authorities. The Pinochet family opened 63 different Private Bank accounts between 1981 and 2004. Fifteen of these were directly related to Pinochet, and 19 in the name of other Pinochet family members (ST, Nov. 24).

The last order directed at the Finance ministry is meant to determine the exact amount of “reserve funds” appropriated from the national treasury that Pinochet had access to as commander in chief of Chile’s armed forces.

This new flurry of activity follows more than a year of painstaking investigations into the various sources of Pinochet’s hidden wealth. To date, authorities believe that Pinochet amassed more than US$27 million in bank accounts and offshore holding companies around the world. The former dictator has been arrested on charges of tax evasion, money laundering, and falsifying official documents, his wife and four children are also being investigated as accomplices to the financial crimes.

PRESIDENT LAGOS CALLS FOR AN END TO CHILE’S BINOMIAL SYSTEM

President Ricardo Lagos repeated his call for a major overhaul of the Chilean electoral system Monday just three months before he steps down as Chile’s head of state. The proposal would do away with a Pinochet-era election law that effectively ensures Chile’s right-wing an equal representation in the congress.

If a truly proportional election system were in place in Chile, the governing Concertación coalition would have fared significantly better in Sunday’s congressional races, with two additional senate and four additional deputy seats. Christian Democrat (DC) Sen. Andrés Zaldívar, for example, lost his senate seat even though he polled 2.3 percent more votes than Jovino Novoa of the rightist UDI party. This is because the ticket Zaldívar was a part of did not double the votes of the opposition’s two candidates.

Chile’s current election law stipulates that each legislative district send two senators and two deputies to Congress. This system favors large coalitions in that the congressional seats are divided between the two highest polling coalitions. Only if the leading coalition receives twice as many votes as the runner-up, can they send both of their candidates to Congress.

Thus a coalition with only 34 percent of the popular support, receives the same representation in Congress as a political coalition with 66 percent of the vote. The election law has had the effect of assuring equal representation in Congress for the right wing parties, as illustrated in the example above.

In order to change the election law Lagos will need 23 votes in the senate and 72 in the Chamber of Deputies. Even with Sunday’s gains, the Concertación is still short three senate votes and eight deputy votes.

PINOCHET’S LAWYER INTERRORGATED IN HUMAN RIGHTS INVESTIGATION

Judge Alejandro Solís interrogated former dictator Augusto Pinochet’s lawyer Pablo Rodríguez Saturday about information he may have concerning the disappearance of María Ramírez, a 65 year old woman who was seized while visiting her two children at the Tres Álamos detention center in 1974.

According to Óscar Castro, one of María Ramírez’ children imprisoned at the detention center, the day his mother came to visit, she was seized by a soldier and dragged out of the prison by her hair and turned over to the Directorate of National Intelligence (DINA). In Castro’s testimony to Judge Solís he claims that later, during a special visit to the prison by a group of lawyers, he asked the group what had happened to his mother. He claims that Rodríguez, a member of the group, replied, “you know, there is not much hope that she will be found alive.”

Judge Solís, who is investigating the disappearance of a number of victims, including María Ramírez, who were last seen at Villa Grimaldi, questioned Rodríguez as to how exactly he had access to information concerning detainees at the torture center. While acknowledging the visit, he denied saying anything to Castro about his mother.

Villa Grimaldi was the DINA’s most important detention and torture center. Located inside Santiago, it was used from mid-1974 onward to torture approxmitaley 5,000 political detainees. Former inmates report that among the most common techniques used to extract confessions were electrical shock, hanging, and asphyxiation by submersion in liquids or tying a bag around the inmates head.

“This is going to go down in history as my word against his,” said Castro. “When (Rodriguez) told me about my mother, I thought he showed a certain solidarity with me, like a doctor telling you that you are sick….At the time, I didn’t think it would be the kind of thing I would have to reveal 30 years later.”
Judge Solís is expected to question the two men together to help resolve differences between their stories.

CHILE’S FORMER DICTATOR INVESTIGATED FOR DRUG TRAFFICKING

Judge Adds Another Three Disappearances To List of Indictments Against Pinochet

Judge Víctor Montiglio charged former dictator Gen. Augusto Pinochet with three new counts of “disappearing” political activists in the Operation Colombo investigation Monday. Meanwhile, Judge Carlos Cerda, in charge of the Riggs Bank case, met with detectives from Chile’s Anti-Narcotics division to investigate possible links between the dictator’s fortune and drug trafficking operations.

Judge Cerda was briefed by Patricio Bascuñán of the Carbineros Investigations Police in the ongoing investigation of Edgardo Bathich, a suspected weapons and drug trafficker with links to Gen. Pinochet and his oldest son Augusto Jr. Investigators have not ruled out the possibility that part of Pinochet’s secret fortune came from drug-running.

Gen. Pinochet is accused of laundering more than US$27 million in bribes and illegal kickbacks from the sale of military weaponry while he was commander in chief of Chile’s armed forces. He was arrested and released on bail for charges in the Riggs Bank case on Nov. 23 but was placed under house arrest the following day by Judge Montiglio in the Operation Colombo case (ST, Nov. 28).

