Chile: Who killed Victor Jara?


Scandal of state compensation paid to mass murderer

AMONGST THE first to be slaughtered by the military dictatorship
which seized power in Chile in September 1973 was the very popular folk
singer and Communist Party member, Victor Jara. He was married to an
English woman, Joan, and dedicated his musical talents to the struggle
of the working class and the poor. His songs were about the Chilean
working people and their struggles.

Tony Saunois, CWI, Santiago

Following the coup, Jara was taken, along with thousands of others,
to the National Stadium to be tortured and killed. Victor Jara’s body
was found on 16 September 1973 near the Cemeterio Metropolitano, riddled
with 34 bullet wounds.

In December 2004, Chilean judge Juan Carlos Urrutia prosecuted the
then retired Lieutenant-Colonel, Mario Manriquez Bravo for the murder of
Jara. Bravo was the officer in charge of the National Stadium during the
bloodbath in 1973. But the identity of the Jara’s actual killer remained
hidden.

Now, the killer has been exposed. Unbelievably, he works for the new
government headed by Socialist Party president, Michelle Bachelet, in
the ministry responsible for pensions.

A series of witnesses who survived the National Stadium pointed to
Edwin Dimiter, known as the ‘Sadistic Prince’, and have now identified
him. Their horrific testimonies recount the arrogance of this young
military officer of 23 at the time. With no mask now hiding his
identity, former prisoners recall how he spoke to thousands of prisoners
assembled in the stadium.

"Can you hear me you Marxist shit?" was his first address to the
prisoners from the second floor of the stadium. He had a booming voice
and needed no microphone. "Do you look at me with fear? Now we have
finished with speeches you sons-of-bitches. Now you will work and if you
will not work, we will execute you. Can you hear me? I have the voice of
a Prince". This is included in the testimony of one former prisoner,
Victor Garcia. From that moment on he was known as ‘The Prince’.

Others recall how a soldier tripped over the legs of a prisoner who
lay on the floor after having been beaten. ‘The Prince’ ordered the
prisoner to be shot on the spot. Others recount how he would beat
prisoners on the testicles with a leather club and far worse.

No simple soldier

‘The Prince’ was not simply a soldier compelled to "carry out
orders".

In 1970 he had travelled to Panama and underwent training in the
notorious ‘Escuela de las Americas’ – a military training school run by
US imperialism for the military throughout Latin America. Many of those
who underwent training in Panama went on to participate in military
coups and carried out the brutal repression which followed in the 1970s.
‘The Prince’ was no exception.

He participated in the aborted military coup against Allende in June
1973 – the "Tanquetazo" – and was consequently arrested. During the
successful coup of September 11, 1973, he was immediately released and
was assigned to duties in the National Stadium. Survivors of the
bloodbath there now testify that he arrived at the stadium full of hate
following his imprisonment and was out for revenge.

The identity of ‘The Prince’ has remained a well-kept secret for the
last three decades. However, his exposure has revealed an even more
bitter chapter in this tragedy. ‘The Prince’ has been employed by the
coalition governments since the "Transition", in the Department of
Pensions.

Compensation

Yet even this is not the end of the story. ‘The Prince’ was stood
down from the military in 1976 for unexplained reasons. Yet unbelievably
he has been given protection and gained all the benefits included in the
‘Ley de Exonerados Politicos’ – a law which was introduced in February
1999.

It was introduced as a means of compensating political prisoners
under the Pinochet regime. Once arrested, many lost their jobs, could
not get work and lost all pension entitlement. This law provided a
compensation payment and pension rights for the period concerned. To
benefit from this law it is likely that ‘The Prince’ was nominated by a
politician or government official.

This is not the only case of those responsible for torture and murder
benefiting from this law which was introduced to assist former political
prisoners. Another beneficiary was an intelligence officer with the
Chilean Air force, Rafael Gonzalez Verdugo. He was charged with the
murder in 1973 of the USA citizen, Charles Horman, featured in the
powerful film "Missing" which told a part of the story of the 1973 coup.

Not a closed book

The ‘Socialist’ government headed by Bachelet, with its neo-liberal
policies and continued repression of a new generation of youth in the
current school student protests, wants such issues left buried in
historical archives.

The uncovering of the identity of the murderer of Victor Jara
demonstrates that this period of Chilean history, and the suffering
endured by the workers and youth under the dictatorship, is not a closed
book. It is being re-opened by a new generation.

The lesson of the defeat of the Chilean revolution in 1973 and the
struggle against the dictatorship now needs to be re-learned if the
system that bred the Pinochet regime is to be overthrown.

Building a new powerful socialist force, that can end capitalism and
set about the task of building socialism, is the best way to avenge the
death of Victor Jara and the thousands of others who suffered at the
hands of the dictatorship in Chile.