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The former Chilean military officer accused of murdering famed folk singer and political activist Victor Jara in the early 1970’s, immediately following the military coup that installed the brutal regime of former dictator Augusto Pinochet, went on trial Monday in a historic move toward justice after more than 40 years of impunity.
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Former lieutenant Pedro Pablo Barrientos Nuñez faces charges for the arbitrary detention linked to carrying out Jara’s torture and murder for his support of socialist President Salvador Allende, ousted from power in a U.S.-backed coup by the army in 1973.
Jara and thousands of other political prisoners were rounded up and tortured in the sports stadium in Santiago, now named in honor of the murdered folk singer, immediately following the coup. His tortured body was found with 44 bullet holes outside the complex.
The first hearing launched Monday in a court in Orlando, Florida, where Barrientos has lived for over 20 years after fleeing Chile when the Pinochet dictatorship fell at the end of the 1980’s. Jara’s widow Joan gave testimony in court in the first session, the first of about 20 witnesses in the case.
The trial is expected to last until the end of the month.
The California-based Center for Justice and Accountability, which brought the civil suit against Barrientos in 2013, has called the action historic in the attempt to seek truth and justice for heinous crimes committed during the Pinochet regime.
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The trial marks the first time that Barrientos, a dual U.S. and Chilean citizen, has appeared in court for his role in Jara’s death. A 2012 indictment against Barrientos and seven others by a Chilean judge has moved slowly, while the U.S. has not formally responded to an extradition request from the Chilean government.
Jara has become one of the most prominent symbols of Chile’s U.S.-backed “dirty war” against leftist artists, intellectuals, and activists in the 1970’s and 80’s. His politically-charged music has inspired a generation of political activists and musicians.
It is estimated that anywhere between 3,000 and 10,000 victims were tortured, killed, or forcibly disappeared under Pinochet’s bloody campaign against opponents as part of the regional U.S.-backed Operation Condor aimed at wiping out “insurgents” and stabilizing dictatorships in South America.
According to AFP, 11 other former military men have been prosecuted in connection with Jara’s murder. But Barrientos’ trial is nevertheless very significant because the former lieutenant is considered the ultimate mastermind behind the singer’s murder.
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