Prosecutors in that case originally tried to indict Gen. Pinochet on 15 counts of disappearing political detainees, but Judge Montiglio has so far only approved nine of those counts while rejecting another four because of previous legal rulings. Authorities believe Pinochet was the mastermind behind a 1975 operation between the military regimes of Chile, Argentina, and Brazil to cover-up the execution of 119 members of political opposition groups.

Chilean proscutors have been trying to indict Pinochet for these murders for several years, but have never managed to clear all of the legal hurdles necessary to prosecute the former head of state. However, following the Nov. 9 ruling that Pinochet was mentally and physically capable of standing trial, judges in the two cases have brought a total of 13 different criminal charges against the former dictator.

The charges are: one count of falsifying passports, one count of falsifying a 1989 statement of personal assests, one count of falsifying government documents in 2002, one count of tax evasion, and 9 counts of “disappearing” political detainees.

On top of these charges, investigations continue in the Croatia arms case and the Huber murder investigation. The first is a civilian inquiry into a 1991 illegal weapons shipment to Croatia during the Balkan War, while the second is a military investigation into the 1992 murder of Col. Gerardo Huber, an employee of Chile’s Army Weapons Factory (FAMAE) involved in the Croatia arms deal.

Judge Claudio Pavez, lead investigator in the Huber murder case, met Tuesday with Gen. Pinochet in his Santiago home to question the general about his links to the dead man. Authorities believe Huber was murdered because of testimony he gave in the original 1992 Croatia arms investigation implicating Capt. Pedro Araya and Gen. Carlos Krumm, both military officials working for FAMAE in the early 1990s.

Capt. Araya was sentenced to five years in jail for his role in the Croatia arms sale in August, but was released from prison when the case was reopened on Oct. 18. In Araya’s court testimony, he implicated seven high-ranking Chilean generals, including then Commander in Chief Gen. Augusto Pinochet (ST, Oct. 27). None of the generals were found guilty, one of the main reasons cited in a military court’s unanimous decision to reopen the case.

TWO NEW HYDROELECTRIC PROJECTS PROPSOED FOR CAJON DEL MAIPO

Chile is reviewing two new plans for hydroelectric plants in Cajon del Maipu, a popular tourist destination outside of Santiago. The plants, named Alfalfal II and Las Lejas, would generate 500 megawatts for Chile’s central electricity system (SIC), representing a 7 percent increase in capacity.

The Chilean energy firm AES Gener said the two plants would cost US$500 million and take five years to complete. The company currently operates four hydroelectric dams in the region, if approved, the new plants would be the largest yet.

In anticipation of complaints from the environmental community, spokesman from the company said that neither plant would require the use of dams and have a minimal impact on the environment.

Alfalfal II would be built on the Maipo River within the Alfalfal zone close to another AES Gener hydroelectric plant, while Las Lejas would be constructed at the confluence of the Maipo and Colorado Rivers.

Construction would begin in 2008 with an anticipated completion date sometime in 2013.

ALLENDE FOUNDATION FILES LAWSUIT AGAINST BANCO DE CHILE

Lawyers Accuse Bank Of Helping Pinochet Launder Fortune

In a new twist in the investigation of former dictator Gen. Augusto Pinochet’s secret fortune, the President Allende Foundation filed a US$107 million lawsuit in U.S. courts Thursday against the Banco de Chile. The lawsuit alleges that the bank’s New York branch helped Pinochet illegally transfer funds from his Washington D.C., based Riggs Bank accounts while the general was being held in London on an international arrest warrant.

The legal brief submitted by the foundation claims that the Banco de Chile eluded established banking policies and obstructed an international investigation with the intention of hiding the true identity of Pinochet’s bank accounts when they moved US$6 million for the general after Spanish courts ordered all of his accounts frozen in 1998. The Banco de Chile has vowed to fight the lawsuit and rejects the foundation’s allegations.

The lawsuit identifies an additional 24 accounts opened between 1995 and 2005 by Gen. Pinochet or his family at the New York branch of the Banco de Chile and managed by his financial executors Hernán Donoso and Oscar Aitken. Both men are included in the charges brought against the Bank.

According to Reuters, the bank said it would “take all steps necessary before the courts of justice to defend its rights. (The lawsuit) is completely without merit, in both form and substance.”

However, Banco de Chile previously agreed to pay a fine of US$3 million in October imposed by the U.S. Treasury’s Financial Crimes Enforcement Network for violating established banking regulations on money laundering.

Joan Garcés, the lawyer who filed the charges on behalf of the foundation, was a personal political advisor to President Salvador Allende in the early 1970s. After the military coup of 1973, he moved to Paris and finally Spain where he has spent the last 23 years as a human rights lawyer.

“The massacre at the Moneda palace and the assassination of the political leaders that followed made me the sole survivor among President Allende's personal political advisers,” said Garcés. “I had a very strong sense of duty to contribute to the understanding of the period that came to an end on September 11.”

