Chilean Court Sentences Murderers of Allende's Bodyguards

On Tuesday, the Chilean Supreme Court handed down a final sentence for the murder of the personal bodyguards of President Salvador Allende during the military coup that inaugurated the dictatorship of Augusto Pinochet (1973-1990).

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Among the presidential escorts were Domingo Blanco, Jose Carreño, Gonzalo Jorquera, Carlos Cruz, Luis Gamboa, Pedro Garces, Oscar Marambio, Edmundo Montero, Jorge Orrego, William Ramirez, and Enrique Ropert.

After revoking the ruling of the Court of Appeals, the Supreme Court sentenced retired Air Force General Vicente Rodríguez Bustos for the events that occurred. This soldier, however, passed away in September 2020.

On Sept. 11, 1973, ten members of the Group of Personal Friends of the President (GAP) tried to reach the La Moneda Palace to join the resistance against the U.S.-backed coup d'état.

On that day, however, the military police, also known as Carabineros, discovered the GAP members and ordered them to hand over their weapons.

Then the military involved in the coup transferred them to the Intendency's police prefecture. Most of the GAP members were found dead on the banks of the Mapocho River on Sept. 19.

The the Supreme Court's resolution establishes that the Chilean State must indemnify the victims' families with amounts that oscillate between US$5,000 and US$93,200.