Verhaftet wurde ein ehemaliger Mitglied der Pinochet-Geheimpolizei, der 1973 den Sänger ermordete.

A former member of General Augusto Pinochet’s secret police has been arrested more than 50 years after the murder of Chilean folk singer Víctor Jara. Nelson Haase Mazzei, a retired colonel, was apprehended in the rural area of Puyehue, southern Chile, following a long period of evasion. The arrest marks the culmination of a decades-long pursuit of justice for Jara, one of the most prominent victims of Pinochet's dictatorship. The arrest came nearly half a century after Jara was killed during the 1973 military coup that ousted socialist president Salvador Allende. Jara, a left-wing activist and musician, was detained alongside thousands of others on a small open-air stadium in Santiago on October 11, 1973. He was executed four days later along with Littré Quiroga, the head of the prison system under Allende’s government. His body, bearing 44 gunshot wounds and 56 broken bones, was found discarded near the main cemetery in Santiago. He was just 40 years old. The killing of Jara and Quiroga was part of a broader campaign of repression that saw over 3,000 people murdered or disappeared during the 17-year authoritarian rule of Pinochet. Thousands were imprisoned and tortured. The case of Jara became emblematic of the violence inflicted upon political dissidents during this era. The arrest of Haase Mazzei, who had evaded capture since 2023, brings closure to a long-standing quest for accountability. Haase Mazzei was a member of the notorious Green Berets unit and later served in the intelligence agency DINA, working under its chief, Manuel Contreras, a staunch supporter of the regime who was later convicted of crimes against humanity and sentenced to over 500 years in prison. Despite claims by Haase Mazzei that he was not present at the stadium, testimony under oath confirmed his presence at the scene of the crime. In 2023, seven retired soldiers were convicted in absentia for their roles in Jara’s death, receiving varying prison terms. Haase Mazzei received a 25-year sentence. One of the accused, 86-year-old Hernán Chacón, took his own life when police arrived at his home in a wealthy district of Santiago in 2023. Another defendant, Pedro Barrientos, a former member of the Green Berets, fled to the United States in 1989 and was deported in December 2023, more than a decade after his extradition request was filed. A former soldier testified that Barrientos knew how to fire a pistol and claimed, “I killed Víctor Jara with this!” Barrientos was arrested in the U.S. during a routine traffic stop, though his citizenship was revoked not due to the crime, but because he failed to disclose his military service on his application. Víctor Jara’s widow, Joan Jara, a British dancer and activist, expressed mixed emotions upon hearing of Haase Mazzei’s arrest. While acknowledging the significance of the arrest, she emphasized that it was difficult to call it true justice after half a century. She noted that the legacy of Jara’s murder continues to resonate, particularly given the ongoing efforts to hold perpetrators accountable. The defense team for Haase Mazzei has already requested his transfer from the Santiago prison to a facility in Osorno, further south, citing better conditions at Punta Peuco detention center. This move reflects the continued legal battles surrounding the cases of those responsible for human rights violations during Pinochet’s regime.