Garcés has been representing victims of Gen. Pinochet’s military regime since 1996 and was a key player leading to the arrest of Pinochet in London in 1998. The newest lawsuit comes on the heels of a successful legal settlement reached between the foundation and Riggs Bank last March in which the bank agreed to pay US$9 million to victims of human rights abuses committed during the military regime.

The money laundering case first came to light after a 2004 U.S. Senate report found that the Riggs Bank helped the former dictator hide between US$4 and 8 million in bribes and illegal commissions related to the sale of Chilean military weaponry (ST, Oct 10). In several investigations since then, Chilean authorities uncovered more than US$27 million hidden in over 100 banks and offshore trading companies around the world, including U.S. branches of the Banco de Chile.

The Chilean bank is also facing complications from separate but related investigations into the 1992 murder of Gerardo Huber, a Chilean colonel who worked for Chile’s Army Weapons Factory (FAMAE). Huber was part of a scheme to ship weapons to Croatia during the United Nations arms embargo of the early 1990s. He was murdered shortly after implicating military superiors in the operation. Judges investigating the case subpoenaed bank records of all FAMAE accounts at the Banco de Chile to determine, among other things, if the bank had any role in funneling illegal payments to Chilean military officials involved in the case.

In related news, an appeal made by Gen. Pinochet’s lawyers in the Operation Colombo case to overturn the court’s decision to prosecute the former dictator for the kidnapping and murder of six left-wing political activists was rejected unanimously by Chile’s Court of Appeals. Pinochet’s lawyers disputed the results of a Nov. 9 medical report that determined that the general is physically and mentally fit to stand trial. Defense attorneys are now expected to appeal the decision to the Supreme Court.

PIÑERA CLOSES GAP IN CHILE’S PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION

Bachelet Prepares For Second-Round Elections

Support for presidential front-runner Michelle Bachelet has dropped 9.7 percent according to a poll released Thursday by Ipsos Search Marketing, making all but certain that a run-off vote will be required following the Dec. 11 presidential vote.

The Ipsos poll found that support for the center-left Concertación candidate Bachelet dropped 9.7 percent – plus or minus a 3.1 percent margin of error - from 48.2 percent in September to 38.5 percent today, while support for far-left Juntos Podemos Más candidate Tomás Hirsch grew from 3.4 percent to 7.6 percent in the latest poll.

Right-wing candidate Sebastián Piñera of the National Renovation (RN) party continues to distance himself from Chile’s other rightist candidate, Joaquin Lavín of the Independent Democratic Union (UDI). Piñera currently leads by 6.1 percent, up from 20.7 percent in September to today’s 22.1 percent, while Lavín’s support remained static at 16 percent.

Hirsch’s relatively strong showing is expected to cost Bachelet a first round win however, political strategists expect Bachelet will absorb these votes in a second round run-off.

The poll also measured citizens’ attitudes in the event of a second round vote between either of the right-wing candidates and the presidential frontrunner Michelle Bachelet. If this occurs, Piñera is expected to win 39.5 percent against Bachelet’s 47 percent. If Lavín makes it to the second round the poll predicts he would receive 32.4 percent of the vote compared to Bachelet’s 55.1 percent.

The exact numbers given in the Ipsos poll are slightly different from predictions by respected political scientist Pepe Auth, member of the left-wing Party for Democracy (PPD), but both come to similar conclusions. Auth predicted that Bachelet will win 47.3 percent of the vote, Piñera 26.7 percent, Lavín 21.4 percent, and Hirsch 4 percent.

According to Auth, the election will be decided by 1.8 million undecided voters. For Piñera to win the election he would have to take 86 percent of these votes while Bachelet needs to win just 15 percent to become Chile’s next president.

Both assessments of the upcoming election indicate that the real fireworks will come from Chile’s parliamentary elections. Because of Chile’s binomial majority system, each parliamentary district votes on two representatives, historically one left-wing and one right-wing candidate. If one party is able to double the percentage of the opposite party (i.e. 66 percent of the vote or more) they are allowed to send two candidates to parliament.

Earlier polls suggested the possibility that the Concertación alliance could double right-wing opponents is key senate races in Santiago however, the Ipsos poll ruled out the likelihood of this eventuality.

In western Santiago, UDI party president Jovino Novoa seemed to be at risk of losing his senate seat to Concertación candidates Guido Girardi (PPD) and Andrés Zaldívar (DC), but the Ipsos poll predicts that Girardi and Zaldívar would only receive 54.9 percent of the vote, not enough to beat out the combined total of right-wing candidates Novoa (18.3 percent) and Roberto Fantuzzi (RN) (14.1 percent).

In eastern Santiago, Soledad Alvear (DC) is expected to win one senate seat with 41.3 percent of the vote while Lily Pérez (RN) and Pablo Longueira (UDI) are in a statistical dead heat with 19 and 17.9 percent respectively.

The Ipsos poll was based on interviews with 1,606 people from the all of Chile’s major cities between Nov. 22 and 29.