USA extradite suspected murderer of Victor Jara
Chile has been seeking the extradition of Pedro Barrientos for ten years. He is said to be one of the murderers of Victor Jara during the military coup of 1973. Now he is being flown out by the USA.
50 years after the murder of popular singer Victor Jara during the military coup in Chile, the USA has extradited one of his alleged murderers to the South American country. The 75-year-old Pedro Barrientos landed at Santiago de Chile airport on Friday from the US metropolis of Miami, as confirmed by the Chilean police. When he arrived, some people shouted "murderer, murderer".
Barrientos was taken by helicopter to a military compound in the east of the capital, where he was detained and questioned by Judge Guillermo de la Barra, it was added.
Barrientos had lived in the USA since 1989. His transfer to his home country, which Chile had been demanding since 2013, became possible after Barrientos lost his US citizenship. It was revoked because he had concealed information about his military service in Chile from the immigration authorities.
Tortured and murdered
One day after the CIA-backed military coup of September 11, 1973 against Chile's left-wing president Salvador Allende, his ardent supporter Jara was arrested. A few days later, the body of the 40-year-old singer was found with 44 bullet wounds and signs of torture.
In August, seven former military officers were sentenced to prison terms of between eight and 15 years in connection with Jara's murder. One of the convicts, retired general Hernán Chacón, avoided imprisonment by committing suicide.
Jara, a pacifist known for his protest songs, was taken to a sports stadium in Santiago de Chile with around 5,000 other political prisoners, where he was interrogated, tortured and finally killed. His tormentors had broken the singer and guitarist's fingers with rifle butts and boot kicks. Through his violent death, Jara became an idol for artists who were oppressed under the Chilean dictator Augusto Pinochet.
In an interview with the AFP news agency, Jara's only daughter Amanda spoke of a "very long road" to justice after her father's murder. Jara's wife, the British-born former dancer and human rights activist Joan Turner, did not live to see Barrientos' extradition: she died on November 12 at the age of 96.
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Source: www.ntv.de
