Lost citizenship
US extradites suspected murderer of Victor Jara
December 2, 2023, 1:08 p.m
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Chile has been trying to extradite 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 of the USA.
Fifty years after popular singer Victor Jara was murdered during the military coup in Chile, the United States has extradited one of his suspected 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 the Chilean police confirmed. When he arrived, some people shouted “murderer, murderer”.
Barrientos is now being questioned in Chile.
(Photo: REUTERS)
Barrientos was taken by helicopter to a military compound in the east of the capital, where he was arrested and questioned by judge Guillermo de la Barra, it said.
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 It was revoked because he concealed information about his military service in Chile from immigration authorities.
Tortured and murdered
One day after the CIA-backed military coup of September 11, 1973 against Chile’s left-leaning President Salvador Allende, his ardent supporter Jara was arrested. A few days later, the 40-year-old singer’s body was found with 44 gunshot 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, escaped imprisonment by committing suicide.
The pacifist Jara, known for his protest songs, was taken with around 5,000 other political prisoners to a sports stadium in Santiago de Chile, where he was interrogated, tortured and finally killed. His tormentors broke the singer and guitarist’s fingers with rifle butts and kicks. Through his violent death, Jara became an idol for artists oppressed under Chilean dictator Augusto Pinochet.
Jara’s only daughter Amanda spoke in an interview with the AFP news agency 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 12th at the age of 96.