Chile: Victims Rally Outside Pinochet Ex-Colonel's Book Launch

Human rights activists staged a protest at the launch of a new book by Colonel Alvaro Corbalan, a one-time ally of Chilean dictator Augusto Pinochet, in Santiago on Tuesday.

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With the assistance of The Pinochet Foundation, Colonel Corbalan – former head of Chile's National Intelligence Center (CNI) – revealed the product of his 27 years in prison in Punta Peuco, a memoir entitled 'The Answers of Corbalan.'

Standing outside Santiago's Crown Plaza Hotel, an army of indignant human rights activists and victims' relatives said the only question the former torturer needed to answer was where are their loved ones, still missing after the 30-year dictatorship.

Members of the Human Rights and Missing Detainees rejected the public event honoring the former colonel who has been sentenced to over 100 years of prison for crimes against humanity.

The organization called for a public apology for the "genocide, state terrorism and violation of human rights."

Alicia Lira, president of the Association of Relatives of Executed Politicians, accused the state and publishing company of prioritizing "sinister characters" over the peace of victimized citizens "still waiting to know where the missing detainees are."

According to the publishers, the book details secrets of the Augusto Pinochet dictatorship, which dominated Chile from 1973 to 1990.

 "Alvaro Corbalán, criminal of Lesa Humanidad sentenced to more than 100 years, launches a book with his memoirs at the Crown Plaza hotel. He is in prison, but dozens of former accomplices of Pinochet's dictatorship attend. Protest victims and groups DDHH."